1. Text-based Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
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2. Comprehension Passages
PASSAGE-1
(I). What does the poet mean by the first sentence of the extract?
Ans: In the first sentence of the extract’ the poet expresses the view that all the houses are haunted ones. It is so because men have lived and died there. It means that the poet considers the existence of ghosts a reality.
(ii) In what way are all the houses haunted?
Ans: All houses are haunted as ghosts move into and out of them. These ghosts visit the houses through the open doors. The presence of the ghosts makes these houses ‘haunted’.
(iii) Why is the phrase 'harmless phantoms' useless?
Ans: The phrase ‘harmless phantoms’, is unusual as the general perception is that ghosts are dangerous. This phrase, on the contrary, points out that ghosts are harmless.
(iv)What kind of the spirit-world is conceived by the poet later in the context?
Ans: In the later part of the poem, the poet conceives a spirit world which is delicate like atmosphere. It keeps floating around the human world of reality.
(v) Where can we, according to the poet, meet ghosts?
Ans: According to the poet, we can meet ghosts in all the houses where men have lived and died. They are not limited to some deserted and isolated places only.
PASSAGE-2
(I) What kind of ghosts are imagined by the poet earlier in the context?
Ans: The ghosts earlier imagined by the poet are harmless phantoms moving on without making any noise. They simply glide through the atmosphere.
(ii) Where do we 'meet' them? Are they visible?
Ans: We meet these ghosts on the doorway, the stairs and along the passages. No, they are not visible at all.
(iii) Explain the last two line.
Ans: The last two lines mean that the presence of the ghosts can be realized like some impression on the air. It makes us feel as if something is moving here and there.
(iv) The poet says "We meet them at the doorway, on the stair." What does he mean by this?
Ans: The poet here means that contrary to the traditional beliefs that ghosts visit deserted places only, their presence can be realized everywhere.
(v) Where do they throng, as mentioned later in the context?
Ans: They throng the well-lit hall and sit quietly among the invited guests.
PASSAGE-3
(I) Who are the uninvited guests at the table?
Ans: The uninvited guests at the table are the harmless ghosts.
(ii) Why are they there uninvited?
Ans: They are uninvited there because nobody would like to have ghosts as guests. Moreover, being invisible, ghosts can not be invited as guests like human beings.
(iii) What is surprising about these uninvited ghosts?
Ans: The surprising thing about the ghosts is that they come in large groups yet they do not make any noise. Another thing unusual and surprising about them is their being harmless. They are usually considered dangerous and horrible.
(iv) What is meant by "As silent as the pictures on the wall"?
Ans: The ghosts are silent. In the same way, the pictures on the wall do not make any noise. So it means that ghosts like pictures are voiceless.
(v) What can the speaker see and hear which others cannot?
Ans: The ghosts on the table sitting like guests are visible to the poet only. The poet also realizes the way the ghosts throng the hall maintaining silence. It means, the poet, in away, can hear their sound. These things are not seen or heard by others.
PASSAGE-4
(I) What contrast is made in the first two lines here?
Ans: The first two lines make a contrast between the speaker ‘I’ and the stranger at his fireside. Whereas the speaker can see the forms of ghosts, the other person is not able to see them.
(ii) What do you think of the extraordinary powers of the speaker?
Ans: The speaker seems to have extraordinary powers. He has the power to see the ghosts. The other people cannot see the ghosts as they lack the power to see them.
(iii) What has been told by the speaker about the unseen 'forms' earlier in the context?
Ans: In the given context, the speaker has told that the number of ghosts that he calls ‘the forms I see’, is much more than the guests at the table. The ghosts have come there in large numbers.
(iv) What does the poet mean by 'All that has been is visible and clear'?
Ans: He means to say that the ghosts present there are beyond the perception of the guests sitting beside him. But he, the speaker can see the ghosts clearly. There is no doubt in his mind about the presence of the ghosts there.
(v) Who is 'He' in Line 3? Is he a normal human being?
Ans: The ‘he’ in Line 3 is one of the guests of the speaker. He is unable to see the ghosts at the dining table as he is a normal human being unlike the speaker who has the ability to see the ghosts.
PASSAGE-5
(I) What idea of ghosts is given earlier in the context?
Ans: The speaker has given the idea that ghosts can be seen and met everywhere. Their presence is not limited to some deserted places only. The speaker can see them sitting at the table beside him.
(ii) Where can we 'meet' the departed spirits?
Ans: The ghosts can be seen at the places where these persons used to live before their death. We can meet the departed spirits at their earlier habitats. They still live at their earlier estates.
(iii) Who do not have title-deeds to their 'house or lands'?
Ans: The people who are alive do not have the title deeds to houses or the lands of the dead people. These properties belong to the dead and their ghosts.
(iv) What do the departed spirits claim from their graves?
Ans: The departed spirits claim their old estates. They do not want to leave that property to someone else. They come out of the grave to get their earlier land and property back.
(v) Explain the phrase 'hold in mortmain'.
Ans: The phrase ‘hold in mortmain’ means that the ghosts do not let go their sense of possession of their earlier houses. They keep them in mortmain i.e., they have a sense of still possessing them. They believe that the land or property they owned earlier is in their possession even now. It cannot be separated or taken away from them.
PASSAGE-6
(I) Why does the poet describe all houses as haunted earlier in the context?
