Class 12 English (Elective) Poem 8 – Blood Important Question Answers from Kaleidoscope Book Poetry
Class 12 English (Elective) Blood Question Answers – Looking for questions and answers for CBSE Class 12 English (Elective) Poem 8 – Blood? Look no further! Our comprehensive compilation of important questions will help you brush up on your subject knowledge. Practising Class 12 English question answers can significantly improve your performance in the exam. Improve your chances of scoring high marks by exploring Poem 8 – Blood now. The questions listed below are based on the latest CBSE exam pattern, wherein we have given NCERT solutions to the chapter’s extract-based questions, multiple choice questions and Extra Question Answers
Also, practising with different kinds of questions can help students learn new ways to solve problems that they may not have seen before. This can ultimately lead to a deeper understanding of the subject matter and better performance on exams.
- Blood NCERT Solutions
- Blood Grammar Exercises
- Blood Extra Question Answers
- Blood Multiple Choice Questions
- Blood Extract Based Questions
Related:
Blood Textbook Questions (NCERT Solutions)
Responding to the Poem
1. What makes the depiction of a crumbling village house so authentic in the poem? Is this a common feature of most village houses in the context of rapid urbanisation? Is the poet speaking from experience?
Ans. The poetess Kamala Das skillfully uses words and patterns in her poem to connect with readers on different levels. The poem reveals a little girl’s emotions and shows how the fast-moving world transforms her from a naive child into an adult. Kamala Das shares her experiences in her writing, which resonates with readers. In this poem, she highlights the reality of old village houses. Urbanisation and modernisation are essential in today’s rapidly changing world, and this is a common characteristic of many village houses. Old houses represent the heritage and rich culture of India, which holds sentimental value for the people. However, adapting to the change is important and necessary.
2. What aspects of Indian society and history get highlighted in the poem?
Ans. In the poem “Blood,” Kamala Das explores different experiences of women at various life stages. She illustrates how one woman can understand and connect with another on a personal level. This ability of empathy is seen in Kamala Das’s strong feelings for her grandmother, unlike her brother’s perspective. Kamala Das’s great-grandmother once enjoyed a luxurious life with jewels, perfume, oils, and elephant rides, symbolizing her vibrant youth and marriage to a prince. However, after her husband died just a year into their marriage, she faced deep loneliness, highlighting the difficult status women could face after losing their partners.
3. Does the poem bring out the contrast between tradition and modernity? Illustrate your answer with examples from the poem.
Ans. In the poem, the poetess describes how her great-grandmother was deeply attached to her husband and died shortly after his passing away. The lines “Fed on God for years/All her feasts were monotonous/For the only dish was always God/And the rest mere condiments” show that the traditional women often centred their lives around their husbands. This contrasts with modern views, where life continues beyond grief and loss. The poem also highlights the great-grandmother’s strong connection to materialistic grandeur i.e. 300-year-old ancestral house, which she cherished. Additionally, the poetess conveys the great-grandmother’s pride in her heritage, which she carried with her to the end. Yet, the poetess who represents modernity lives her life by letting go of her unfulfilled promises.
4. While the poet respected her grandmother’s sentiments of royal grandeur, we can also see that she revolted against it. Identify the lines which bring this out.
Ans. Kamala Das revolted against the great-grandmother’s sentiment of royal grandeur. The lines which convey her revolts:
I set forth again
For other towns,
Left the house with the shrine
And the sands
And the flowering shrubs
And the wide rabid mouth of the Arabian Sea.
In these lines, she didn’t quote the grandeur that her great-grandmother talked about, instead, she mentioned the nostalgic memories she had related to her old home.
5. Which lines reveal the poet’s criticism of class distinctions?
Ans. The lines that reveal the poet’s criticism of class distinctions:
A blood thin and clear and fine
While in the veins of the always poor
And in the veins
Of the new-rich men
Flowed a blood thick as gruel
And muddy as a ditch.
