Class 12 English (Elective) Poem 3 – Poems by Blake Important Question Answers from Kaleidoscope Book Poetry
Class 12 English (Elective) Poems by Blake Question Answers – Looking for questions and answers for CBSE Class 12 English (Elective) Poem 3 – Poems by Blake? 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 3 – Poems by Blake 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.
- Poems by Blake NCERT Solutions
- Poems by Blake Grammar Exercise
- Poems by Blake Extra Question Answers
- Poems by Blake Multiple Choice Questions
- Poems by Blake Extract Based Questions
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Poems by Blake Textbook Questions (NCERT Solutions)
Understanding the Poem
1. How are these two matched poems related to each other in content? How is the human being depicted in the Song of Innocence and how is he/she depicted in the Song of Experience? Do we find both aspects working in an average human being?
Ans. The two poems by William Blake, ‘The Divine Image’ and ‘The Human Abstract’ are related to each other by the virtues of delight. While in the former poem, he has highlighted the virtues of delight like mercy, pity, peace and love in a positive way leading the humankind to divinity. The latter poem questions these virtues as they have given birth to sufferings, vices like cruelty, Deceit, and humility. It has also given birth to the organized religion and the suffering the humankind has to go through. The humans are happy as they are connected to divinity in the poem ‘The Divine Image’, whereas there is a discord and tyranny among the humankind leading to their sufferings. Yes, both the aspects are working on an average human being.
2. How would you explain the lines:
For Mercy has a human heart,
Pity a human face,
And Love, the human form divine,
And Peace, the human dress.
Ans. Blake has personified Mercy as ‘human heart’ as it resides in one’s heart, compassion towards others, and it takes a good heart to forgive. He has personified pity as ‘human face’ as humans who are concerned and experience sorrow for the misfortunes of others, which could be seen in their disposition. He has compared love to ‘human form divine’ as when humans love every other human, regardless of their vices, they become the embodiment of divinity. Blake has compared peace to ‘human dress’ as every human can choose to wear it if they carry virtues within themselves, no matter what the situation they are in.
3. How do Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love get distorted in the human brain?
Ans. The virtues of delight, like mercy, pity, peace and love, get distorted when they come in contact with the cruelty of false religion. These false religious clergy used these virtues to deceive humankind, making them have a low viewpoint of themselves. They control humankind by using the false religious myths and fears to make them the followers of these false religious beliefs.
4. Blake’s poetry expresses one aspect of his multi-dimensional view of human experience—of mankind once whole and happy, now fallen into discord and tyranny, from which it must be rescued. Explain with reference to these two poems.
Ans. Mankind was happily connected to divinity through the virtues of delight like mercy, pity, peace and love. Yet, when they come in contact with organized religion, they have increased the sufferings of humankind, as they have become followers of these false religions. The false religions’ clergymen have made them fearful towards the religion, as they were made to follow their false religion myth. According to Blake, the virtues gave birth to the vices and the organized religion, which has left discord and tyranny among the humankind.
Poems by Blake Grammar Exercises
Language Work
1. Certain words in the poem have been capitalised. Can you think of reasons for this?
Ans. The moral qualities like mercy, pity, peace, and love are capitalised to give the human-like aspect to them. Blake has capitalised these moral qualities to consider them as Nouns. It is one of the characteristics of a literary device called personification. According to Blake, to connect with God, humans need to have these virtues. They are bonds that connect humans to God.
2. Count the syllables in the lines of ‘The Divine Image’. Do you see a pattern?
Ans. The first line has eight syllables and the second line has six syllables. Two syllables make a foot in poetry. Here the first syllable of each foot is unstressed and the second syllable is stressed.
CBSE Class 12 English (Elective) Poem 3- Poems by Blake Extra Question and Answers
Answer the following questions.
Q1. What is William Blake’s viewpoint on Religion in the poem’ The Divine Image’?
Ans. Blake persuades humans to love every other human being as they are an embodiment of God, no matter what their religion, whether they are heathen, jew, or Turk. Blake feels that if virtues like peace, pity, love, and mercy reside in a human, God resides, too, within them. Here, Blake highlights discrimination of Christianity, as he feels that God resides in heathens, jews and Turks, too.
Q2. How did Blake describe the virtues of delight in the poem ‘The Divine Image’?
