Whatif Class 6 English NCERT Solutions Poem 8 Summary, Explanation, Difficult word meaning and Question Answer
Whatif Class 6 English Honeysuckle Book Poem 8 Summary and Explanation– In this post, please see Summary and detailed explanation of the Poem along with the meanings of difficult words. Also, the explanation is followed by the literary devices used in the Poem. All the exercises and Question Answers given at the back of the Poem have been covered.
Class 6 English (Honeysuckle Book) Poem 8 – Whatif
Whatif Poem Introduction
The poem is about the times when our mind is filled with fears and insecurities and we ask ourselves what if this or that happens. The poem tells us about how we sometimes think of all the dangerous and negative things that can happen to us.
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Whatif Poem Summary
The poet begins the poem by saying that he was lying on his bed and thinking about all that had happened throughout the day. Then, he started to think about some whatifs which kept on going through his head throughout the night. He asked himself what would happen if he were dumb in school. He was scared that he would not understand anything that would happen in school. He asked himself what would happen if the swimming pool would get closed. He probably loved swimming and was afraid that he would not get the chance to swim in the future. He asked himself what would happen if he would get beat up. He was afraid he was going to get badly injured someday. He asked himself what would happen if there was poison in his cup. He feared that someone would put poison in his cup and he would drink the liquid and possibly die. He asked himself what would happen if he would start to cry. He was scared of everyone making fun of him. He asked himself what would happen if he would get sick and die. He was worried that he would get a disease which would be so serious that he would die. He asked himself what would happen if he would flunk a test. He feared that something bad would happen if he got a bad score in a test. He asked himself what would happen if green hair would grow on his chest. He asked himself what would happen if a lightning bolt would strike him. He asked himself what would happen if he did not grow taller. He was afraid that he would remain a small person forever. He asked himself what would happen if his head would start to get smaller. He was afraid that instead of becoming bigger, he would become smaller. He asked himself what would happen if the fish would not bite the bait. He was afraid that he would not be able to catch a single fish while fishing. He asked himself what would happen if the wind tore up his kite. He asked himself what would happen if another war would start. He was afraid of losing his loved ones and even himself. He asked himself what would happen if his parents got divorced. He was afraid that he would have to say goodbye to one of the parents. He asked himself what would happen if his bus was late. He asked himself what would happen if his teeth didn’t grow in straight. He was scared that he would have to wear braces if his teeth wouldn’t be straight. He asked himself what would happen if he would tear his pants. He feared that he would embarrass himself in front of numerous other people. He asked himself what would happen if he never learned to dance. He feared that he would grow up to be a bad dancer. The poet woke up in the morning. It was a new day, and everything went well. Nothing bad happened, but when he would go back to bed at night, the whatifs would come in his mind again.
Whatif Poem Explanation
Last night, while I lay thinking here,
Some Whatifs crawled inside my ear
And pranced and partied all night long
And sang their same old Whatif song:
crawled: move by keeping your hands and knees on the ground and dragging them
pranced: danced
partied: enjoyed or had a lot of fun
The poet begins the poem by telling us that he was laying on his bed last night. He was thinking about something, when some strange questions came up in his mind and it was as if they were crawling into his ear. The Whatifs are referred to as some worms that move inside your ear and sing their song full of what if questions, which are heard clearly by the person. They dance and enjoy disturbing and scaring a person with their song. Their song has the same old negative vibe, which gives a person the same scared and tense feeling every night.
Whatif I’m dumb in school?
Whatif they’ve closed the swimming-pool?
Whatif I get beat up?
Whatif there’s poison in my cup?
dumb: stupid, someone who understands nothing
Beat up: get injured by someone
The poet begins to ask himself what would happen if he could not understand anything that his teachers taught him. He was afraid that no one would like him and he would be unpopular amongst other students because he did not understand anything that his classmates talked of. He asked himself what would happen if the swimming-pool would get closed. Here, ‘they’ refers to the people who own or are in-charge of the swimming-pool. The poet must have liked swimming, and was afraid that he would not get a chance to swim in the future because the swimming-pool would get closed. He asked himself what would happen if he got beat up. He wondered how his parents would react if they saw that their child was beaten up by someone. He feared that he would get injured so badly that it would affect him for life. He asked himself what would happen if there was poison in his cup. He feared that one day, he would drink a liquid from a cup which would have poison in it and he would die that day.
Whatif I start to cry?
Whatif I get sick and die?
Whatif I flunk that test?
Whatif green hair grows on my chest?
flunk: fail to reach a particular level
He asked himself what would happen if he started to cry. People who cry a lot are sometimes called crybabies. Such people are often laughed at because they are too emotional and sensitive, like a baby. So, the poet feared that his classmates would laugh at him if he would start to cry. He asked himself what would happen if he got so sick that he would never recover and he would die. He asked himself what would happen if he failed to get passing marks on a test. He was afraid that his parents would scold him for failing a test, and that he would become more unpopular in school. He asked himself what would happen if green hair grew on his chest. Here, ‘green hair’ means hair infected with bacteria or fungus. It means that the poet feared that he would get some sort of an infection on his chest, which would make him even more unpopular in school.
Whatif nobody likes me?
Whatif a bolt of lightning strikes me?