The poetess criticizes class differences in these lines. According to her great-grandmother, the blood of the poor is thin, clear, and fine. This suggests that people in poor communities can love selflessly and genuinely. In contrast, those in wealthier communities often focus on material things, and true love and affection are often absent. Their relationships are driven by profit and loss.
6. Is it ‘selfishness’ and ‘callousness’ that makes the poet break her childhood promise to her grandmother of renovating the house? Why does she do nothing about rebuilding the house?
Ans. The poetess remembers her great-grandmother’s pain as a child. She promised to save the 300-year-old house for her grandmother. However, she soon faces the harsh truth that making money is hard. She sees her old house falling apart, with termites climbing and rats scurrying around. She asks for forgiveness because she cannot rebuild the house. She wants to make it clear that her inability does not mean she is selfish or uncaring.
7. What do you understand of the conflict in the poet’s conscience?
Ans. The poem ‘Blood’ shows a little girl’s feelings as she grows up in a fast-paced world. Kamala Das uses her own experiences in her writing. The poet observes nature and imagines things while playing with her brother. Alongside these happy moments, she also feels the anxiety, fear, and pain of her 86-year-old great-grandmother about their old family home, which is in bad shape. The poem highlights the struggle between a child’s joyful fantasies and the harsh reality that making money is tough. This brings sadness as she cannot fulfil her promise to her great-grandmother to keep the house alive. These conflicts demonstrate that we must face reality and be practical as we move forward in life.
Blood Grammar Exercises
Language Study
Comment on the changes in poetic expression in English from the time of Donne to that of Kamala Das concerning
- prosodic features (rhyme, rhythm and metre)
- vocabulary
- language
- themes.
Ans. Prosodic Features: During John Donne’s time, poems followed set patterns with specific rhyming words. Although Donne varied line lengths and meters to create special effects, Kamala Das wrote her poetry in free verse without these patterns.
Vocabulary: John Donne used formal vocabulary with less description and more suggestion. In contrast, Kamala Das used more detailed and descriptive words.
Language: Donne’s poems featured passionate language that expressed his thoughts and feelings. Over time, language changed, and Kamala Das used simple language that was easy for everyone to understand.
Themes: Donne’s poems often focused on love, imagination, and fantasy. Meanwhile, Kamala Das’s poems addressed social discrimination, loneliness, and societal issues, particularly highlighting the conditions of women in society.
CBSE Class 12 English (Elective) Poem 8- Blood Extra Question and Answers
Answer the following questions-
Q1. Describe the personification used for the old home in the poem ‘Blood’.
Ans. The poetess has personified windows crying on the decaying of the old house in the line ‘windows whine and groan’. The house is personified as ‘crouching on its elbows’, looked ‘grotesque’ and ‘alive’. The poetess saw ‘the windows close Like the closing of the eyes’ on the death of her great-grandmother. She even heard the ‘pillars groan And the dark rooms heave a sigh’.
Q2. Describe the food imagery used by the poetess in the poem ‘Blood’ by Kamala Das.
Ans. Her grandmother was a simple woman whose spiritual life, or ‘feasts’ of faith, revolved solely around God, with little else in terms of religious practices or beliefs, making them feel repetitive. There is a lack of variety in her spiritual experiences, as the only focus (dish) was always God. For her, God was the central focus of her spiritual life, with other aspects of her faith being secondary. The other religious practices or beliefs were merely supplementary to the main focus, which is God.
Q3. Justify the title of the poem ‘Blood’ by Kamala Das.
Ans. The title “Blood” by Kamala Das is justified by the poem’s central themes of inheritance, family legacy, and the poetess’s emotional connection to her old home and great-grandmother, which are all strongly connected to the idea of “blood” and familial ties.
Q4. Explain the condition of the holy place in the old home.
Ans. Their holy place has snake deities that aren’t visible to the naked eye as they are covered with weeds. All the snake deities have fungus growth on the covering of their heads. The deteriorating state of her holy place has left her great-grandmother hurt.
