Class 7 English: Unseen Passages Type I

Read the passages given below and answer the questions that follow each of them :

Passage 1
I had a Dove
I had a dove and the sweet dove died
And I thought it died of grieving :
O, what could it grieve for ? Its feet were tied
With a silken thread of my own hand’s weaving ;
Sweet little red feet! why should you die—
Why should you leave me, sweet bird ! why ?
You liv’d glone on the forest-tree,
Why, pretty thing ! would you not live with me ?
I kissed you oft and gave you white peas ;
Why not live sweetly, as in the green trees ?
—John Keats

Questions

1. How did the dove die ?

2. Why did the dove live with the poet ?

3. How did the poet show his love for the dove ?

4. Was the dove happy with the poet ? Why ?

Answers:

1. The dove died because it was grief-stricken.

2. The dove lived with the poet because its feet were tied with a silken thread.

3. The poet kissed the dove very often. He also gave it white peas to eat.

4. The dove was not happy with the poet. The dove loved flying high but the poet had tied its feet with a silken thread. The loss of freedom had made it unhappy.

Passage 2
Dust of Snow
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued
—Robert Frost

Questions

1. What did the crow do ?

2. What did the crow’s action do to the poet ?

3. What do the last two lines mean ?

4. What is the message of the poem ?

Answers:

1. The poet was under a hemlock tree. A crow shook one of the tree’s branches. This made some of the dry snow on the tree fall on the poet.

2. The crow’s action changed the poet’s mood. He began to feel better.

3. The last two lines mean that it had been a bad and regretful day for the poet. The only pleasant incident was the one when the crow caused some snow to fall on him.

4. The message of the poem is that Nature has a soothing influence on a person. It is capable of changing a sorrowful person into a happy human being.
 

Passage 3
The good old man humbly asked for the ashes. Though the covetous couple turned up their noses at him and scolded him as if he were a thief, they let him fill his basket with the ashes.
On coming home, the old man took his wife into the garden. It being winter, their favourite cherry tree was bare. He sprinkled a pinch of ashes on it, and, lo ! It sprouted blossoms until it became a cloud of pink blooms which perfumed the air. The news of this filled the village, and everyone ran out to see the wonder.
The covetous couple also heard the story, and, gathering up the remaining ashes of the mill, kept them to make withered trees blossom.
Questions

1. What did the good old man get and from whom ?

2. How did the withered cherry tree sprout blossoms ?

3. What did the villagers do ?

4. Find a word in the passage which means the same as ‘abused’.

Answers:

1. The good old man got the ashes from the greedy couple.

2. When the good old man sprinkled ashes on the withered cherry tree, it sprouted blossoms.

3. When the villagers heard the story of the withered cherry tree, they ran to see the wonder.

4. ‘Scolded’.

Passage 4
Once (once only) I went absent-mindedly into his shop in a pair of boots bought in an emergency at some large firm. He took my order without showing me any leather and I could feel his eyes penetrating the inferior covering of my foot. At last he said, “Dose are nod my boods.”
The tone was not one of anger, nor of sorrow, not even of contempt, but there was in it something quiet that froze the blood. He put his hand down and pressed a finger on the place where the left boot was not quite comfortable.
“Id ‘urds’ you dere,” he said, “Dose big virms’ ave no self-respect.” And then, as if something had given way within him, he spoke long and bitterly. It was the only time I ever heard him discuss the conditions and hardships of his trade.

Questions

1. What did the author do only once ?

2. What did the shop-keeper do ?

3. What did the shop-keeper do for the first time ?

4. What is meant by ‘the inferior covering of the foot’ ?

5. What was there in the shop-keeper’s tone which froze the author’s blood ?

6. Find a word in the passage which means ‘hatred’ ?

Answers:

1. The author entered the shoe shop wearing a pair of shoes which he had bought at some large firm.

2. The shop-keeper pointed a spot in the shoe and told the author that the shoe pinched him there.

3. For the first time, the shop-keeper discussed the conditions and hardships of his trade.

4. It refers to the shoes.

5. The hopelessness of the tone froze the author’s blood.

6. ‘Contempt’.