NCERT Solutions Class 11th English Hornbill Poem – 2 The Laburnum Top Question & Answer

June 19, 2022

NCERT Solutions Class 11th English Hornbill Poem – 2 The Laburnum Top

Textbook	NCERT
Class	Class – 11th
Subject	English (Hornbill Poem)
Chapter	Poem – 2
Chapter Name	The Laburnum Top
Category	Class 11th Hornbill Question & Answer
Medium	English
Source	Last Doubt

NCERT Solutions Class 11th English Hornbill Poem – 2 The Laburnum Top Question & Answer What is called laburnum?, Why is the laburnum top silent?, What is the history of laburnum?, What Colour is laburnum?, What type of tree is laburnum?, Is laburnum a poisonous tree?, What is laburnum called in India?, Is laburnum found in India?, What does laburnum top mean hair?, What is the smell of laburnum?, Is laburnum poisonous to dogs?, Can laburnum be purple?, What is the flower of Kerala?, How fast growing is laburnum?

NCERT Solutions Class 11th English Hornbill Poem – 2 The Laburnum Top

Poem – 2

The Laburnum Top

Question & Answer

Find out

Question 1. What laburnum is called in your language.
Answer – Laburnum is known as Amaltas in Hindi.

Question 2. Which local bird is like the goldfinch.
Answer – Birds which sing melodiously like the goldfinch in India include the Asian Koel, the Bulbul, the House Sparrow, the Himalayan Cuckoo, the Swallow and so on.

Think it out

Question 1. What do you notice about the beginning and the ending of the poem?
Answer – The beginning of the poem is about the silence and stillness of the laburnum. The end of the poem again drifts into silence and emptiness of the laburnum.

Question 2. To what is the bird’s movement compared? What is the basis for the comparison?
Answer – The bird’s movement is compared to that of a lizard. The basis for the comparison is the sleek, alert and abrupt movement with which the bird enters its nest. This movement of the bird is comparable to that of a lizard.

Question 3. Why is the image of the engine evoked by the poet?
Answer – The poet evokes the image of an engine because as soon as the goldfinch enters its nest on the laburnum top, the whole tree comes alive with the chirruping of the young ones of the bird, their twittering and the tremor of their wings. As an engine brings a seemingly dead machine to life, so the chittering family of the goldfinch brings the whole tree into life.

Question 4. What do you like most about the poem?
Answer – Open-ended question. Here is a suggested answer: I like the depiction and the imagery in the poem. The poet creates a mundane yet beautiful picture of a tree top that goes through stages from being silent to alive and drifts back into silence again. The imagery of an engine bringing alive a machine is also something that catches my fancy.

Question 5. What does the phrase “her barred face identity mask” mean?
Answer – The phrase refers to the face of the bird that is covered with fur of different colours and which looks like a mask making it the identity of the bird.

Note Down

1. the sound words – Chirrup, machine starts up, chitterings, whistle-chirrup whisperings, trillings, engine, stokes it full, subsides to empty.

2. the movement words – Seeds fallen, sleek as a lizard, enters the thickness, tremor of wings, tree trembles and thrills, flirts out to a branch-end, she launches away.

3. the dominant colour in the poem. – The Laburnum tree has yellowing leaves, sitting still in the afternoon yellow sunlight. The goldfinch, a bird full of yellow feathers flies on to its branches to sit and sing. The dominant colour in all the descriptions in the poem is yellow.

List The Following

Question 1. Words which describe ‘sleek’, ‘alert’ and ‘abrupt’.
Answer –

Sleek – Smooth, Polished, Effortless.

Alert – Watchful, Careful, Brisk, Active.

Abrupt – Hasty, Quick, Sudden, Rushed.

Question 2. Words with the sound ‘ch’ as in ‘chart’ and ‘tr’ as in ‘trembles’ in the poem.
Answer –

Words with ‘Ch’ – Chirrup, Chitterings, Whistle-Chirrup.

Words with ‘Tr’ – Tremor, Trillings, Tree, Trembles, Thrills.

Question 3. Other sounds that occur frequently in the poem.
Answer –

‘St’ – Still, Startlement, Starts up.

‘-ings’ – Chitterings, Wings, Trillings, Whisperings.

Thinking about language

Look for some other poem on a bird or a tree in English or any other language.
Answer – Other poems on birds and trees include “Ode to a Nightingale” by John Keats which describes the beauty in the bird’s song, and “Hawk Roosting” by Ted Hughes which looks at a Hawk overlooking its domain to prey upon.

Try this out

Write four lines in verse form on any tree that you see around you.
Answer – I see a mango tree near my house with yummy mangoes hanging. A number of birds stay there and two monkeys.

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