Q5. Describe how the house looked when the poetess’s great-grandmother died.
Ans. The house is personified as a human kneeling on its elbows. Under the pale moon, the house looked strange and frightening, when the poetess’s grandmother was burnt over the logs of the mango tree. The poetess looked again and again at the house as she saw the windows close as if the house was closing its eyes. The pillars of the old house cried in deep pain and the rooms expressed a deep audible exhalation of sadness. The poetess began the journey in another town. The poetess left the house with the shrine, sand, plants and an extremely violent Arabian Sea.
Class 12 Blood Multiple Choice Questions
Q1. How old was the great-grandmother’s house?
A. Four hundred years
B. Three hundred years
C. Thirty years
D. Thirty-two years
Ans. B. Three hundred years
Q2. Who was playing on the sand?
A. Poetess
B. Brother
C. Poetess and her brother
D. Great-grandmother
Ans. C. Poetess and her brother
Q3. What was the condition of the great-grandmother’s house?
A. Demolished
B. It’s in good condition
C. Renovated
D. Dilapidated
Ans. D. Dilapidated
Q4. What is the rhyming scheme used in the poem ‘Blood’?
A. Free Verse
B. ABBC
C. ABAB
D. AABB
Ans. A. Free Verse
Q5. Who is the poet of the poem ‘Blood’?
A. William Wordsworth
B. William Blake
C. Kamala Das
D. Rabindranath Tagore
Ans. C. Kamala Das
Q6. Who is the poetess asking for forgiveness?
A. Old House
B. Her brother
C. Herself
D. Great-grandmother
Ans. D. Great-grandmother
Q7. Who loved the great-grandmother’s house?
A. Rats
B. Poetess’s brother
C. Great-Grandmother
D. Poetess
Ans. C. Great-Grandmother
Q8. Who was her great-grandmother married to?
A. Prince
B. New-rich man
C. Common man
D. Businessman
Ans. A. Prince
Q9. How did the great-grandmother’s husband die?
A. Rabies
B. Fever
C. Pneumonia
D. War
Ans. B. Fever
Q10. At what age did the poetess’s great-grandmother die?
A. Eighty-one
B. Eighty-two
C. Eighty-six
D. Eighty-five
Ans. C. Eighty-six
Q11. Which Sea is near the great-grandmother’s home?
A. Bay of Bengal
B. Arabian sea
C. Andaman sea
D. Laccadive sea
Ans. B. Arabian sea
Q12. Who is referred to in the line ‘Strange totems of burial’?
A. Termites
B. Rats
C. Snakes
D. Blood
Ans. A. Termites
Q13. Which deities are worshipped in the great-grandmother’s home?
A. Goddess of wealth
B. There were no dietes
C. Siva shrine
D. Snake-shrine
Ans. D. Snake-shrine
Q14. What poetic devices are used in the line ‘windows’ whine’?
A. Alliteration and personification
B. Symbolism
C. Simile
D. Metaphor
Ans. A. Alliteration and personification
Q15. How is the blood of the new rich men?
A. Thin
B. Muddy as a ditch
C. Fine
D. Clear
Ans. B. Muddy as a ditch
Q16. How is the blood of the poetess’s lineage?
A. Impure
B. Thin, pure and clear
C. Gruel
D. As muddy as a ditch
Ans. B. Thin, pure and clear
Q17. What poetic device is used in the line ‘Fed on God for years’?
A. Metaphor
B. Onomatopoeia
C. Simile
D. Personification
Ans. A. Metaphor
Q18. What does the poetess mean by ‘condiments’?
A. God
B. Other religious practices and beliefs
C. Food
D. Dry fruits
Ans. B. Other religious practices and beliefs
Q19. What does the poetess mean by ‘feasts’?
A. God
B. Other religious practices and beliefs
C. Food
D. Dry fruits
Ans. A. God
Q20. What poetic device is used in the lines ‘mother’s mother’s mother’?
