Short Questions with Answers
1. Who is the poet of the poem?
Answer : Namdeo Dhasal is the poet of the poem.
2. What do stone-masons give to stones?
Answer : Stone-masons give stones dreams to dream.
3. What does the speaker do with fireworks?
Answer : The speaker sets a match to fireworks.
4. What do people say about stepping into one’s father’s life?
Answer : They say one mustn’t step into one’s father’s life.
5. How does the speaker feel when he scratches his father’s elbows?
Answer : He feels connected to his father’s life and struggles.
6. What does the speaker play in the poem?
Answer : He plays horns and trumpets.
7. Who does the Parsi get turned to stone by?
Answer : The Parsi gets turned to stone by the bodies of four women bent like bows.
8. What does the speaker see about his father?
Answer : He sees his father’s bloodied rump.
9. What does the speaker smoke in the dark?
Answer : The speaker smokes a cheroot in the dark.
10. What happens to the speaker’s lips when he smokes?
Answer : His lips get burnt from smoking.
11. What do stone-masons mix with stones?
Answer : They mix blood with stones.
12. What does the speaker harness himself to?
Answer : The speaker harnesses himself to a cart.
13. What does the speaker handle in the poem?
Answer : He handles his father’s corpse.
14. What do stone-masons build in the poem?
Answer : Stone-masons build a stone house.
15. What does the speaker do with stones?
Answer : He breaks heads with stones.
Medium Questions with Answers
1. How is the life of stone-masons described in the poem?
Answer : Stone-masons work hard and suffer a lot. They use their strength to shape stones. Their lives show sacrifice and pain.
2. What does the speaker do differently from the stone-masons?
Answer : The speaker does not shape stones like the stone-masons. He burns fireworks and remembers the past. His pain is more emotional than physical.
3. Why does the speaker mention his father’s bloodied rump?
Answer : He mentions it to show the pain and injury his father suffered. It shows the hard life his father lived as a laborer. This makes us feel sympathy for the father.
4. What does the speaker do with memories in the poem?
Answer : The speaker smokes and thinks about his memories. These memories burn him like fire, causing emotional pain. They make him feel sad and hurt.
5. Why is the mention of the Parsi important in the poem?
Answer : The Parsi stands frozen, showing how people can become lifeless. He is turned to stone by the sight of the women. It shows how life can harden people.
6. What does the phrase “mix blood with stones” mean?
Answer : It means the stone-masons work so hard that they give their life to their work. They suffer and sacrifice their blood for their job. It shows their deep struggle and pain.
7. Why does the speaker harness himself to a cart?
Answer : The speaker ties himself to a cart like a horse to show the burden he carries. It means he feels trapped by heavy responsibilities. This shows how hard his life is.
8. What does breaking heads with stones symbolize?
Answer : It symbolizes the speaker’s anger and frustration with life. He is tired of pain and suffering. It shows he wants to fight back or change things.
9. Why does the speaker burn fireworks in the poem?
Answer : Burning fireworks shows the speaker’s small moments of happiness. The light disappears quickly, showing that joy does not last long. It also shows his wish to escape his hard life.
10. How does the speaker feel about his father’s life?
Answer : The speaker feels sad but also proud of his father. He respects his father’s hard work and suffering. He wants to continue his father’s legacy, even though it’s difficult.
Long Questions with Answers
1. How does the poem contrast the lives of stone-masons and the speaker?
Answer : The stone-masons do hard physical work shaping stones, using their blood and sweat. The speaker, on the other hand, feels emotional pain and remembers the past. Stone-masons’ pain is physical, while the speaker’s pain is emotional. Both kinds of pain show how life can be hard in different ways.
2. What role does the speaker’s father play in the poem?
Answer : The speaker’s father shows how hard life is for workers. He worked until he got hurt, and the speaker respects him. The speaker also feels the burden of living his father’s life. This shows how children sometimes carry the same struggles as their parents.
3. What is the significance of the imagery of fire in the poem?
Answer : Fire appears many times in the poem, like when the speaker burns fireworks or smokes. Fire shows pain, change, and destruction. The speaker’s lips burn, showing how memories hurt him. Fire also means he wants to escape his difficult life.
4. How does the poem reflect the theme of sacrifice?
Answer : The poem shows sacrifice through the stone-masons’ hard work and the speaker’s emotional pain. Stone-masons give their blood, while the speaker sacrifices his happiness. The father also sacrificed a lot for his family. This shows that both physical and emotional sacrifices are important in life.
5. How does the speaker express his feelings toward his memories?
Answer : The speaker’s memories make him feel sad and hurt. He smokes and burns his lips, showing that his memories bring pain. He cannot forget the hard times or his father’s suffering. His memories control him, and he feels trapped by them.
6. What message does the poet convey about labor and life?
Answer : The poet shows that life is full of hard work, pain, and sacrifice. Stone-masons work hard with their hands, and the speaker struggles with his feelings. Both physical and emotional work bring suffering. The poem tells us that everyone has burdens in life, but they must keep going.
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