A Concrete Example Summary and Explanation
CBSE Class 8 English Unit 1 – Wit And Wisdom Chapter 2 – A Concrete Example Summary, Explanation along with Difficult Word Meanings from Poorvi Book
“A Concrete Example” is a humorous poem by Reginald Arkel from CBSE Class 8 English Poorvi Book Unit 1 Chapter 2, Wit and Wisdom. The poem is about the poet’s neighbour Mrs. Jones who has a uniquely decorated garden. It ends with an ironic twist when the poet discovers that the flower Mrs. Jones has been describing for fifteen minutes is the very flower he has been unknowingly standing on. The poem teaches us to pay attention to small and delicate things around us.
Question: What are the Important Keywords / Value Points of ‘A Concrete Example’?
Ans. The keywords of the poem are-
- Mrs. Jones’s Garden, A Labour of Love: Mrs. Jones’s garden is carefully and lovingly designed with stones, a lily pond, a rockery and a sundial. Every element reflects her deep passion for gardening and extraordinary attention to detail showing genuine joy in creating and maintaining beauty around her.
- The Tiny Flowers, Beauty in Small Things: The tiny delicate flowers between the stones represent all the small beautiful details in life we tend to overlook. They are so fragile they can be destroyed without anyone noticing showing the importance of being attentive and appreciative of small beauties around us.
- The Humorous Irony, The Final Twist: The most delightful moment is when Mrs. Jones reveals the flower she described for fifteen minutes is the one the poet has been standing on. This ironic ending shows the human tendency to overlook and damage what we do not pay proper attention to.
- Mrs. Jones’s Obsession with Perfection: Mrs. Jones spends fifteen minutes describing a single tiny flower showing how much each small detail means to her. This obsession with perfection is both admirable and gently humorous making her one of the most charming characters in Class 8 English poetry.
- Human Carelessness, A Gentle Warning: The poet unknowingly steps on a beautiful flower while listening to its description. This gently warns us about the human tendency to be careless toward small and delicate things reminding us to be more careful and appreciative every day.
- Wit and Humor, The Heart of the Poem: The poem perfectly lives up to its unit title “Wit and Wisdom.” The humor builds naturally through the description of Mrs. Jones’s unusual garden and culminates in the brilliantly funny final twist making it one of the most enjoyable poems in Class 8 English.
A Concrete Example Quick Overview
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Poem Title | A Concrete Example |
| Book | CBSE Class 8 English Poorvi Book |
| Unit | Unit 1 Wit and Wisdom |
| Chapter No. | Chapter 2 |
| Narrator | First Person (The Poet Himself) |
| Author | Reginald Arkel |
| Setting | Mrs. Jones’s Garden |
| Theme | Beauty of Small Things, Human Carelessness and Gentle Humor |
- A Concrete Example Summary
- A Concrete Example Theme based Questions
- A Concrete Example Explanation
- A Concrete Example Poetic Devices
- A Concrete Examples Summary in Hindi
Related:
Question: Give a Summary of the Class 8 English Poem ‘A Concrete Example’
Ans. The poet describes Mrs. Jones’s garden in the poem. Mrs. Jones is the poet’s next-door neighbour. Mrs. Jones has decorated her garden with stones, a lily pond, a rockery, and a strange sundial. The poet finds her garden to be a bit weird, but Mrs. Jones is proud of her garden. There are small plants and flowers between the stones, which are so small and delicate that they can easily go unnoticed. The small flowers and plants are so perfectly placed that the poet wonders if Mrs. Jones has fixed them with a pin. One day, Mrs. Jones invites the poet to visit her garden. As the poet explores her decorated garden, the poet then stops and unknowingly steps on one of the delicate flowers between the stones. Mrs. Jones begins to describe that flower in detail. Interested, the poet asks Mrs. Jones to show him the flower. He is then shocked to know that the flower is the one he is unknowingly standing on.
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Questions Based on the Themes of the Poem A Concrete Example
Question: How does the poem show the beauty and fragility of small things?
Ans. The tiny delicate flowers between stones represent fragile beautiful things easily overlooked. The final ironic twist where the poet stands on the flower shows that the most delicate beautiful things are always most carelessly destroyed.
Question: How does the poem use humor and irony effectively?
Ans. Humor builds gradually through Mrs. Jones’s unusual garden and tiny flowers planted with a pin. Irony reaches its climax when the flower described for fifteen minutes is the one the poet has been unknowingly standing on throughout.
