This content has been written by the experts keeping in mind the exam score. Go through The Laburnum Top Extract Questions and Answers and add highest value to your studies.
The Laburnum Top Extract Questions and Answers
(1)
Read the extract carefully and answer the questions that follow :
The laburnum top is silent, quite still
In the afternoon yellow September sunlight,
A few leaves yellowing, all its seeds fell.
Till the goldfinch comes, with a twitching chirrup
A suddenness, a startlement, at a branch end.
Word Notes
Laburnum—a short tree with yellow flowers and poisonous seeds,अमलताश; still—motionless,निश्चल; yellowing—turning yellow, dying; goldfinch—a small singing bird; twitching—jerky by fits and start, sound or twittering, झटकों भरी आवाज; suddenness—all of a sudden abruptly; startlentent—surprise, चौका देने वाली आवाज़
अमलताश वृक्ष का शिखर शांत है बिल्कुल गतिहीन या निश्चल l समय है सितम्बर माह में दोपहर की बाद की पीली धूप का l वृक्ष की कुछेक पत्तियाँ पीली पड़ने लगी है, इसके सभी बीज झड़ चुके हैं l तभी मादा गायक पक्षी वहाँ आती है, झटके के साथ रुक-रुक कर चहचहाती है l वह वृक्ष की एक शाखा एक छोर पर अचानक, चौंका देने वाली आवाज के साथ आकर बैठ जाती है l
Questions
(i) What is the significance of the ‘Laburnum top’ here?
(ii) Which season has been described in these lines?
(iii) What commotion does the bird create? How?
Ans.
(i) The laburnum is an Indian tree with yellow flowers. The significance of the tree top here is that the goldfinch bird has built her nest in its branch, not reachable easily, to bring up her chicks.
(ii) It is perhaps the ‘fall’ or the autumn season when the tree leaves turn yellow and the seeds fall on the ground.
(iii) The arrival of the mother goldfinch is noted by her young ones or fledgelings. They start chirruping noisily out of joy. The silence is broken suddenly.
(2)
Then sleek as a lizard, and alert, and abrupt,
She enters the thickness, and a machine starts up
Of chitterings, and a tremor of wings, and trillings—
The whole tree trembles and thrills.
It is the engine of her family.
Word Notes
sleek–smooth and glossy, चिकनी,चमकदार ; lizard– छिपकली; alert–watchful, attentive, सावधान; abrupt–sudden, swift; thickness–the thick leaves and branches,घने पत्ते और शाखाएँ; machine starts up–the young chicks start making a harsh noise, the wings also flutter; chitterings–chattering noise, चहचाहट; trillings–confused noise; trembles–shakes, हिल जाता ह ै; thrills–is filled with excitement, उत्सुकता से भरा हुआ
फिर अचानक सतर्क, छिपकली की भाँति चिकनी चमकदार गोल्डफीन्च मादा पक्षी अपने नन्हें बच्चों से मिलने आ जाती है, वह वृक्ष के घने पत्तों तथा शाखाओं के बीच प्रवेश कर जाती है, और वहाँ ऐसी आवाज अचानक पैदा हो जाती है जैसे कोई यंत्र (इंजन) चालू कर दिया गया हो, यह मिलीजुली आवाज है बच्चों की चहचहाहट की, पंखों के फड़फड़ाने की तथा शोर की I पूरा वृक्ष जैसे हिल जाता है, और रोमाँचित हो जाता है यह शोर है पक्षी के परिवार के यंत्र का I
Questions
(i) To what is the goldfinch’s movement compared?
(ii) Why does the poet use the word ‘engine’? Do you think it is hyperbole or exaggeration?
(iii) Which two sounds dominate in this extract?
Ans.
(i) The goldfinch’s movement is compared to that of a lizard, smooth and alert.
(ii) The word ‘engine’ in the extract denotes the sudden and monotonous noise put up by the young ones of the goldfinch in the nest. The poet has definitely used hyperbole in a beautiful way to compare the sudden eruption of chitterings in the tree to that of an engine starting up.
(iii)The sounds that strike our ears repeatedly are the “chitterings” and “trillings” of the mother and baby birds.
(3)
She stokes it fully, then flirts out to a branch-end
Showing her barred face identity mask
Then with eerie delicate whistle-chirrup whisperings
She launches away, towards the infinite
And the laburnum subsides to empty.
Word Notes
stokes—arouses the noise,शोर बढ़ाना; flirts—flies out suddenly, अचानक उड़ना; barred—with several stripes or bands of colour, रंगीन धारियाँ; identity—recognition mark, पहचान; mask—covering, मुखौटा; eerie—strange, ghostly, भयावह; delicate—soft,कोमल ; whistle–chirrup—soft whistling sound, सीटी जैसी मद्दम आवाज़; whispering—soft noise, पतली आवाज़; launches—flies, उड़ना; infinite—the horizon, limitless sky,क्षितिज असीमित आकाश; subsides—sinks back, returns,लौट आना; empty—silent stillness,निस्याब्द ठहराव; she—the mother goldfinch bird
मादा गोल्डफीन्च पक्षी आकर अपने बच्चों की इंजन की आवाज कुरेद कर बढ़ा देती है I फिर वह उड़कर शाखा के छोर पर बैठ जाती है उसके चेहरे की लकीरें ही उसकी पहचान वाला मुखौटा है I फिर विचित्र मंद सीटी जैसे हल्की फुस्फुसाहट के साथ पक्षी उड़ जाता है, अनन्त आकाश की ओर, क्षितिज की ओर I और अमलताश वृक्ष पुनः शांति और खालीपन में डूब जाता है I
Questions
(i) Who does ‘she’ refer to? What does she stoke?
(ii) What is the identification mask of the bird?
(iii) What do you notice about the beginning and the ending of the poem?
Ans.
(i)’She’ here refers to the small singing mother bird goldfinch. She stokes or sets in motion the noise created by her young ones in the nest.
(ii) The little singing bird can be recognised from the stripes on her face.
(iii)The poem starts or opens with ‘silence and stillness’ on, the tree top. The poem closes with the emptiness or silence that returns after the bird has flown away.
