Direction (Que 1 – 4): Read the para given below and answer the following questions by choosing the correct option.

Far far from gusty waves these children’s faces.
Like rootless weeds, the hair torn around their pallor:
The tall girl with her weighed-down head. The paper
seeming boy, with rat’s eyes. The stunted, unlucky heir
Of twisted bones, reciting a father’s gnarled disease.
His lesson, from the desk. At the back of the dim class.
One unnoted, sweet and young.

Question 1: The phrase ‘weighed-down head’ doesn’t refer to being

1. burdened by poverty.
2. ashamed of her plight.
3. distressed due to difficulties.
4. dizzy with a headache.

Answer: 4) dizzy with a headache.

Question 2: Pick the option that matches the words / phrases with the literary device.

1. 1-A, 2-D, 3-C
2. 1-D, 2-B, 3-A
3. 1-D, 2-A, 3-B
4. 1-B, 2-A, 3-C

Answer: 3) 1-D, 2-A, 3-B

Question 4: The ‘gusty waves’, most likely, indicate

1. survival and struggle.
2. verve and brightness.
3. drudgery and dullness.
4. animation and alertness.

Answer: 2) verve and brightness.

Question 5: What does the expression “sour cream walls” denote?

1. Poverty of these children
2. Classroom not well-maintained
3. No proper ventilation
4. Classroom wall painted long ago

Answer: 2) Classroom not well-maintained

Question 6: How is Shakespeare’s picture of no use to these slum children?

1. Children are not studying anything
2. They do not know Shakespeare
3. They are more worried about diseases
4. Children want food not Shakespeare

Answer: 2) They do not know Shakespeare

Question 7: What is the significance of the picture of the Tyrolese valley?

1. A beautiful place full of flowers
2. Children are unaware of this beauty
3. It is in contrast to sad condition of classrooms
4. All of the above

Answer: 4) All of the above

Question 8: Which of the following lines clearly depicts the concept of class disparities?

1. Civilised dome riding all cities
2. Awarding the world its world
3. Shakespeare’s head
4. Open handed map

Answer: 2) Awarding the world its world

Direction (Que 9 – 12): Read the para given below and answer the following questions by choosing the correct option.

This map becomes their windows and these windows
That shut upon their lives like catacombs,
Break O break open till they break the town
And show the children to green fields, and make their world
Run azure on gold sands, and let their tongues
Run naked into books the white and green leaves open
History theirs whose language is the Sun.    

Question 9: Pick the option that is not true according to this extract.

1. The children should be allowed to read books and form their opinions.
2. Education without breaking the shackles of poverty, is meaningless.
3. The policy makers show the reality of the real world to the children.
4. The children see the world of poverty and misery through the windows.

Answer: 3) The policy makers show the reality of the real world to the children.

Question 10: Pick the options that match best with the phrase ‘break o break open’.

1. break free                  

2. break silence

3. break out                  

4. break even

5. break through            

6. break ground

1. 1, 3 and 5                     
2. 2, 3 and 6
3. 1, 4 and 6                     
4. 2, 3 and 5

Answer: 2) 2, 3 and 6

Question 11: On the basis of the para, pick the opinion that is closest to that of the poet.

1. The children should be given free time to play in the fields to develop their creativity.

2. The children must be given freedom to experience the wholesome bounties of nature.

3. The condition of the children can improve if they are shown the beautiful world out of their window.

4. The children can spread light and awareness if they become morally responsible.

1. Option 1                       
2. Option 2
3. Option 3                       
4. Option 4

Answer: 2) Option 2

Question 12: Based on the poem, choose the correct option with reference to the two statements given below.

Statement 1: The poet is in anguish at the plight of the children in slums and is sympathetic towards them.

Statement 2: The poet presents an exaggerated version of the struggles of the slum children, to garner sympathy.

1. Statement 1 is true but Statement 2 is false.
2. Statement 1 is false but Statement 2 is true.
3. Both Statement 1 and Statement 2 are true.
4. Both Statement 1 and Statement 2 cannot be inferred.

Answer: 1) Statement 1 is true but Statement 2 is false.

Question 13: Pick the quote that highlights the contrasting image portrayed in the poem.         

1. ‘The worst form of inequality is to try and make unequal things equal.’
2. ‘An imbalance between the rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.’
3. ‘Must work together to ensure equitable distribution of wealth, opportunity and power in our society.’
4. No amount of artificial reinforcement can offset the natural inequalities of human individuals.’

Answer: 2) ‘An imbalance between the rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.’

Question 14: What does the poet portray in the poem?

1. Questions of young children
2. Curiosity of young children
3. Plight of young children in slums
4. Playfulness of the children

Answer: 3) Plight of young children in slums

Question 15: Pick phrases that portray ‘poverty and hopelessness’ in the poem.

1. slag heap

2. spectacles of steel

3. gusty waves

4. run azure on gold sands

5. mended glass

6. squirrel’s game

7. language is the sun

1. 2, 4 and 7                     
2. 1, 3 and 5
3. 3, 4 and 6                     
4. 1, 2 and 5

Answer: 4) 1, 2 and 5

Question 16: A child in the slum experiencing the dreary life would have the least access to 

1. shelter              
2. information
3. water                
4. education

Answer: 4) 1, 2 and 5

Question 17: Choose the correct option with respect to the statements given below:

Statement 1: The poet gives a videographic view of the classroom located in the slum.

Statement 2: The panoramic view embodies the act of emancipation of the poverty stricken.

1. Statement 1 can be inferred from the poem but Statement 2 cannot be.
2. Statement 1 cannot be inferred from the poem but Statement 2 can be.
3. Both Statement 1 and Statement 2 can be inferred.
4. Both Statement 1 and Statement 2 cannot be inferred.

Answer: 3) Both Statement 1 and Statement 2 can be inferred.

Question 18: Pick the option that best describes the word ‘pallor’ as used in the given lines.

“The hair torn around their pallor.”

1. health                       

2. location

3. environment              

4. education

1. 1 and 2           
2. 3 and 4
3. Only 4              
4. Only 1

Answer: 4) Only 1

Question 19: The use of the phrase ‘paper-seeming’ in the poem for a boy implies that the boy is ……. .

1. shy and secretive
2. short and lean
3. hungry and thin
4. sad and depressed

Answer: 3) hungry and thin

Question 20: “At back of the dim class ….” What does the word ‘dim’ signify here?

1. Classrooms not properly lighted
2. Future of these children is bleak
3. Helplessness
4. All of the above

Answer: 4) All of the above

Question 21: The lines ‘On sour cream wall’s donations’ suggest that

1. the school is well-equipped
2. the school is small and dingy
3. The school works on donations
4. The school is not imparting proper education

Answer: 4) The school works on donations

Question 22: Column A of the given table consists of the example of the literary devices used in the poem and Column B consists of its significance or what it shows.

Match the phrase with its significance.

1. A-1, B-2, C-3, D-4
2. A-3, B-1, C-2, D-4
3. A-4, B-2, C-1, D-3
4. A-2, B-1, C-4, D-3

Answer: 2) A-3, B-1, C-2, D-4

Question 23: 

“His eyes live in a dream,

Of squirrel’s game, in tree room, other than this.”

In the poem, the poet had used commas at various places in a manner like the given lines. Why is the purpose of doing so?

1. To maintain a rhythm in the poem
2. To give pauses between phrases
3. To present contrasting pictures
4. To allow the reader to think before moving to the next phrase.

Answer: 3) To present contrasting pictures

Question 24: The expression ‘Open handed map’ shows

1. the inability of the poor students to see the world.
2. the inability of the students to enter the world of the rich.
3. the distance between the world of the slum students and rich students.
4. the lack of means which allows the slum children to get out of slums.

Answer: 4) the lack of means which allows the slum children to get out of slums.

Question 25:

‘Cloudless at dawn, civilized dome riding all cities’. The literary device used in the given lines is

1. Imagery           
2. Alliteration
3. Simile               
4. Both [a] and [b]

Answer: 4) Both [A] and [B]

Question 26: Pick out the words that can be closely associated with “Future painted with a fog”.

1. Dark                         

2. Uncertain

3. Bright                       

4. Ambitious

5. Hopeless                   

6. Vague 

1. 1, 2 and 5      
2. 2, 3 and 6
3. 1, 2 and 4                     
4. 2, 3 and 4

Answer: 1) 1, 2 and 5

Question 27: The image produced with the line ‘A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky’ is of

1. Pollution

2. Industrialisation

3. Dinginess

4. Congested nature of the locality 

1. 1 and 4
2. 2 and 4
3. 1 and 3            
4. 2 and 3

Answer: 1) 1 and 4

Question 28: Pick the statement that DOES NOT use any literary device.

1. From fog to endless night?
2. Far, Far from rivers, capes, and stars of words
3. Surely, Shakespeare is wicked
4. With, ships and sun and love tempting them to steal

Answer: 4) With, ships and sun and love tempting them to steal

Question 29: “For lives that slyly turn in their cramped holes’. What does the expression ‘cramped holes’ imply?

1. Small holes in school walls
2. Very small houses
3. Dingy congested shacks
4. None of the above

Answer: 3) Dingy congested shacks

Question 30: What does the image of mended glass like bottle bit’s suggest?

1. A state of ignorance
2. A state of hopelessness
3. Impoverished existence
4. Both [b] and [c]

Answer: 3) Impoverished existence

Question 31: What does the poet mean by ‘blot their’ maps with slums?

1. No promising future.
2. Future blotted with gloom and misery.
3. They are too deeply rooted in poverty and gloom.
4. These slum children have no hope for a better future.

Answer: 2) Future blotted with gloom and misery.

Question 32: “So blot their maps with slums as big as doom.” Here, ‘as big as doom’ indicates

1. Perpetuity                     
2. Temporality
3. Proliferation      
4. transience

Answer: 3) Proliferation

Question 33: How does the poet feel for the authorities that could help the children?

1. Despair             
2. Anger
3. Resentment      
4. Hopelessness

Answer: 3) Resentment 

Question 34:  ‘Run Azure on Gold Sand’ in the poem refers to

1. enjoying life in prosperity with the help of public figures
2. enriching with money and education which promotes upliftment
3. taking some time to enjoy nature that is away from slums
4. changing the world of misery into a pleasurable world

Answer: 4) changing the world of misery into a pleasurable world

Question 35: ‘Run naked into books the white and green leaves open’. What do ‘white and green leaves’ suggest here?

1. Different types of natural surroundings
2. A better world than foggy slums
3. Printed world as well as natural beauty
4. Inhaling fresh pure oxygen

Answer: 3) Printed world as well as natural beauty

Question 36: Based on the following statements, choose the correct option.

Assertion “Stephen spender picturises the condition of the slum children to highlight social injustice and class disparity”.

Reason 1 The reference to “sour cream wall, lead sky, rootless weeds, unlucky heir etc.” highlights social injustice.

Reason 2 “Health, education, surrounding” along with many other fields reflect class disparity.

1. Reason 1 and Reason 2 exemplify the Assertion
2. Reason 1 can be inferred but Reason 2 cannot be inferred from the assertion
3. Reason 1 cannot be inferred but Reason 2 can be inferred.
4. Reason 1 and Reason 2 both cannot be inferred.

Answer: 1) Reason 1 and Reason 2 exemplify the Assertion