Question: How does the poem justify its title “A Concrete Example”?
Ans. Literally it refers to concrete stones in Mrs. Jones’s garden. Symbolically it means the poem itself is a real life example of how humans carelessly overlook and destroy small beautiful things without realizing what they are doing.
Question: Describe the writing style of Reginald Arkel.
Ans. Arkel writes in a light playful and humorous style. The AABBCC rhyme scheme creates a musical quality. Repetition of the opening line creates a charming rhythm and humor builds naturally toward the brilliantly ironic and perfectly timed final punchline.
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A Concrete Example Poem Explanation
Poem:
My next-door neighbour, Mrs. Jones,
has got a garden full of stones:
A crazy path, a lily pond,
a rockery and, just beyond
A sundial with a strange device,
which Mrs. Jones thinks is rather nice.
Word-meanings:
crazy: (in this context) something extreme
rockery: a heaped arrangement of rough stones with soil between them, planted with rock plants
Poem Explanation: The speaker of the poem talks of his neighbour, Mrs. Jones. Mrs. Jones is fond of gardening. She has a garden that has a path surrounded by decorative stones. Her garden also has a pond full of lilies and a rockery, and at the end of the path, there is a sundial that works uniquely. Therefore, Mrs. Jones’s garden is unique and different, and it is too extreme for the poet. However, the last line suggests that Mrs. Jones is proud of how her garden looks. The rhyming scheme of this stanza is AABBCC.
Questions related to the stanza above-
Question: What unique features make Mrs. Jones’s garden “crazy” according to the poet?
Ans. Mrs. Jones’s garden contains a crazy path, lily pond, rockery, and a sundial with a strange device, all “full of stones”, which the poet finds extreme while she thinks it “rather nice.”
Question: How does the poet’s tone contrast with Mrs. Jones’s feelings about her garden?
Ans. The poet describes it as “crazy” (extreme), while Mrs. Jones “thinks [the sundial] is rather nice,” highlighting their differing tastes in the stone-filled, unconventional layout.
Question: What rhyming structure enhances the poem’s playful description of the garden?
Ans. The stanza follows an AABBCC rhyming scheme, mirroring the quirky, patterned elements like the crazy path and rockery in Mrs. Jones’s unique garden.
Poem:
My next-door neighbour, Mrs. Jones,
puts little plants between the stones
They are so delicate and small,
they don’t mean anything at all.
I can’t think how she gets them in,
unless she plants them with a pin.
Word-meanings:
delicate: something that can be easily ruined or broken.
Poem Explanation: The poet describes Mrs. Jones’s garden with awe and wonder in this stanza. He observes that there are little plants between the stones in the garden. The little flowers are so small that they can be easily ruined. They are so small that they almost seem insignificant because they can be easily overlooked. The poet wonders how Mrs. Jones plants the flowers in between the stones so perfectly. They are in such a perfect position that he believes that Mrs. Jones must use a pin to carefully place a flower.
Questions related to the stanza above-
Question: How does the poet describe Mrs. Jones’s tiny plants among the stones?
Ans. Mrs. Jones places delicate and small plants between the stones that “don’t mean anything at all” due to their insignificance, yet she positions them so perfectly the poet imagines she “plants them with a pin.”
Question: What sense of wonder does the poet express about Mrs. Jones’s gardening skill?
Ans. Amazed at how she “gets them in” between stones, the poet marvels at her precision with delicate plants, humorously suggesting “unless she plants them with a pin” to achieve such perfection.
Question: How does this stanza continue the contrast between the garden’s stone dominance and delicate life?
Ans. Amid the stone-filled garden, delicate and small plants appear nearly invisible (“don’t mean anything at all”), yet Mrs. Jones’s skill makes them thrive in perfect gaps.
Poem:
My next-door neighbour, Mrs. Jones,
once asked me round to see her stones.
We stood and talked about a flower
for quite a quarter of an hour.
“Where is this lovely thing?” I cried.
“You’re standing on it,” she replied.
Word-meanings:
quarter: one-fourth measurement
Poem Explanation: The poet is invited to see Mrs. Jones’s garden. While he and Mrs. Jones walk around her garden and observe the stones and other decorations, Mrs. Jones and the poet stop at one spot. Mrs. Jones begins to describe one particular flower in a lot of detail for a quarter of an hour, which is equal to fifteen minutes. The poet really wants to see the flower, interested in it after Mrs. Jones describes it. However, Mrs. Jones says that the flower she is talking about is the flower he is stepping on at that moment. This means that Mrs. Jones is talking about the flower not to appreciate its beauty, but because it has been destroyed so easily by her guest. This reflects the humor and irony of the situation and also the obsession with order and perfection that Mrs. Jones carries with her. The rhyming scheme of this stanza is AABBCC.
