now the leaves are falling fast

 

BSEB Class 12 English Poem 3 Now the leaves are falling fast Summary, Explanation, and Question Answers from Rainbow Book 

Now The Leaves Are Falling Fast – BSEB Class 12 English Poem 3 Now The Leaves Are Falling Fast Summary and detailed line by line explanations of the poem along with the meanings of difficult words.

 

BSEB Class 12 English Rainbow Book Poem 3 – Now The Leaves Are Falling Fast

By W.H. Auden

 

 
 

Now The Leaves Are Falling Fast Introduction

 

The present lyric ‘Now the Leaves are Falling Fast’ enacts the frustration inherent in human life, the aspirations that are not fulfilled and the sense of loneliness in which every individual lives and dies. 
 
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Now The Leaves Are Falling Fast Summary

In the first stanza the poet explained how fast the leaves were falling from the trees and how the flowers wouldn’t last for that long. Flowers that were growing under or beside a supporting tree called ‘nurse’ were also dying to the grave and were being taken by a four wheeled baby carriage called prams. The poet compared human life with the trees and he meant that all human beings were going towards death very fast, due to diseases and other reasons. During their lifespan, their desires and aspirations were not fulfilled. So, they became hopeless and felt lonely. Like a tree, every human life had to be destroyed. Nothing would last that long. Despite this , the life cycle would go on.

In the second stanza the poet was frustrated by the behavior of selfish modern men. The poet explained that the messengers of death were present everywhere in different forms, to snatch human happiness. People show the feeling of fake love to one another. Poet also said that the hands that were active once would become ice cold after death by which he meant that the people who were alive today would die tomorrow. People had confined themselves. They were suffering from the sense of loneliness in which they lived and died.

In the third stanza the poet talked about hundreds of dead bodies which were being carried in wooden coffins at the back of people by raising their arms stiffly and expressing sharp disapproval or criticism of humans because of their behaviour or actions. The dead people were going empty handed as they were mocking the false attitude of human beings. Perhaps they  were saying that they were not taking anything from this world with themselves.

In the fourth stanza the poet compared the lives of old men to the leafess woods. He talked about how starving wicked and ugly creatures like wolves were searching for their prey in this world. As the gentlemen dared not to oppose them, they remained silent. Since the world had deteriorated too much, no angel would come to rescue them. The shocked silence of the nightingale completed the images of death.

In the last stanza the poet explained how a very desert-like situation, lifeless, hopeless and nothingness had enveloped it and when the winter came there was a hope for life. Then the mountain raised its head, satisfied the thirst of all those travellers who had been waiting for a very long time. The poet concluded the poem with a feeling of optimism. The poet said that like a tree every human life had to be destroyed. Death provided silence and peace like white waterfalls which produced inner pleasantness and peace.

 
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Now The Leaves Are Falling Fast Summary in Hindi

पहले छंद में कवि ने बताया कि पेड़ों से पत्तियाँ कितनी तेजी से गिर रही थीं और फूल इतने लंबे समय तक कैसे टिक नहीं पाएंगे। फूल जोनर्सनामक सहायक पेड़ के नीचे या उसके बगल में उग रहे थे, वे भी कब्र की ओर बढ़ रहे थे और उन्हें चार पहियों वाली बच्चों की गाड़ी जिसे प्रैम कहा जाता है, में ले जाया जा रहा था। कवि ने मानव जीवन की तुलना वृक्षों से की है और उसका आशय यह है कि सभी मनुष्य बीमारियों तथा अन्य कारणों से बहुत तेजी से मृत्यु की ओर जा रहे हैं। उनके जीवनकाल में उनकी इच्छाएँ एवं आकांक्षाएँ पूरी नहीं हुईं। इसलिए, वे निराश हो गए और अकेलापन महसूस करने लगे। वृक्ष की तरह हर मानव जीवन को नष्ट होना पड़ा। कोई भी चीज़ इतने लंबे समय तक नहीं टिकेगी, इसके बावजूद जीवन चक्र चलता रहेगा।

