Maharashtra State Board Class 9 English Poem Please Listen! Summary, Line by Line Explanation, along with difficult word meanings from English Kumarbharati Book
Please Listen! – Are you looking for Theme, Summary and Poem Explanation for Maharashtra State Board Class 9 Poem Please Listen! from the English Kumarbharati Book. Get Poem Summary, Theme, Explanation along with difficult word meanings.
Please Listen! Maharashtra State Board Class 9 English
– Author Unknown
- Please Listen! Introduction
- Theme of the Lesson
- Please Listen! Summary
- Please Listen! Summary in Hindi
- Please Listen! Poem Explanation
Please Listen! Introduction
The poem “Please Listen!” is a heartfelt plea for empathy and understanding. The poem suggests that true listening is a powerful form of support, far more valuable than advice or action.
Theme / Central Idea of the Poem Please Listen!
The importance of active listening: The poem emphasizes the need for people to truly listen to each other without offering unsolicited advice or trying to fix problems.
Empowerment through self-understanding: The poem suggests that by simply listening, others can empower individuals to understand their own emotions and find their own solutions.
Please Listen! Summary
The poem emphasizes the importance of active listening. The poet is asking for empathy and understanding, not advice or solutions. He wants someone to simply listen to his feelings without judgment or interruption. The poem suggests that offering advice or trying to fix problems can actually hinder the process of self-understanding and healing. By simply listening, the listener allows the speaker to process their emotions and find their own solutions.
Please Listen! Summary in Hindi
कविता में सक्रिय सुनने के महत्व पर जोर दिया गया है। कवि सहानुभूति और समझ की मांग कर रहा है, न कि सलाह या समाधान की। वह चाहता है कि कोई व्यक्ति बिना आलोचना या रुकावट के उसकी भावनाओं को सुने। कविता बताती है कि सलाह देना या समस्याओं को ठीक करने की कोशिश करना वास्तव में आत्म-समझ और उपचार की प्रक्रिया में बाधा डाल सकता है। केवल सुनकर, श्रोता वक्ता को अपनी भावनाओं को संसाधित करने और अपने स्वयं के समाधान खोजने की अनुमति देता है।
Please Listen! Poem Explanation
Poem : When I ask you to listen to me
and you start giving me advice,
you have not done what I asked.
Explanation: When you ask someone to listen to you, you’re asking them to pay attention to what you’re saying without interrupting or judging. You want them to understand your feelings and thoughts. Giving advice, even if it’s well-intentioned, can make the person feel like you’re not truly listening. It can make them feel misunderstood or dismissed. So, when you ask someone to listen, the best thing to do is simply listen.
Poem : When I ask you to listen to me
and you begin to tell me why
I shouldn’t feel that way,
you are trampling on my feelings.
Word Meaning
Trampling: Stepping heavily on something, crushing it. In this context, it means disregarding or ignoring someone’s feelings.
Explanation: When you try to explain why someone shouldn’t feel a certain way, it feels like you’re not really listening. Instead of understanding and acknowledging the emotions, you’re trying to change them or dismiss them. This makes the poet feel unheard and invalidated. It’s important to be able to express freely, and when someone tries to shut down your feelings, it can be hurtful.
Poem : When I ask you to listen to me
and you feel you have to do something
to solve my problem,
you have failed me,
strange as that may seem.
Explanation: If, instead of listening, you focus on fixing the problem, you miss the opportunity to offer genuine support. The best thing you can do is simply listen. When you ask for a listening ear, you’re not seeking a solution. You’re looking for someone to understand your feelings and experiences without judgment.
Poem : Listen ! All I ask is that you listen.
Explanation: Listen carefully! All that the poet is asking for is your attention.
Poem : Don’t talk or do – just hear me.
Explanation: Don’t talk or do anything right now. Just listen carefully. Pay attention to what the poet is saying and don’t interrupt.
Poem : Advice is cheap; 20 cents will get
you both Dear Abby and Billy Graham
in the same newspaper.
Explanation: These lines mean that advice is easy to come by and doesn’t cost much. You can find advice from different sources, like newspapers, magazines, or even from friends and family. It’s so easy to get advice that it’s almost worthless. For example, you can buy a newspaper for 20 cents and find advice from both Dear Abby, who gives advice on personal problems, and Billy Graham, who gives religious advice. This shows how readily available and inexpensive advice is.
Poem : And I can do for myself; I am not helpless.
Maybe discouraged and faltering,
but not helpless.
