NCERT Solutions for Class 11th English core chapter 12 – Childhood

Exercises

Question 1. Identify the stanza that talks of each of the following.

individuality rationalism hypocrisy

Answers :

  • individuality – stanza 3
  • rationalism – stanza 1
  • hypocrisy – stanza 2

Question 2. What according to the poem is involved in the process of growing up?

Answer : According to the poem, the process of growing up has to pass through different stages. The first stage is when one starts differentiating between reality and imaginative realms. The second stage is the realisation of hypocratic behaviour of the adults. One comes to an understanding that there is a difference between what the adults preach and what they actually do. The last stage is the one of becoming independent and mature.

Question 3.  What is the poet’s feeling towards childhood?

Answer : The poet, basically, seems to be obsessed about his childhood and, more so, about its loss. He feels very nostalgic and lament over the fact that his childhood will never come back.

Question 4. Which do you think are the most poetic lines? Why?

Answer : According to me, the most poetic lines are

  • Where did may childhood go?
  • It went to some forgotten place.
  • That’s hidden in an infant’s place.

These poignant lines explain beautifully what most of the adults feel. We all know that our pure and unadulterated childhood will never come back to us, though we know that it remains hidden on an infant’s face.

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