A. Personification
B. Simile
C. Repetition and alliteration
D. Metaphor
Ans. C. Repetition and alliteration
CBSE Class 12 English (Elective) Poem 8 Blood Extract-Based Questions
Answer the following extract-based questions.
A.
I know the rats are running now
Across the darkened halls
They do not fear the dead
I know the white ants have reached my home
And have raised on walls
Strange totems of burial.
At night, in stillness,
From every town I live in
I hear the rattle of its death
The noise of rafters creaking
And the windows’ whine.
I have let you down
Old house, I seek forgiveness
O mother’s mother’s mother
I have plucked your soul
Like a pip from a fruit
And have flung it into your pyre
Call me callous
Call me selfish
But do not blame my blood
So thin, so clear, so fine
The oldest blood in the world
That remembers as it flows
All the gems and all the gold
And all the perfumes and the oils
And the stately
Elephant ride…
Q1. Explain the imagery the poetess has used to convey the decay of her old house.
Ans. The poetess has used imagery of rats and termites to portray the decay of her home. She knows that the rats are running now fearlessly across the darkened halls. They aren’t afraid of their dead grandmother. She knows that the termites have reached her old home and built a strange tomb-like structure on the walls. The poetess’s great-grandmother and her old house are the symbols of the past, and became totemic figures, representing the cultural heritage and family history that are slowly disappearing.
Q2. Why is the poetess asking for her great-grandmother’s forgiveness?
Ans. The poetess feels sorry for disappointing their old house for not saving it from being reduced to ruins, and asks for her great-grandmother’s forgiveness as she has plucked her soul like a seed from the fruit only to be thrown into the fire.
Q3. What is the poetess defending at the end of the poem?
Ans. She feels guilty for her actions as she blames and calls out to herself as heartless and selfish. Yet, she defends her blood which is thin, pure and fine. The oldest blood in the world will always be remembered as it flows through all the gems, gold, perfumes, oils, and stately Elephant ride. Despite the house decaying, the family’s history of wealth, luxury and traditions will always be remembered by the poetess as long as the blood flows in her veins.
Q4. Explain the onomatopoeia used in the given stanza.
Ans. At night’s stillness, the poetess listens to the noises of its falling to death. The poetess has used onomatopoeia for the roof falling through the sound of ‘creaking’ and windows crying through the sound of ‘whine’.
Q5. What poetic device is used in the phrase ‘windows’ whine’?
Ans. Alliteration is used in the phrase ‘windows’ whine’.
B.
Finally she lay dying
In her eighty sixth year
A woman wearied by compromise
Her legs quilted with arthritis
And with only a hard cough
For comfort
I looked deep into her eyes
Her poor bleary eyes
And prayed that she would not grieve
So much about the house.
I had learnt by then
Most lessons of defeat,
Had found out that to grow rich
Was a difficult feat.
The house was crouching
On its elbows then,
It looked that night in the pallid moon
So grotesque and alive.
When they burnt my great-grandmother
Over logs of the mango tree
I looked once at the house
And then again and again
For I thought I saw the windows close
Like the closing of the eyes
I thought I heard the pillars groan
And the dark rooms heave a sigh.
I set forth again
For other towns,
Left the house with the shrine
And the sands
And the flowering shrubs
And the wide rabid mouth of the Arabian Sea.
Q1. At what age did the poetess’s great-grandmother die?
Ans. The poetess’s great-grandmother died at the age of eighty-six
Q2. What did the poetess do after her great-grandmother’s demise?
Ans. The poetess continued her life journey in another town. The poetess left her old house with the shrine, sand, plants and an extremely violent Arabian Sea.
Q3. What was the poetess praying for?
Ans. The poetess looked into the dull eyes of her great-grandmother and hoped she wouldn’t grieve about her decaying house.
Q4. How did their old house mourn at the death of the poetess’s great-grandmother?
Ans. The house is personified as a human kneeling on its elbows. Under the pale moon, the house looked strange, frightening and alive, when the poetess’s grandmother was burnt over the logs of the mango tree. The poetess looked again and again at the house as she saw the windows close as if the house was closing its eyes in sadness. The pillars of the old house cried in deep pain and the rooms expressed a deep audible exhalation of sadness.
Q5. What poetic device is used in the line ‘the wide rabid mouth of the Arabian Sea’?
Ans. Personification is used in the line ‘the wide rabid mouth of the Arabian Sea’ to describe the extremely violent nature of the sea.
C.
When I grow old, I said,
And very very rich
I shall rebuild the fallen walls
And make new this ancient house.
My great-grandmother
Touched my cheeks and smiled.
She was really simple.
Fed on God for years
All her feasts were monotonous
For the only dish was always God
And the rest mere condiments.
Q1. What would the poetess do after she grows old?
Ans. The poetess looked at her great-grandmother’s pitiful situation, then she said that when she grew old and rich, she would rebuild the old house.
Q2. Was she able to achieve her goals in the end?
Ans. Neither she was able to save the old house nor she could rebuild it.
Q3. Explain the line ‘Fed on God for years’?
Ans. The line ‘fed on God for years’ is a metaphor for the person’s spiritual sustenance, where their primary nourishment comes from their relationship or connection with God.
Q4. What does the poetess mean by ‘All her feasts were monotonous’ and ‘the rest mere condiments’?
Ans. Her grandmother was a simple woman whose spiritual life, or ‘feasts’ of faith, revolved solely around God, with little else in religious practices or beliefs, making them feel repetitive. There is a lack of variety in her spiritual experiences, as the only focus (dish) was always God. For her, God was the central focus of her spiritual life, with other aspects of her faith being secondary. The other religious practices or beliefs were merely supplementary (condiments) to the main focus, which is God.
Q5. What poetic device is used in the line ‘Fed on God for years’?
Ans. Metaphor is used in the line ‘Fed on God for years’.
D.
When we were children
My brother and I
And always playing on the sands
Drawing birds and animals
Our great-grandmother said one day,
You see this house of ours
Now three hundred years old,
It’s falling to little bits
Before our very eyes
The walls are cracked and torn
And moistened by the rains,
The tiles have fallen here and there
The windows whine and groan
And every night
The rats come out of the holes
And scamper past our doors.
The snake-shrine is dark with weeds
And all the snake-gods in the shrine
Have lichen on their hoods.
O it hurts me she cried,
Wiping a reddened eye
For I love this house, it hurts me much
To watch it die.
Q1. How old is the poetess’s great-grandmother’s house?
Ans. The old house of the poetess’s great-grandmother is three hundred years old.
Q2. Who is ‘we’ in the given context?
Ans. The ‘we’ in the given context is the poetess and her brother.
Q3. Explain the lines: ‘The snake-shrine is dark with weeds/And all the snake-gods in the shrine/Have lichen on their hoods.’
Ans. Their holy place has snake deities that aren’t visible to the naked eye as they are covered with weeds. All the snake deities have fungus growth on the covering of their heads. The deteriorating state of her holy place has left her great-grandmother hurt.
Q4. What was the condition of the great-grandmother’s house?
Ans. The great-grandmother’s house is three hundred years old, but now is falling apart before their eyes. The building material has deteriorated with time for rainwater to seep in eventually leading to cracks and crumbling of plasters. The tiles are falling out of their respective places. The window makes a long, high-pitched complaining cry. Every night the rats come out of their hiding place and run past their door. Their holy place has snake deities that aren’t visible to the naked eye as they are covered with weeds. All the snake deities have fungus growth on the covering of their heads. The deteriorating state of her holy place has left her great-grandmother hurt. She wiped her tears to see the dilapidated state of her house.
Q5. What hurt her great-grandmother?
Ans. The poetess’s great-grandmother was hurt to see the dilapidated state of her house.