Ans: The poet describes all houses as haunted because there are ghosts everywhere. The ghosts always feel that they possess the houses even now though they are no longer alive. These houses are possessed or haunted by the ghosts.
(ii) How have the ghosts been described by the poet?
Ans: The poet describes the ghosts as floating beings without any concrete or solid body. They are like gusts of air that forms the atmosphere. They are like ‘vital breath’ of the etherial air.
(iii) What can the speaker see or hear?
Ans: The speaker can see the ghosts and hear the sounds created by the movements of the ghosts. The ghosts floating around are visible to him. He also hears the breath like sound produced due to their movements.
(iv) What kind of the world of spirits is? How does the poet describe the spirit world?
Ans: The world of the spirits is like atmosphere around the earth. Their world is like an atmosphere of dense mists and vapours. Thus the poet describes the spirit world by comparing it with the atmosphere to give this world some shape.
(v) What crosses through earthly mists and vapours?
Ans: The world of the spirits crosses through earthly mists and vapours. In other words, the ghosts forming this world pass through the earthly mists and vapours.
PASSAGE-7
(I) Whose lives are being referred to in Line 1?
Ans: In line one the lives of human beings have been referred to.
(ii) What brings about balance in our short lives?
Ans: Opposite attractions and desires bring balance in our short lives. A struggle between enjoyment and aspiration maintains a balance in human life.
(iii) Explain the last two lines of the extract.
Ans: In the last two lines the struggle between the material world and the desire to achieve spiritual satisfaction has been indicated. Human beings want to enjoy worldly pleasure. They also aspire to have spiritual bliss. It results in a struggle between these two types of tendencies in human mind.
(iv) State what fills our life with anxieties and fears, later in the poem.
Ans: The mental disturbances and anxieties are caused by our earthly desires. When they remain unfulfilled they become a reason for regrets sorrow and anxieties.
(v) Which 'bridge of light' connects our world to the heavenly world?
Ans: The ‘bridge of light’ is formed when moonlight falls on the sea. Human beings imagine the existence of a dark mysterious world from which this light comes. In the same way a bridge of light is related to the world of the spirits. This world of the spirits connects our world to the heavenly world.
PASSAGE-8
(I) What brings about balance in our lives, as mentioned earlier in the context?
Ans: Our desires to enjoy earthly things and the aspirations to achieve spiritual bliss bring a balance in our lives.
(ii) Explain the metaphor used by the poet in the first two lines.
Ans: The metaphor of a jar has been used in these lines for the human mind in which ‘perturbations’ continuously keep on struggling. The two types of desires; the one earthly, and the other spiritual keep on struggling in human mind like two opposing things kept in a jar.
(iii) What do you mean by 'earthly wants and aspirations high'?
Ans: In this stanza the earthly wants means the desires and ambitions for material achievements and success. On the other hand, high aspirations suggest the ambition to acquire spiritual satisfaction.
(iv) What are 'perturbations'?
Ans: Perturbations are opposite desires and ambitions that cause a conflict in the human mind. They result from two opposite kinds of desires.
(v) What is determined by an unseen, undiscovered planet in our sky?
Ans: Human desires and ambitions are determined by unseen forces in some undiscovered planet. It implies that human beings do not determine their own nature or desires and ambitions.
PASSAGE-9
(I) When and how is a 'bridge of light' formed?
Ans: The moon throws the rays on the floating waters of the sea. It develops a kind of bridge of light connecting the sea and the moon. Because of the floating light over the sea waves this bridge of light seems floating.
(ii) What is the function of this bridge?
Ans: This bridge functions to link human fancies to some unseen, mysterious world. It makes human beings fancy that there is some strange, unknown world above from which the rays of moonlight are descending to the sea.
(iii) Which figure of speech is used in the first two lines here?
Ans: The figure of speech used in the first two lines is personification. In these lines, the moon is said to throw a bridge of light on the sea as if the moon is some person.
(iv) Where does our fancy take us?
Ans: Our fancy takes us to the mysterious unknown world. This world we imagine to be there above at some unknown place.
(v) Which realm is the poet talking about in this extract?
Ans: The poet here is talking about the realm of mystery night. This realm is not solid but only imaginary and unknown to human beings.
PASSAGE-10
(I) What has the poet told us about the world of spirits?
Ans: The poet has told us that the world of the spirits is dark and mysterious. A bridge of light descends from this world connecting it with the earthly world.
(ii) Where can we 'meet' the departed spirits?
Ans: We can meet the departed souls in the staircases, halls and at dining tables. In other words, we can ‘meet’ them everywhere. As the world of the spirits is floating like an atmosphere, the departed souls move around in it.
(iii) What is the significance of 'So' in Line 1?
Ans: The importance of the word ‘So’ in the first line is that it develops a link between the ideas expressed in this stanza and the views presented about the bridge of light built by the moonlight. It also develops the thought that human beings are linked to the world of the moon through the world of the spirits.
(iv) Which bridge descends from the world of spirits? What has it been compared to?
Ans: A bridge of light descends from the world of the spirits. It has been compared to a room with an unsteady floor that sways and bends.
(v) What do we often think of?
Ans: We often think of the dark abyss somewhere above as the abode of ghosts. We fancy that ghosts live in a dark, mysterious and deserted far off place.