दूसरे छंद में कवि स्वार्थी आधुनिक मनुष्यों के व्यवहार से निराश है। कवि ने बताया कि मनुष्य की खुशियाँ छीनने के लिए मृत्यु के दूत विभिन्न रूपों में हर जगह मौजूद थे। लोग एक दूसरे से नकली प्यार का एहसास दिखाते हैं। कवि ने यह भी कहा कि जो हाथ एक बार सक्रिय थे वे मृत्यु के बाद बर्फ जैसे ठंडे हो जायेंगे, जिससे उनका तात्पर्य यह था कि जो लोग आज जीवित हैं वे कल मर जायेंगे। लोगों ने खुद को सीमित कर लिया था  वे अकेलेपन की भावना से पीड़ित थे जिसमें वे जीते और मरते थे। 

तीसरे छंद में कवि ने उन सैकड़ों शवों के बारे में बात की, जिन्हें लकड़ी के ताबूतों में पीछे की ओर ले जाया जा रहा था, लोग अपनी बाहें सख्ती से ऊपर उठा रहे थे और अपने व्यवहार या कार्यों के कारण मनुष्यों की तीव्र अस्वीकृति या आलोचना व्यक्त कर रहे थे। मरे हुए लोग खाली हाथ जा रहे थे क्योंकि वे मनुष्य की झूठी मनोवृत्ति का उपहास कर रहे थे। शायद वे कह रहे थे कि वे इस दुनिया से कुछ भी अपने साथ नहीं ले जा रहे हैं।

चौथे छंद में कवि ने बूढ़ों के जीवन की तुलना पत्तों वाले जंगलों से की है। उन्होंने बताया कि कैसे भेड़िये जैसे भूखे दुष्ट और बदसूरत जीव इस दुनिया में अपना शिकार खोज रहे थे। चूँकि सज्जनों ने उनका विरोध करने का साहस किया, इसलिए वे चुप रहे। चूँकि दुनिया बहुत बिगड़ चुकी थी, इसलिए कोई भी देवदूत उन्हें बचाने नहीं आएगा। कोकिला की स्तब्ध चुप्पी ने मृत्यु की छवियों को पूरा किया।

आखिरी छंद में कवि ने बताया कि किस तरह एक बेहद रेगिस्तान जैसी स्थिति, बेजान, निराशाजनक और शून्यता ने इसे घेर लिया था और जब सर्दी आई तो जीवन की आशा जगी। तब पर्वत ने अपना सिर उठाया और उन सभी यात्रियों की प्यास बुझाई जो बहुत लंबे समय से प्रतीक्षा कर रहे थे। कवि ने आशावाद की भावना के साथ कविता का समापन किया। कवि ने कहा कि वृक्ष की तरह हर मानव जीवन को नष्ट होना है। मृत्यु ने सफेद झरनों की तरह मौन और शांति प्रदान की जिससे आंतरिक सुखदता और शांति उत्पन्न हुई।

 
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Video Explanation of Now The Leaves Are Falling Fast

 

 
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Now The Leaves Are Falling Fast Poem Explanation

Poem :
Now the leaves are falling fast,
Nurse’s flowers will not last;
Nurses to the graves are gone,
And the prams go rolling on. 

Word meaning
Nurse’s flowers
– flowers growing under or beside a supporting tree called ‘nurse’.
Prams- (perambulators) a four wheeled baby carriage.

Explanation of the above poem : In the first stanza the poet explained how fast the leaves were falling from the trees and how the flowers won’t last for that long. Flowers that were growing under or beside a supporting tree called ‘nurse’ were also dying to the grave and were being taken by a four wheeled baby carriage called prams. The poet compared human life with the trees and he meant that all human beings were going towards death very fast, due to diseases and other reasons. During their lifespan, their desires and aspirations were not fulfilled. So, they became hopeless and felt lonely. Like a tree, every human life had to be destroyed. Nothing would last that long. Despite this , the life cycle would go on.

