Short Answers:
1. What do the various physical features of the Earth reveal to the poet?
The poet has discovered the earth’s dreamon the plains. He has admired her splendid presence on the mountains and observed her tranquillity in the valleys and touched her mysteries in the caves.
2. Why is the poet apologetic to the Earth? Pick out the lines that indicate this.
The poet is apologetic because of the insensible wars that are waged. The earth is filled with skulls and bones of the dead and
we pollute the earth with our wastes.
The lines in the 3rd stanza indicate that the poet is apologetic to the earth-
“We pierce your bosom with swords and spears.
We plant your fields with skulls and bones.
We empty our wastes in your bosom,”
3. Why does the poet call the Earth merciful?
The poet calls the Earth merciful because thogh we use the elements of the Earth to make weapons of destruction, the Earth in return gives us beautiful roses and lilies.
4. In what ways does the Earth repay man for all his ill-treatment?
Man uses the elements of the earth to make weapons of destruction. Inspite of man's ill-treatment, the Earth in return gives us beautiful roses and lilies.
Detail Answers:
1. Write the substance of the poem in about 100 words.
The poem 'Earth' is taken from a collection of poem and essays entitled "The Eye of the Prophet." It is written by Khalil Gibran, a Lebanese poet, philosopher and artist. Most of his works convey the timeless universal truths and of man’s inhumanity to man.
Earth is a beautiful tribute to our planet, which man exploits relentlessly. Earth is personified in this soulful poem. The poet admires its obedience to the light and the warmth of the sun, without which no life can be possible. The poet lists the physical features of the earth such as the plains, stony mountains, valleys, caves in which the poet is able to discover the dreams, the splendid presence, and its mysteries respectively.
The poem sorrowfully narrates the misdemeanour of man. Man battles with his greed and cuts each other and spills blood on earth, whereas the earth brings forth oil and balsam to dress his wounds. Men leave skulls and bones in the bowels of the earth, and it brings forth cypress and willow trees. Men bring human waste into the heart of the earth, and it brings forth wheat, grapes etc. To each deed of man the earth brings forth something most beneficial to man.
Man extracts elements to make lethal weapons like cannons and nuclear bombs, but out of man’s elements the earth produces water lilies and roses. The poet extols the patience and mercy of the earth and asks if it was an atom of dust raised by the feet of God when He journeyed from the east to the west of the universe.
Finally, the poet identifies himself as earth, and says that the earth is his sight and realisation, his knowledge and dream, his hunger and thirst, his sorrow and joy, the beauty that lives in his eyes, the longing in his heart and the everlasting life in his soul.
He concludes that had it not been for man, the earth would not have any identity.
2. "You are I Earth" - Why does the poet conclude that man and earth are one and the same identity?
The poet Khalil Gibran, in his beautiful tribute to the earth, says conclusively that man and the earth are one and the same entity.
After glorifying the earth and her beauty and her bounteous nature, the poet in the last stanza reflects on the identity of the earth. He comes to the conclusion that the earth and man are inseparable and voices his comprehension through these lines.
He says that the earth is his vision and realisation, his knowledge and dream, his hunger and thirst, his sorrow and joy. He declares that she is the beauty that lives in his eyes, the longing in his heart and the everlasting life in his soul. He truly believes in this and so he says that if it had not been for his being on earth, the earth would not have any identity.
God has raised the earth for man to live in its glory and so the earth stands for man and man stands for earth.
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