CHILDHOOD

1. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

When did my childhood go?

Was it the day I ceased to be eleven.
Was it the time I realised that Hell and
Heaven, Could not be found in Geography,
And therefore could not be,
Was that the day!
Q1. When does poet realise that his childhood has gone?
Ans. Poet realises at the age of eleven.
Q2. Why is the age of eleven so important for the poet?
Ans. Because at the age of eleven, he can differentiate between fact and
fiction. Q3. What is the quality acquired by the poet at this stage of his life?
Ans. The poet has become rational at this stage.
Q4. When did the poet know that ‘hell’ and ‘heaven’ are imaginary concepts?
Ans. When he could not locate these places in geography books.
Q5. Why is the poet worried?
Ans. The poet is worried because he has lost his purity of thoughts and innocence.
Q6. Where has the poet’s childhood gone?
Ans. His childhood has gone to some forgotten place.
Q7. What is a child’s perception of an adult?
Ans. As the childhood goes, the child can differentiate between fact and fiction.

2. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

When did my childhood go?

Was it the time I realised that adults were not
All they seemed to be,
They talked of love and preached of love,
But did not act so lovingly,
Was that the day!
Q1. Why does the poet not talk great of grown up people?
Ans. Poet feels that grown up people do not act on what the preach.
Q2.Why is the poet confused?
Ans. Poet cannot understand whether he is a child or an adult.
Q3.How does the poet find the people in this world?
Ans. Poet finds the people as hypocrites.
Q4.Choose word from the passage which means ‘sermonized’.
Ans. Preached

3. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
When did my childhood go?
Was it when I found my mind was really mine,
To use whichever way I choose,
Producing thoughts that were not those of other people
But my own and mine alone
Was that the day!
Q1. Explain ‘My mind was really mine’?
Ans. It means that poet was completely in control of himself.
Q2. ‘Producing thoughts that were not these of other people’s means:
Ans. The poet has gained confidence to express his views independently.
Q3. Which stage of life has been under consideration above?
Ans. Poet is passing through adulthood.
Q4. What thoughts of the poet are revealed in these lines?
Ans. His individuality is expressed here.
4. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Where did my childhood go?
It went to some forgotten place,
That is hidden in an infant’s face,
That’s all I know.
Q1. Why is the poet eager to know the lost place of his childhood?
Ans. (i) The poet cherishes childhood the most.
(ii) The poet once again wishes to lead the innocent life of a child.
(iii) The poet is eager to know where his childhood is hidden.
Q2.Where is poet able to find his lost childhood?
Ans. In the innocent face of the infant.
Q3. Choose a word from the passage which is synonymous to ‘concealed.
Ans. Hidden
Q4. What is the rhyming scheme of the above lines?
Ans. a b b a.
Short Answer Type Questions
Q1. How does the poem expose man and presents him in true colours?
Ans. Childhood symbolizes innocence, purity, softness and love. As a child grows, these
qualities start receding. Man becomes impure, cunning, shrewd and hypocrite. Grown-
ups become blatant liars. They talk of love but practice hatred. They preach
brotherhood of mankind but perpetuate hatred and killing. Simplicity and honesty
evaporate into thin air, the moment man crosses the threshold of innocent childhood.
Q2. What is the poet’s feeling towards the childhood?
Ans. The poet regards childhood as a period of heavenly innocence. A child sincerely
feels that there is god above. He is free from all earthly evils. He believes that there is
really a Heaven and a Hell. He is truly religious in his soul. A child knows no hypocrisy.
He always means what he says. There is no difference between his thoughts and
actions. A child is free from any sense of ego. He does not think himself to be different
from or superior to others. In short, childhood is a state of heavenly innocence and
purity of heart.
Q3. What according to the poem, is involved in the process of growing up?
Ans. As a person grows up, he becomes a rationalist, an egoist and a hypocrite. He
accepts nothing that is not logical. He loses faith in God. He does not believe in Hell or
Heaven. He becomes very conscious of his self. He wants to follow his own desires and
ideas. He becomes an egoist. He talks of love and preaches of love, but is not so loving
in his actions. In short, he loses all his innocence of his childhood.
Q4. How does the poet describe the process of being grown up?
Ans. The process of being grown up develops the critical thinking and analytical point
of view in the person. It makes the person rationalized and abled to take his decision
by virtue of his seat of reasoning.
Q5. How does the poet repent on his loss of childhood?
Ans. He expresses concern over his childhood’s disappearance. Childhood cannot be
regained. It keeps our life aloof from the world of hypocrisy, bitter reality and
materialism.
Q6. The poet has asked two questions one is about the time and other is about
the place. Why has he used these questions?
Ans. He has used these two questions to interpret the time and place of way of going
his childhood away. “When” points out the process of being rational at a particular time
and “where” states the place where the innocent world of childhood resides.
Q7. What does the Hell and heaven stand for?
Ans. It stands for the world of imagination that fascinates only small children. These
are nothing but the product of our imaginative mind that helps the person to escape
from reality.
Q8. What contrast did he find in adult’s behaviour?
Ans. They talked of human values but did not practise in their day to day life.

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