Poem :
Whispering neighbours, left and right,
Pluck us from the real delight:
And the active hands must freeze
Lonely on the separate knees.

Word meaning
whispering neighbours- agents or messengers of death.
Pluck-  detach, take away
Freeze- become ice cold after death

Explanation of the above poem : In the second stanza the poet was frustrated by the behavior of selfish modern men. The poet explained that the messengers of death were present everywhere in a different form to snatch human happiness. The poet talked about how a man’s life was made miserable by the neighbors, who talked bad about them and took away their happiness. People show the feeling of fake love to one another. Poet also said that the hands that were active once would become ice cold after death by which he meant that the people who were alive today would die tomorrow. People had confined themselves. They were suffering from the sense of loneliness in which they lived and died.

Poem :
Dead in hundreds at the back
Follow wooden in our track,
Arms raised stiffly to reprove
In false attitudes of love.

Word meaning
Wooden
–  in wooden coffins
Stiffly- in a hardened, difficult way
Reprove- rebuke
Attitudes- ways of thinking

Explanation of the above poem : In the third stanza the poet talked about hundreds of dead bodies which were being carried in wooden coffins at the back of people by raising their arms stiffly and expressing sharp disapproval or criticism of humans because of their behaviour or actions. The dead people were going empty handed as they were mocking the false attitude of human beings. Perhaps they  were saying that they were not taking anything from this world with themselves.

Poem :
Starving through the leafless wood
Trolls run scolding for their food:
And the nightingale is dumb.
And the angle will not come.

Word meaning
Starving
suffering or dying from hunger.
Trolls- wicked and ugly creatures in Scandinavian mythology.
Nightingale- a small migratory bird
Angle– artistic or human perspective.

Explanation of the above poem : In the fourth stanza the poet compared the lives of oldmen to the leafess woods. He talked about how starving wicked and ugly creatures like wolves were searching for their prey in this world. As the gentlemen dared not to oppose them and they were silent. Since the world had deteriorated too much no angel would come to rescue them. The shocked silence of the nightingale completed the images of death.

Poem :
Cold, impossible, ahead
Lists the mountain’s lovely head
Whose white waterfall could bless
Travellers in their last distress. 

Word meaning
last distress-
end of life, death 

Explanation of the above poem : In the last stanza the poet explained how a very desert-like situation, lifeless, hopeless and nothingness had enveloped it and when the winter came there was a hope for life. Then the mountain raised its head, satisfied the thirst of all those travellers who had been waiting for a very long time. The poet concluded the poem with a feeling of optimism. The poet said that like a tree every human life had to be destroyed.The death provided silence and peace like white waterfalls who produced inner pleasantness and peace.

 

Poetic/Literary Devices

Following poetic/literary devices have been used in the poem Now the Leaves are Falling fast :

  1. Symbolism: Symbolism is a literary device that uses symbols, be they words, people, marks, locations, or abstract ideas to represent something beyond the literal meaning. “Prams go rolling on” symbolizes the cycle of life.
  2. Alliteration- It is the repetition of consonant sound in the line. Examples of alliteration in this poem are “falling fast” in the first line of the first stanza and “graves” and “gone” in the third line of the first stanza. 
  3. Rhyme scheme – aabb
  4. Anaphora –
    And the nightingale is dumb.And the angle will not come.
  5. Metaphor -‘leaves’ are compared to humans. The title – ‘Now the leaves are falling fast’ implies that humans are dying quickly.
    ‘whispering neighbours’ – messengers of death compared to neighbours
  6. Enjambment –
    Dead in hundreds at the back
    Follow wooden in our track
    Starving through the leafless wood
    Trolls run scolding for their food:
  7. Allusion – the reference to famous person, place or event. ‘Trolls’ are mythological creatures.

 
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