Whatif I don’t grow taller?
Whatif my head starts getting smaller?
bolt: a jagged white flash of lightning
strikes: hits
He asked himself what would happen if nobody liked him. He was afraid of being lonely. He asked himself what would happen if a white flash of lightning hit him. He feared that he would lose his life in a weird and scary accident. He asked himself what would happen if he did not grow taller. He was afraid that he would never grow up to have an adult and mature appearance. He did not want to remain a child forever. He asked himself what would happen if his head started getting smaller. He was afraid that instead of becoming taller and bigger, he would become shorter and smaller. He feared that everyone else of his age would grow up in the future but he would become smaller.
Whatif the fish won’t bite?
Whatif the wind tears up my kite?
Whatif they start a war?
Whatif my parents get divorced?
He asked himself what would happen if the fish would not bite. He probably liked fishing. In fishing, we take a fishing pole and tie bait which is something a fish would eat, in order to lure and capture a fish. So, the poet was afraid that the fish would not bite the bait and he would not be able to fish any more. He asked himself what would happen if the wind tore up his kite. He probably liked kites and was quite attached to them. Usually, when the wind tears up a kite, you cannot repair it and thus it is finished. So, the poet was afraid of losing something precious in life. He asked himself what would happen if there would be another war. Here, ‘they’ refers to the political leaders of different countries. So, he feared that politicians would start another war in which he would lose his life or his family. He asked himself what would happen if his parents got divorced. He loved his parents and he did not want them to be separated. So, he thought of the scary possibility that his parents could get divorced.
Whatif the bus is late?
Whatif my teeth don’t grow in straight?
Whatif I tear my pants?
Whatif I never learn to dance?
He asked himself what would happen if the bus was late. Here, the bus is his school bus. He wondered what would happen if his school bus was late. He asked himself what would happen if his teeth did not grow straight. He was scared that he would have to wear braces in case his teeth did not grow straight. He asked himself what would happen if he tore his pants. He was afraid that his pants would tear up without him knowing and everyone would laugh at him. He was scared of being embarrassed in front of others. He asked himself what would happen if he never learned to dance. He feared that he would be bad dancing and because of that, no one would want to be friends with him.
Everything seems swell, and then
The night-time Whatif strikes again
swell: very good
The poet writes that during day-time, none of the Whatifs actually happen. Even though he is scared that something will happen, nothing happens and he is safe and sound. But at night-time, when he goes to bed, Whatifs again crawl into his ear and prance, party and sing their song all night long. It means that even though nothing happens to him throughout the day, he is scared that something devastating or embarrassing will happen in the future and this fear does not leave him, no matter what.
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Word Meaning
Unconscious- not awake and aware
Fatigue- tiredness
Alert – quick to notice and react to something unusual
Reveal- disclose, tell
Great deal – a lot of
Unfathomable – here, very deep that it cannot be measured
Winding- a twisting path
Whatif Poem Question Answers
Q1. (i) Who is the speaker in the poem?
(ii) With your partner, list out the happenings the speaker is worried about.
(iii) Why do you think she/he has these worries? Can you think of ways to get rid of such worries?
Ans. (i) The poet Shel Silverstein is the speaker in the poem.
(ii) The following points are the happenings the speaker is worried about –
- What if he were dumb in school.
- What if they closed up the swimming pool.
- What if he got beat up.
- What if there was poison in his cup
- What if he started to cry.
- What if he got sick and died.
- What if he flunked the test.
- What if green hair grew on his chest.
- What if nobody liked him.
- What if a bolt of lightning struck him.
- What if he did not grow taller.
- What if his head started to become smaller.
- What if the fish would not fish.
- What if the wind tore up his kite.
- What if they started a war.
- What if my parents got divorced.
- What if his bus got late.
- What if his teeth did not grow in straight.
- What if he tore his pants.
- What if he never learnt to dance.
(iii) To get rid of such worries, he or she should do the following practices –
- Engage your mind in recreational or creative work.
- Focus on other things.
- Practice yoga and do meditation regularly.
- Share your feelings with family and friends.
- Write about your feelings in diary or journal.
- Get some rest.
Q2. Read the following line.
Some Whatifs crawled inside my ear
Can words crawl into your ear? This is an image. The poet is trying to make an image of what she/he experiences. Now with your partner try and list out some more images from the poem.
Ans. The images we can see in the poem are given in the following lines –
- And pranced and partied all night long.
- And sang their same old Whatif song:
- Last night, while I lay thinking here,
Q3. In groups of four discuss some more ‘whatifs’ that you experience in your day to day life and list them out.
(i) —————————————————————————————————
(ii) —————————————————————————————————
(iii) —————————————————————————————————
(iv) —————————————————————————————————
(v) —————————————————————————————————
(vi) —————————————————————————————————
(vii) —————————————————————————————————
(viii) —————————————————————————————————
Ans. (i) Whatif I don’t achieve my goals?
(ii) Whatif I end up being poor?
(iii) Whatif an insect bites me?
(iv) Whatif I fall down the stairs?
(v) Whatif the stars disappear?
(vi) Whatif they stop baking cakes?
(vii) Whatif the world comes to an end?
(vii) Whatif the sun doesn’t rise?