The Lumber Room

Question 1: Where were the children to be driven for a treat?

Answer: The children were to be driven to the sands at Jagborough for a treat.

Question 2: Why was Nicholas not allowed to go with the other children for a treat?

Answer: Nicholas was not allowed to go with the other children for a treat because he had himself
put a frog in his breakfast and refused to eat it.

Question 3: Why was Nicholas not allowed to go into the gooseberry garden? Answer: Nicholas was
not allowed to go into the gooseberry garden because he was in disgrace.

Question 4: Read the extract given below and answer the following questions. The dramatic part of
the incident was that there really was a frog in

Nicholas' basin of bread and milk.

(a) When did this incident take place?

Answer: This incident took place when the elders and the children were having breakfast at the
dining table.

(b) How did the frog come into the basin of bread and milk?

Answer: Nicholas had himself put in the frog into the basin of milk.

(c) What was the result of the incident?

Answer: The result of this incident was that Nicholas was punished and could not go with his cousins
to the expedition which his aunt had suddenly planned.

Question 5: Read the extract given below and answer the following questions.

The children were to be driven, as a special treat, to the sands at Jagborough. Nicholas was not
allowed as he was in disgrace. Only that morning he had refused to eat his wholesome bread and
milk on the grounds that there was a frog in it.

(a) Find a word from the extract that means the same as 'healthy and nutritious'.

Answer: Wholesome

(b) Why was Nicholas in disgrace?

Answer: Nicholas was in disgrace because he had refused to eat his wholesome bread and milk on
the grounds that there was a frog in it.

(c) What was the punishment given by his aunt?

Answer: The punishment given by his aunt was that he was not allowed to go to the sands at
Jagborough where the other children were going as a special treat.

Question 6: Why was Nicholas not allowed to go into the gooseberry garden?

Answer: Nicholas was not allowed to go into the gooseberry garden because he was in disgrace.

Question 7: Why did Nicholas go to the gooseberry garden?

Question 8: Read the extract given below and answer the following questions.

"You often don't listen, when we tell you important things."

(a) Who was complaining and to whom?

Answer: Nicholas was complaining to his aunt.

(b) What did the speaker tell the listener just before that?

Answer: Nicholas told his aunt that his cousin, Bobby's boots were hurting him as they were too tight
so he would not be having fun at Jagborough.

Daffodils
Question 1: What was the poet doing?

Answer: The poet was wandering alone in the country side.

Question 2: While the poet was wandering, what did he see and where did he see them?

Answer: The poet saw a host of golden daffodils while he was wandering. He saw the daffodils
growing beside the lake, beneath the trees.

Question 3: How many daffodils does the poet say that he saw at a glance? Why does he say

so?

Answer: The poet says that he saw ten thousand daffodils at a glance. He says so in order to highlight
that the whole area along the lake was covered with blooming, uncountable daffodils.

Question 4: Why does it appear that waves and the daffodils are competing?

Answer: When the poet saw the daffodils they appeared to be tossing their head in sprightly dance.
The waves in the bay beside which the daffodils grew also appeared to be moving in a joyful dance.
Moreover, the poet felt that the movement of the daffodils was better than that of the sparkling
waves. Thus it appears as though the daffodils and the waves were competing.

Question 5: What does the first line of the poem tell you?

Answer: The first line of the poem tells us that the poet wanders lonely as a cloud.

Question 6: What does the poet compare daffodils to? Why does he make such a comparison?

Answer: The poet compares the daffodils to the stars that shine and twinkle in the Milky Way. The
poet makes such a comparison, because to him, the daffodils seemed to grow in never-ending lines
like the stars in a galaxy. Also, the yellow daffodils seemed to shine and glow brightly like the stars
twinkling in the sky.

Question 7: Read and answer the following questions:

“Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

Along the margin of a bay”

(a) What does 'They' refer to?

Answer: 'They' refers to the daffodils.

(b) What does the poet compare them to?

Answer: The poet compares them to the galaxy of innumerable stars in the sky.

(c) Why does he do so?

Answer: The glowing daffodils, sparkling in the sunlight, were stretched along the bay. This appeared
like twinkling stars in the sky, to the poet.

Question 8: Identify the figure of speech in the following lines:

(a) 'I wandered lonely as a cloud'

Answer: Simile

(b) 'Fluttering and dancing in the breeze'

Answer: Personification

(c) 'Continuous as the stars that shine'

Answer: Alliteration

Question 9: What does 'jocund company' mean?

Answer: 'Jocund Company' means a cheerful company. The joyful company of daffodils was the
ultimate source of pleasure for the poet and he can feel nothing but happiness in that company.

Question 10: Explain the lines: 'Outdid the sparkling waves in glee...'

Answer: The poet says that there were waves which were dancing in the lake but were no match for
the waves of daffodils rippling in the breeze. The joyful dance of daffodils was a way better than
theirs.

Question 11: Describe the poet's thoughts on seeing the daffodils.

Answer: The poet felt that one cannot be anything but happy in the company of the cheerful
daffodils. The beautiful daffodils filled his heart with joy.

Answer: The wealth that the poet gained from the daffodils was the wealth of happiness that fills his
heart when he thinks of the daffodils.

Question 12: What is the 'wealth' the poet gained?

Answer: The wealth the poet gained from the daffodils was the wealth of happiness that fills his
when he thinks of the daffodils.

Question 13: How do we know that 'this' show of the daffodils had a long-lasting effect on the poet?

Answer: The poet gives us a vivid description of the daffodils and the place where he saw them. The
poet also mentions that when he saw the daffodils he didn't realize the wealth of experience he had
accumulated. However, later on, when he sat in a thoughtful mood the image of the daffodils
flashed in his mind. This tells us that the show of the daffodils has had a long-lasting effect on the
poet.

Question 14: When does the poet remember the daffodils? How does he feel?

Answer: The poet often remembers the daffodils when he rests on his couch in a deep and pensive
mood. The memory of the daffodils fills his heart with pleasure.

Question 15: Read the extract and answer the following questions:

"They flash upon............

...the bliss of solitude!"

(a) Give the synonym of the word 'bliss'.

Answer: pleasure/happiness

(b) What is referred to as 'they'?

Answer: 'They' refers to the daffodils.

(c) When do they flash upon the poet's inward eye?

Answer: The scene of the daffodils flash upon the poet's inward eye when he lies on his couch in a
pensive mood.

(d) Where did the poet see them?

Answer: The poet saw several daffodils fluttering in the breeze, under the trees, along the margin of
a bay.

Question 16: Read and answer the following questions: