Answers to NCERT Questions
THINKING ABOUT THE POEM
1. What does the young man mean by “great honey-coloured/Ramparts at your ear?” Why does he say that young men are “thrown into despair” by them?
Ans: By “great honey-coloured/Ramparts at your ear”, the poet means that her hair is golden in colour. The young men are “thrown into despair by them because they look ugly.
2. What colour is the young woman’s hair? What does she say she can change it to? Why would she want to do so?
Ans: The colour of the young woman’s hair is yellow. She says that she can dye it ‘brown, black or carrot’. She would want to do, so that her lover must love her internally, not physically.
3. Objects have qualities which make them desirable to others. Can you think of some objects (a car, a phone, a dress…) and say what qualities make one object more desirable than another? Imagine you were trying to sell an object: what qualities would you emphasise?
Ans: The objects which make a person desirable can be dresses, shoes, ornaments, hair dyes, hairstyles, etc. But these are only outward means of beauty. The real beauty of a person is inner beauty. The beauty of mind or thoughts is the only beauty that lasts.
If I were to sell an object, I would emphasise its real qualities like its durability, usefulness, etc. rather than artificial, temporary and unreal ones.
4. What about people? Do we love others because we like their qualities, whether physical mental? Or is it possible to love someone “for themselves alone”? Are some people ‘more lovable’ than others? Discuss this question in pairs or in groups, considering points like the following.
i. a parent or caregiver’s love for a newborn baby, for a mentally or physically challenged child, for a clever child or a prodigy
ii. the public’s love for a film star, a sportsperson, a politician, or a social worker
iii. your love for a friend, or brother or sister
iv. your love for a pet, and the pet’s love for you
Ans: Generally, we love people because of their physical features as well as their mental qualities. For example, a mother loves her child whether it is beautiful or not. But some people, in spite of their physical ugliness, may be more lovable than others because of their mental qualities. The following is to be discussed in pairs or groups:
i. A parent’s love for a newborn baby, for a mentally or physically challenged child or for a clever child will be almost the same. However, the love of a caregiver cannot reach the same level. It would be determined by the relationship. ii. The public’s love for a film star, a sportsperson, a politician or a social worker depends on their emotions. If these persons work as per the wishes or aspirations of the public, they will be popular. Otherwise, they will soon be forgotten.
iii. My love for a friend or brother or sister can’t be the same. The love for a friend is on a social or emotional scale. The love for brother or sister is purely on an emotional level. We have a love for a friend, but we have affection for a brother or sister.
iv. My love for a pet is because of the cuteness of a pet animal. We do not love those animals which look ugly or are bad-tempered.
5. You have perhaps concluded that people are not objects to be valued for their qualities or riches rather than for themselves. But elsewhere Yeats asks the question: How can we separate the dancer from the dance? Is it possible to separate ‘the person himself or herself’ from how the person looks, sounds, walks, and so on? Think of how you or a friend or member of your family has changed over the years. Has your relationship also changed? In what way?
Ans: It is true that a person is nothing by himself. We cannot separate him from his traits. For example, we hate a person for his negative qualities. We love a person for his good qualities. We cannot separate a person from his character. But sometimes, a person has hidden qualities.
I have seen some of my friends and family members change with the passage of time. That depends on a number of factors. Seeing that my relationship with friends has also changed, but as far as the family members are concerned, I continue to love them as before, not bothering about their changed attitude towards me.
Additional Questions
Extract Based Questions
Read the following extracts carefully and answer the questions that follow: (4 Marks each)
1. “I heard an old religious man But yesternight declare
That he had found a text to prove
That only God, my dear,
Could love you for yourself alone
And not your yellow hair.”
a. What does the old man’s text prove?
b. What, according to the poet, is more essential in the eyes of God?
c. What does ‘I’ refer to here?
d. How is God’s love different from the love of the young lovers?
Ans:
a. That only God could love Anne for herself.
b. God loves an individual for himself/herself alone.
c. The Poet.
d. Young lovers love her hair that represents physical beauty whereas God loves an individual for being himself/herself.
2. “Never shall a young man, Thrown into despair
By those great honey-coloured
Ramparts at your ear,”
a. Name the poem and the poet.
b. Who speaks these lines and to whom?
c. What is her hair compared with?
d. What is the honey-coloured rampart?