Ans. Blake describes these personified virtues separately and how they relate to other humankind. Mercy resides in one’s heart and compassion towards others, and it takes a good heart to forgive. Humans who are concerned and experience sorrow for the misfortunes of others, which could be seen in their disposition. When humans love every other human, regardless of their vices, they become the embodiment of divinity. Peace becomes a dress every human can choose to wear if they carry virtues within themselves, no matter what the situation they are in.
Q3. What do the Caterpillar and Fly represent?
Ans. The Caterpillar and Fly Feed upon them. The ‘caterpillar’ and ‘fly’ are metaphors for the clergy and other religious figures, who feed off the system of religion.
Q4. What does Raven nest in the thickest shade represent?
Ans. Raven, a black bird with an unpleasant voice, has its nest in the thickest shade of this tree. The raven symbolizes death and the destructive nature of organized religion. The raven’s nest is in the “thickest shade”, which suggests the secrecy and obscurity of religion. Blake, here, emphasises that organized religion only brings destruction.
Q5. What do the Gods of the sea and Earth search for?
Ans. All the gods of sea and Earth search through nature to find this tree, but their search was futile, as it grows in the human brain. The tree is an allusion to the biblical tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which exists only in the human mind. Organized religion is a human construct for suffering. The Good and Evil don’t exist in reality but are products of the human brain, where the tree of organized religion grows.
Class 12 Poems by Blake Multiple Choice Questions
Q1. What is the poetic device used in ‘Pity a human face’?
A. Personification
B. Metaphor
C. Repetition
D. Symbolism
Ans. A. Personification
Q2. What’s the relationship between God and humans?
A. Father and daughter
B. Father and son
C. Mother and daughter
D. Brotherhood
Ans. B. Father and son
Q3. Which virtue is personified as a human face?
A. Pity
B. Love
C. Peace
D. Mercy
Ans. A. Pity
Q4. Which virtue is personified as a human form divine?
A. Love
B. Peace
C. Mercy
D. Pity
Ans. A. Love
Q5. Which virtue is personified as a human dress?
A. Mercy
B. Love
C. Pity
D. Peace
Ans. D. Peace
Q6. Which virtue is personified as the human heart?
A. Peace
B. Love
C. Pity
D. Mercy
Ans. D. Mercy
Q7. Where does God dwell?
A. In human beings with cruelty
B. In human beings with virtues
C. In human beings with vices
D. In human beings with Humility
Ans. B. In human beings with virtues
Q8. What is the poetic device used in the following lines, ‘for Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love’?
A. Personification
B. Alliteration
C. Repetition
D. Symbolism
Ans. A. Personification
Q9. When does the human pray to God?
A. In mercy
B. In distress
C. In love
D. In peace
Ans. B. In distress
Q10. What are the four virtues called?
A. Virtues of cruelty
B. Virtues of deceit
C. Virtues of delight
D. Virtues of desires
Ans. C. Virtues of delight
Q11. What is the poetic device used in the lines,’ Then Cruelty knits a snare/And spreads his baits with care’?
A. Imagery
B. Symbolism
C. Alliteration
D. Repetition
Ans. A. Imagery
Q12. What would happen if every human being were happy?
A. There would be no peace
B. There would be no love
C. There would be no mercy
D. There would be no pity
Ans. C. There would be no mercy.
Q13. What would happen if there were no poor?
A. There would be no pity
B. There would be no love
C. There would be no peace
D. There would be no mercy
Ans. A. There would be no pity
Q14. What brings peace among humans?
A. Mutual interest
B. Mutual love
C. Mutual respect
D. Mutual fears
Ans. D. Mutual fears
Q15. Who waters the ground with his tears to grow the tree of Humility?
A. Humans who are victims of humility
B. Humans who are victims of cruelty
C. Humans who are victims of deceit
D. Cruel humans
Ans. B. Humans who are victims of cruelty
Q16. Who is feeding on the tree of Humility?
A. Bug
B. Fly and Caterpillar
C. Raven
D. Butterflies
Ans. B. Fly and Caterpillar
Q17. Who has made the nest on the tree of Humility?
A. Raven
B. Crow
C. Eagle
D. Sparrow
Ans. A. Raven
Q18. Where does the tree of Humility grow?
A. Mountain region
B. Nature’s lap
C. Human Brain
D. Forest
Ans. C. Human Brain
Q19. Who is searching for the tree of Humility?
A. Birds
B. Humans
C. Blake
D. God of seas and Earth
Ans. D. God of seas and Earth
Q20. What does Raven symbolise?
A. Bad omen
B. Good luck
C. Fox
D. White bird
Ans. A. Bad omen
CBSE Class 12 English (Elective) Poem 3 Poems by Blake Extract-Based Questions
Answer the following extract-based questions.