Word Meaning
Discouraged: Feeling a loss of confidence or enthusiasm.
Faltering: Losing strength or purpose, often hesitating or stumbling.
Explanation: The poet acknowledges that he may face setbacks or feel discouraged, but he refuses to succumb to helplessness. He believes in his own abilities to overcome challenges and find solutions.
Poem : When you do something for me that I can
and need to do for myself,
you contribute to my fear and
inadequacy.
Word Meaning
contribute: contribute means to give something, in order to provide or achieve something together with other people.
inadequacy: the state or quality of being not good enough or not enough.
Explanation: When you take over tasks that I’m capable of doing, even if I need a bit of help, you unintentionally make me feel less confident in my abilities. It’s like you’re saying I can’t handle it on my own, which can make me feel scared and unsure of myself. By doing things for me, you’re preventing me from learning and growing, and that can lead to feelings of inadequacy.
Poem : But when you accept as a simple fact
that I feel what I feel,
no matter how irrational,
then I can stop trying to convince you
and get about this business
of understanding what’s behind
this irrational feeling.
Word Meaning
irrational: Not logical or reasonable.
convince: Persuade someone to believe something.
get about: Start doing something.
Explanation: The poet says that when someone acknowledges and accepts another person’s feelings, even if those feelings seem illogical or unreasonable, it frees the person experiencing those feelings from the need to justify or explain them. Instead, they can focus on understanding the underlying reasons for their feelings. In simpler terms, when someone is validated and understood, they can delve deeper into their emotions and work towards resolving them.
Poem : And when that’s clear, the answers are
obvious and I don’t need advice.
Word Meaning
obvious: easily understood or recognized
Explanation: These lines mean that when the situation or problem is easily understood, the solutions become clear and obvious. In such a case, seeking advice is unnecessary because the answer is straightforward.
Poem : Irrational feelings make sense when
we understand what’s behind them.
Explanation: By understanding the roots of our feelings, we can better manage them and find ways to feel better.
Poem : Perhaps that’s why prayer works, sometimes,
for some people -because God is mute,
and he doesn’t give advice or try
to fix things.
Word Meaning
Mute: Silent or not speaking.
Explanation: Prayer might help some people because God doesn’t interfere directly. Instead of offering solutions or advice, God lets us figure things out on our own. This allows us to find our own paths and learn from our experiences. So, prayer can be a way to connect with a higher power and find inner peace.
Poem : God just listens and lets you work
it out for yourself.
Explanation: God doesn’t solve all our problems for us. Instead, He trusts us to learn and grow through our experiences.
Poem : So please listen, and just hear me.
Explanation: The poet asks the readers to please pay attention and listen to what he is about to say.
Poem : And if you want to talk, wait a minute
for your turn – and I will listen to you.
Explanation: These lines mean that if you want to say something, you should wait for your turn to speak. The other person will listen to you when it is your turn.
Poetic Devices of the Poem Please Listen!
- Metaphor: A figure of speech that compares two things indirectly, without using “like” or “as.”
The comparison of advice to a cheap commodity highlights the speaker’s frustration with unsolicited advice.
“Advice is cheap; 20 cents will get
you both Dear Abby and Billy Graham
in the same newspaper.”
- Imagery: The use of vivid language to create pictures in the reader’s mind, appealing to their senses.
The vivid imagery of “trampling on my feelings” creates a strong emotional impact.
“I shouldn’t feel that way,
you are trampling on my feelings.”
- Personification: Giving human qualities or characteristics to non-human things or abstract ideas.
The speaker personifies God as a silent listener, emphasizing the importance of active listening.
“-because God is mute,
and he doesn’t give advice or try
to fix things.”
- Enjambment: The continuation of a sentence or phrase across a line break in a poem. It creates a sense of flow and rhythm.
The running-on lines create a sense of urgency and flow, mirroring the speaker’s emotional state.
“When I ask you to listen to me
and you feel you have to do something
to solve my problem,
you have failed me,
strange as that may seem.”
- Repetition: The repetition of words, phrases, or sounds in a poem to create emphasis or a musical effect.
The phrase “When I ask you to listen to me” is repeated at the beginning of several stanzas, emphasizing the main point of the poem.
When I ask you to listen to me
and you start giving me advice,
you have not done what I asked.
When I ask you to listen to me
and you begin to tell me why
I shouldn’t feel that way,
you are trampling on my feelings.
When I ask you to listen to me
and you feel you have to do something
to solve my problem,
you have failed me,
strange as that may seem.