Ans:
a. The poem is ‘For Anne Gregory’ and the poet is ‘W.B. Yeats’.
b. A young man to Anne Gregory.
c. Her hair is compared with honey.
d. Anne’s yellow hair is the honey-coloured rampart.
3. “But I can get a hair-dye
And set such colour there,
Brown, or black, or carrot,
That young man in despair
May love me for myself alone
And not my yellow hair.”
a. What different colours have been mentioned in the above lines?
b. What does the speaker want?
c. Who does ‘I’ stand for?
d. Why does the speaker talk about changing the colour of hair?
Ans:
a. Brown, black, carrot and yellow.
b. The speaker wants that she should be loved for what she is and not for the colour of her hair.
c. ‘I’ stands for Anne Gregory.
d. The speaker wants to change the colour of hair, so that she would be loved for what she is and not for the colour of her hair.
Short Answer Questions (30–40 words: 2 Marks each)
1. What was not liked by the young men?
Ans: The young men do not love the real person but love appearances. Everyone wants one should be loved for his actual personality and not by what he looks like. The young man does not like grey or yellow hair, and they do not care for inner beauty but love.
2. The young woman’s hair is yellow coloured. She is ready to change her hair colour to another colour. Why would she want to do so?
Ans: The young woman is ready to do so because she wants someone to love her. Moreover, she wants that someone should love her for her inner beauty and not for the colour of her hair.
3. What does the old religious man say?
Ans: The old religious man says that he has found a text which proves that only God could love us for ourselves alone and not for physical beauty. He is the one who truly loves us.
4. What is the central idea of the poem, ‘For Anne Gregory’?
Ans: The poem conveys the idea that physical beauty may be important for young men or human beings, but God does not love human beings for their physical beauty. In this poem, the poet gives an example of a lover who loves the yellow hair of a young lady but does not like her ramparts. The lady disapproves his love.
5. To whom is the first stanza of the poem addressed? What does the speaker say to her?
Ans: The first stanza of the poem is addressed to a lady named Anne Gregory. She had a great influence on the poet. He had great respect for her. He tells her that although she is a noble lady, yet nobody would love her for herself alone.
6. What makes a young man not to love the woman referred to in the first stanza?
Ans: The woman has beautiful yellow hair. But the outer part of her ears is not attractive. The poet says that men shall never love her only for herself.
7. What does the woman say she can do to make herself more desirable to young men? What does this show?
Ans: The woman says that she would dye her hair brown, black or carrot colour. This shows that young men give more importance to physical appearance than inner beauty.
8. What does the religious man tell the poet about God’s love for man?
Ans: The religious man has told the poet that he has found a religious text. According to that, God loves a person, not for his or her physical qualities, but for their inner qualities.
Long Answer Questions (100–150 words: 8 Marks each)
1. The poet in the poem, ‘For Anne Gregory’ conveys that we should give importance to the inner beauty and not the physical appearance. Elaborate with reference to the poem.
Ans: In the conversation that takes place between Anne Gregory and another speaker, the poet has tried to show that inner beauty is real beauty, whereas physical appearance is changeable and hence, unimportant. The first speaker says to Anne that young men love her for her beautiful yellow hair and may never love her for what she really is. To this, Anne replies that her hair-colour can be changed into black, brown or carrot, meaning that external beauty is all superficial and men should not love her for that. Through Anne’s reply, the poet has made clear his preference for internal beauty over physical appearance.
2. How right or wrong is it to judge someone on the basis of his/her physical appearance?
Ans: Physical appearances never give the true account of a person as it can be changed with the help of clothing, make-up and other such things.
Something which is not true and real should not be used to judge the person carrying it. A person must be judged on the basis of his behaviour that shows the true characteristics of his personality. This is explained by Anne in her reply to the first speaker that her beautiful hair-colour which attracts men is changeable, hence, men should not fall in love with her based on her hair-colour.
3. Why do you think, the other speaker mentioned the old religious man and the text that proves that only God can love Anne for herself alone?
Ans: The speaker mentioned the text found by an old religious man that proves that only God can love Anne for herself alone. It is so because the speaker wanted to tell Anne that her desire that men should not see her outer beauty is not going to be fulfilled. The speaker tells Anne that only God can be0 so great as to avoid external beauty and look beyond it. Man, on the other hand, falls for all things that appear pretty from outside and never bothers about what lies inside.
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