UNIT - 1
Poem
A Day
Understanding the text
1. Answer the following questions.
a. How does the poet describe the morning sun in the first stanza.
In the first stanza, the persona compares the sun to ribbon with the sunlight bathing the tops of the churches in a deep violet colour like amethyst. Layers of the ribbon are the gradual process of sunrise. The eagerness of a child to talk about sunrise shows his/her innocence. In a metaphorical sense, this stanza also winks at the excitement of childbirth.
b. What does the line ‘The news like squirrels ran’ mean?
The sunrise was so fascinating and overwhelming that pass over the sky as fast as squirrels do. Every morning starts with a fresh start. People start their morning reading newspapers also the significance of the eventual sunrise isn’t lost on the world. “The news…” of this phenomenon travels fast ‘like Squirrels’ running.
c. What do you understand by the line ‘The hills untied their bonnets?
As the sun rises and the morning air starts to warm, the mist, which is the metaphorical bonnet, over the hills evaporates. When the sun lightens at the top of hills they become so happy and excited. The hills reveal their greenery and beauty by removing their bonnets.
d. Is the speaker watching the morning sun? Why? Why not?
The speaker was innocently picking up small details during the sunrise and expressing how beautiful nature is. The phrase ‘I’ll tell you how the sun rose’ describes that the persona had just witnessed the morning sun with the changes seen in the sky.
e. How does the sunset?
In a metaphorical sense, The poem has exhibited the transition of birth and death as the representation of sunrise and sunset. The speaker was happy to see the sunrise but when the sun starts to set the speaker lacks confidence since he/she doesn’t know much about sunset. After all, we all need to face the harsh reality of life.
The sun goes away with a gloomy and dark sense. But the speaker is unclear how the sunsets.
Reference to the text
a. What, according to the speaker, is a day?
A Day ’ by Emily Dickinson is a renowned metaphysical poem of the nineteenth century. According to the speaker ‘A Day’ is a metaphoric representation of life where birth is sunrise and death is sunset. It shows how life starts with joy, happiness and eventually changes to uncertainty.
b. What purpose does the hyphen in the first line serve in the poem?
Hyphens in poetry are used as pauses, longer ones than commas or semi-colons. It enhances the methodical, unhurried nature of the scene. Poet has filled the gap by letting readers imagine after the end of the phrase.
c. What makes this poem lyrical and sonorous? Discuss.
Literary Devices like metaphors, symbolism, simile, personification and alliteration has embellished the poem. Emily has used her magic wand to make this poem lyrical and sonorous. She has depicted her own experience of dusk and dawn in her writing. The pronoun “I”, as used in lyrical poems, indicates the poet’s persona. On that note, ‘A Day‘—like most of Dickinson’s poems—is a lyric; it expresses a powerful thought from the perspective of a single persona. This poem's musicality is enhanced by the use of sound techniques such as alliteration, assonance, rhyme, and rhythm.
d. Who are the target audience of the speaker? Why?
The speaker, or poet persona, in the poem is a child. The persona is thrilled to gaze at sunrise innocently. Thoroughly reading the poem, that shows how innocently the child finds the sunrise as if he/she has not seen it before. The phrase ‘I’ll tell you how the sun rose’ pictures how joyful a child is feeling at the start of a day or life. In a philosophical sense, the poem also resembles the cycle of life. It depends on how a reader goes through the poem. The targeted audiences are the whole human race and innocent children.
e. The poem seems to describe a day for children. How would the adult people
respond to this poem? Discuss this poem with your parents/guardians and write
the answer based on their responses.
The poem has exhibited the transition of birth and death as the representation of sunrise and sunset. There is enthusiasm at the beginning of life and the transition of life towards a gloomy and dark uncertainty. Daytime activities are a trip through life, and sundown is the end of life. However, the final result is a little mysterious.
Reference beyond the text
B. Write a personal essay on A Day in the School.
The day begins with the sweet tweets of birds whispering into my ear. Of course, I had set the chirp of birds as an Alarm ringtone. I normally get up before 7 am. My mom yelling for breakfast and my dad taunting me for my slow movement is my daily routine. After the morning stuff, Packing my bag and running to the bus stop is my major task.
There are few friends at my bus stop. They too don’t want to go to school like me, except for some who want to make serious relationships. Sometimes I even wonder why don’t tyres of my school bus burst.
My official school starts at 11 am. The first class is Physics and guess what I am the first bencher. The only vacant seats for us, ‘ the latecomers ’. Physics classes in our school are amazing. I learn physics through visualization but unfortunately, I could not do that because of the environment. Yes, the environment where my ridiculous friends used to waste their time questioning why physics teachers lose their hair rather than visualizing.
When the bell rings, all the students feel free as if they are bailed from the jail. They rush towards the washroom even though they don’t need to. The second class is computer class where we spend our time playing counter strike. Some students really want to know how addition was done in C programming.
Recess is the most significant time to share our experiences, regrets, jokes and eat some good snacks brought by a friend. The only thing I like about going to school is to spend quality time with my friends. We create emotional bonding between friends that is everlasting throughout life.
At the end of the last class, my upper eyelid attracts the lower eyelid. I could barely understand the topic on the board. But thanks to my friend who always saves me from my teacher while I fall asleep. The last 5 minutes of my school day are the longest five minutes that I could imagine.
School is an educational institution designed to give students space to learn, engage, research, build fellowship and leadership. But in our dictionary school is just a place where the only emphasis given is to ‘Study’. School might be overwhelming to wiz students but not for me. In the context of Nepal, our school teaches us to score good marks in boards exams but not how to score for our life goals.
School becomes a chaotic place when a student doesn’t get away to explore himself, do what he wants. Indeed, school is for education. But Education is not only limited to exams. Forcing students only to study makes them feel that a school is a boring place.
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