Chapter 3.1 - Silver
The moon spreads her silver light at night slowly and silently. She attentively looks in both directions and notices silver fruits on silver branches. The windows below the grassy roofs gradually receive her beams. The dog is curled up like a log of wood in his kennel. His paws catch the moon’s silvery glow. The doves are sleeping in their dark shelter. Their white chests reflect the silver moonlight. A harvest mouse runs by while moving slowly. The silver light also reflects off of its claws and eye. In the water of the silvery stream, close to the silver reeds, the motionless fish sparkle.
Title: Silver
Author: Walter de la Mare
Rhyme Scheme:
aa, bb, cc, dd, ee, ff, gg.
Theme/Central idea:
The poet describes the magical effects of the silvery moonlight on the countryside at night.
Favourite lines:
Couched in his kennel like a log, With paws of silver sleeps the dog.
Figure of Speech:
Personification. This way and that she peers and sees’. The moon is given the human quality of peering this way and that.
Special Feature/Implied meaning, etc. :
Shows a beautiful and peaceful scene of the countryside at night under the moonlight. The poem gives a clear word picture of the different animals and objects reflecting the moonlight. The poet implies that the same scene/event may appear different at different times, depending on the light you see it in.
Why I like/don’t like the poem:
I like the poem because of the serene scene it portrays. The imagery is beautiful with words like ‘silver’ and ‘silvery’ mentioned in the second line of every couplet.
Warming up!
1. Imagine that your class has to be divided into groups or houses. Each house will have their own colour, symbol/ emblem, motto, dress code, a common room with objects of their interest and suitable furniture. Think of sets of four names for the groups. Form groups and work out the (imaginary) details for each set. Some suggestions are : Neem – Colour, yellow; Symbol, the sun; Motto, ‘Health is wealth’; Dress code, yellow waist belt; etc. Cane furniture, green and yellow curtains and herbariums in the common room.
| Category | Names | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Metals | steel | copper | silver | gold |
Flowers | ||||
Stars or galaxies | ||||
Trees | Neem | Banyan | Gulmohur | Ashoka |
Seasons | ||||
Ans:
| Category | Names | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Metals | steel | copper | silver | gold |
Flowers | Rose | Lotus | Lily | Sunflower |
Stars or galaxies | Milky way | Sun | Andromeda | Sirius (Star) |
Trees | Neem | Banyan | Gulmohur | Ashoka |
Seasons | Summer | Winter | Spring | Autumn |
2. Read the lines of the following poem. Guess and fill in suitable words to make the lines rhyme –
Golden Glow
Soon after dawn, rises the ……….;
It wakes and enlivens every ……….
It scares away the long, dark ……….
The shining stars go out of ……….
From tree to tree birds flit and ……….,
Searching for food, with a sharp ……….
The buds that open now show their ……….,
As flowers they dance with beauty and ……….
The hill slope wears a grassy green ……….,
The curved sparkling river, it gold ……….
The cock then crows to give a loud ……….,
Come on! wake up, folks! One and ……….
I, then wake up, ‘Good Morning’ to ……….,
Let’s all look forward to a golden ……….
Ans:
Soon after dawn, rises the sun;
It wakes and enlivens every one.
It scares away the long, dark night.
The shining stars go out of sight.
From tree to tree birds flit and fly.
Searching for food, with a sharp eye.
The buds that open now show their colour,
As flowers they dance with beauty and splendour.
The hill slope wears a grassy green dress,
The curved sparkling river, it gold possess.
The cock then crows to give a loud call,
Come on! wake up, folks! One and all.
I, then wake up, ‘Good Morning’ to say,
Let’s all look forward to a golden day
In Between the Poetry!
Which of the objects, animals, etc. in the poem are at rest without any motion?
Ans: The fruits, trees, casements, thatch, kennel, dog, cote, doves, fish, reeds and the stream are the objects, animals, etc. in the poem that are at rest without any movement.
ENGLISH WORKSHOP
1. If you were asked to draw a detailed picture of the scene described in the poem, what object, animals, natural features etc. will you show in the picture? Make a list.
Ans:
Objects: Houses, windows, farms, kennel, nests.
Animals: Dogs, doves, mice, fish, cows.
Natural features: Moon, moonlight, trees, fruits, hills, streams.
2. Write the rhyming words and the rhyme scheme of the poem. (See the ‘Language Study’ pages given at the end.)
Ans: The rhyming words are-
a) moon – shoon
b) sees – trees
c) catch – thatch
d) log – dog
e) peep – sleep
f) by – eye
g) gleam – stream
The rhyming scheme of the poem is aa bb cc dd and so on.
3. Underline the word silver/silvery in the poem. In which lines does it occur? What pattern does it show?
Ans: The word silver or silvery appears in every alternate line of the poem. It shows a pattern of repetition for pleasing effect.
4. Can you think of a parallel scene of dawn or evening when everything is steeped in golden light?
Ans: Yes, seashores offer a similar view as the rising sun casts a lovely golden glow everywhere.
5. The same landscape appears different at different times. What message can we draw from this?
Ans: The landscape changes according to the light from the sky. In this poem, the poet makes us look at ordinary moonlight in a different way. The message we can draw from this is how, in different situations, we might perceive the same scene completely differently.
6. Read : ‘The Listeners’ and ‘Someone’ – poems by Walter de la Mare.
Ans:
The Listeners
– By Walter de la Mare
‘Is there anybody there?’ said the Traveller,
Knocking on the moonlit door;
And his horse in the silence champed the grasses
Of the forest’s ferny floor:
And a bird flew up out of the turret,
Above the Traveller’s head:
And he smote upon the door again a second time;
‘Is there anybody there?’ he said.
But no one descended to the Traveller;
No head from the leaf-fringed sill
Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes,
Where he stood perplexed and still.
But only a host of phantom listeners
That dwelt in the lone house then
Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight
To that voice from the world of men:
Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair,
That goes down to the empty hall,
Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken
By the lonely Traveller’s call.
And he felt in his heart their strangeness,
Their stillness answering his cry,
While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf,
’Neath the starred and leafy sky;
For he suddenly smote on the door, even
Louder, and lifted his head:—
‘Tell them I came, and no one answered,
That I kept my word,’ he said.
Never the least stir made the listeners,
Though every word he spake
Fell echoing through the shadowiness of the still house
From the one man left awake:
Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup,
And the sound of iron on stone,
And how the silence surged softly backward,
When the plunging hoofs were gone.
Someone
– By Walter de la Mare
Some one came knocking
At my wee, small door;
Some one came knocking,
I’m sure — sure — sure;
I listened, I opened,
I looked to left and right,
But naught there was a-stirring
In the still dark night;
Only the busy beetle
Tap-tapping in the wall,
Only from the forest
The screech-owl’s call,
Only the cricket whistling
While the dewdrops fall,
So I know not who came knocking,
At all, at all, at all.