Get premium membership and access questions with answers, video lessons as well as revision papers.

Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow. SECOND OLYMPUS

      

SECOND OLYMPUS
From the rostrum they declaimed
On martyrs and men of high ideals
Whom they sent out
Benevorent despots to an unwilling race
Straining at the yoke
Bull dozers trampling on virgin ground
In blatant violation
They trampled down all that was strange
And filled the void
With half digested alien thoughts
They left a trail of red
Whatever their feet had passed
Oh, they did themselves fine
And struttled about the place
Self proclaimed demi- gods
From a counterfeit Olympus
One day they hurled down thunder bolts
On toiling race of earthworms
They might have rained own pebbles
To pelt the brats to death
But that was beneath them

They kept up the illusion
That they were fighting foes
Killing in the name of high ideals
At the inquest they told the world
The worms were becoming pests
Moreover, they said
They did not like wriggly things
Strange prejudice for gods.

Questions

1) Who is being talked about in this poem? Give evidence.
2) With two evidences, discuss the poet’s general attitude towards the subject of the poem.

3) What do you understand by the following three lines?

'they trample down all that was strange

And filled the void with half digested alien thoughts?'

4) Who are referred to as 'toiling race of earthworms' and why

5) Discuss two stylistic devices used in the poem. Give their effectiveness

6) Explain the significance of the title.

7) What is the tone of the poem?

  

Answers


Martin
a) Colonialists.'……with half digested alien thought” “……they hurled down thunderbolts on a toiling race of earth worms.

b) Bitterness; the poet talks with irony and sarcasm to show his contempt.…..strange prejudice for gods…..self proclaimed demi- gods.'…..martyrs and men of high ideals.'……benevorent despots to an unwilling race.'

c) The aliens destroyed everything that was not important to them. And put up their own things. They destroyed cultures and traditions and introduced theirs.

d) It referred to African slaves who worked very hard on their landsv and soil. They worked on the soil for too long like earthworms.

i) Metaphor 'worms were becoming pests.' To emphasize the fact thoughv the Africans were minor compared to the whites, they caused destruction and resisted the colonial rule.

ii) Irony'….strange prejudice for good” to show the colonialists’ hypocrisy

iii) Sarcasm ….self proclaimed demi- gods'to laugh v at their proclaimed superiority’

e) The disrespectsv for gods. The white have proclaimed themselves gods.
f) Sarcastic tone.'strange prejudice for gods'
marto answered the question on May 6, 2019 at 05:49


Next: A particle P moves in a straight line such that t seconds after passing a fixed point Q. it’s velocity is given by the equation 2t3...
Previous: Use mathematical tables to evaluate.

View More English Literature Questions and Answers | Return to Questions Index


Learn High School English on YouTube

Related Questions