A.
For Mercy has a human heart,
Pity a human face,
And Love, the human form divine,
And Peace, the human dress.
Q1. What does the poet mean by ‘Mercy has a human heart’?
Ans. Blake has personified Mercy as ‘human heart’ as it resides in one’s heart, compassion towards others, and it takes a good heart to forgive.
Q2. What does the poet mean by the following line, ‘Pity a human face’?
Ans. He has personified pity as ‘human face’ as humans who are concerned and experience sorrow for the misfortunes of others, which could be seen in their disposition.
Q3. How does the poet relate love to divinity?
Ans. Blake has compared love to ‘human form divine’ as when humans love every other human, regardless of their vices, they become the embodiment of divinity.
Q4. Why does the poet compare peace with human dress?
Ans. Blake has compared peace to ‘human dress’ as every human can choose to wear it if they carry virtues within themselves, no matter what the situation they are in.
Q5. What is the poetic device used in the phrase ‘human heart’?
Ans. Alliteration is used in the phrase ‘human heart’.
B.
Then every man, of every clime,
That prays in his distress,
Prays to the human form divine,
Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace.
And all must love the human form,
In heathen, Turk, or jew;
Where Mercy, Love, and Pity dwell
There God is dwelling too.
Q1. What does the poet mean by the following lines, ‘Prays to the human form divine’?
Ans. Blake argues that everyone, regardless of their religion, culture, or country, who prays in suffering are, in reality, praying to the humans, the embodiment of God.
Q2. What is Blake’s viewpoint towards religion?
Ans. Blake persuades humans to love every other human being as they are an embodiment of God, no matter what their religion, whether they are heathen, jew, or Turk. Blake feels that if virtues like peace, pity, love, and mercy reside in a human, God resides too within them. Here, Blake highlights discrimination of Christianity, as he feels that God resides in heathens, jews and Turks, too.
Q3. Where does God reside?
Ans. Blake feels that if virtues like peace, pity, love, and mercy reside in a human, God resides, too, within them.
Q4. What is the poetic device used in the line, ‘Then every man, of every clime’?
Ans. Assonance is used in the line, ‘Then every man, of every clime’, with the repetition of vowel ‘e’.
Q5. Whom does the human pray to when they are suffering?
Ans. Blake argues that everyone, regardless of their religion, culture, or country, who prays in suffering are, in reality, praying to the humans, the embodiment of God.
C.
And mutual fear brings peace,
Till the selfish loves increase:
Then Cruelty knits a snare,
And spreads his baits with care.
He sits down with holy fears,
And waters the ground with tears;
Then Humility takes its root
Underneath his foot.
Q1. Describe the imagery Blake used to describe Cruelty?
Ans. Cruelty, a vice, then makes the trap and spreads the food with care. It’s only through these four virtues that cruelty arises in humans.
Q2. Who is referred to as ‘he’ in the given context?
Ans. He is the god fearing person who gets trapped in the cruelty of others.
Q3. Which tree is growing under his foot?
Ans. The Tree of Humility is growing under his foot.
Q4. Whom cruelty is trying to catch in his trap?
Ans. Cruelty is trying to catch human beings in his trap.
Q5. How do mutual fears bring peace?
Ans. Peace won’t exist if there is no shared anxiety between peoples, as the selfishness increases, the rise of insecurities, too, leads to conflicts. Blake describes that peace exists among people when they share fears. Yet, as their selfishness increases, there will be conflicts.
D.
Soon spreads the dismal shade
Of Mystery over his head;
And the Caterpillar and Fly
Feed on the Mystery.
And it bears the fruit of Deceit,
Ruddy and sweet to eat;
And the Raven his nest has made
In its thickest shade.
The Gods of the earth and sea
Sought thro’ Nature to find this Tree;
But their search was all in vain:
There grows one in the Human Brain.
Q1. Who is searching for the tree of Humility?
Ans. The Gods of earth and sea are searching for the tree of Humility.
Q2. Where does the tree of Humility grow?
Ans. The tree of Humility grows in the human brain.
Q3. Who made the nest on the tree of Humility?
Ans. Raven, a black bird with an unpleasant voice, made the nest on the tree of Humility.
Q4. What does Raven symbolise?
Ans. Raven is a messenger of death and symbolises a bad omen.
Q5. Which fruit grows on the tree of Humility?
Ans. The fruit of Deceit grows on the tree of Humility.