Questions related to the stanza above-
Question: What humorous irony occurs during the poet’s visit to admire Mrs. Jones’s stones?
Ans. Invited to “see her stones,” the poet and Mrs. Jones discuss a flower “for quite a quarter of an hour,” but when he excitedly asks “Where is this lovely thing?,” she reveals “You’re standing on it”, destroying her prized delicate plant.
Question: How long and intensely did Mrs. Jones describe the flower before the revelation?
Ans. Mrs. Jones and the poet “stood and talked about a flower” for a quarter of an hour (15 minutes) before her ironic reply that he was “standing on it.”
Question: What does the crushed flower incident reveal about Mrs. Jones’s garden passion?
Ans. Her 15-minute discussion of a single, easily overlooked flower shows deep appreciation for delicate details amid stones, with ironic humor when the poet unwittingly crushes it.
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A Concrete Example Figures of Speech
Rhyme scheme – The rhyme scheme of the poem is AABBCC.
Alliteration – The repetition of a consonant sound at the start of two or more consecutive words. Example – next-door neighbour
Repetition – The lines ‘My next-door neighbour, Mrs. Jones’ is repeated in the atart of every stanza to emphasize that the poet is describe the garden owned by his neighbour.
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A Concrete Example FAQs
Question: Who wrote A Concrete Example?
Ans. Reginald Arkel wrote this poem. It appears in CBSE Class 8 English Poorvi Book Unit 1 Chapter 2, Wit and Wisdom. It is a humorous poem about Mrs. Jones and her uniquely decorated garden.
Question: What is the theme of A Concrete Example?
Ans. The central theme is the beauty and fragility of small things and the human tendency to carelessly overlook and destroy them. The poem also celebrates Mrs. Jones’s passion for gardening using gentle humor and irony.
Question: What is Mrs. Jones’s garden like?
Ans. Mrs. Jones’s garden has stones, a lily pond, a rockery and a strange sundial. Tiny delicate flowers are placed between the stones reflecting her deep passion for gardening and obsession with perfection and order.
Question: What is the irony at the end of the poem?
Ans. After Mrs. Jones describes a beautiful flower for fifteen minutes the poet discovers he has been unknowingly standing on and destroying that very flower throughout their entire conversation showing human carelessness toward small beautiful things.
Question: What is the moral of A Concrete Example?
Ans. We must always pay careful attention to small and delicate things around us as they are most beautiful and most easily destroyed. Every small detail deserves the same love and appreciation that Mrs. Jones gives her tiny garden flowers.
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Summary of the Poem A Concrete Example in Hindi
कवि ने कविता में श्रीमती जोन्स के बगीचे का वर्णन किया है। श्रीमती जोन्स कवि की पड़ोसन हैं। श्रीमती जोन्स ने अपने बगीचे को पत्थरों, एक लिली के तालाब, एक चट्टानी स्थान और एक अजीब धूपघड़ी से सजाया है। कवि को अपना बगीचा थोड़ा अजीब लगता है, लेकिन श्रीमती जोन्स को अपने बगीचे पर गर्व है। पत्थरों के बीच छोटे पौधे और फूल हैं, जो इतने छोटे और नाजुक हैं कि आसानी से किसी का ध्यान नहीं जा सकता। छोटे फूल और पौधे इतने सही ढंग से लगाए गए हैं कि कवि को आश्चर्य होता है कि क्या श्रीमती जोन्स ने उन्हें पिन से लगाया है। एक दिन, श्रीमती जोन्स कवि को अपने बगीचे में आने के लिए आमंत्रित करती हैं। जैसे ही कवि अपने सजाए गए बगीचे का निरीक्षण करता है, कवि रुक जाता है और अनजाने में पत्थरों के बीच एक नाजुक फूल पर पैर रख देता है। श्रीमती जोन्स उस फूल का विस्तार से वर्णन करना शुरू करती हैं।
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Conclusion
This post gives a summary and explanation of the poem A Concrete Example from NCERT Class 8 Poorvi book. Students can check out the summary and prepare the lesson quickly.