QUESTIONS & ANSWER OF THE POEM "MY OWN TRUE FAMILY".

QUESTIONS & ANSWER

1.Why did the boy (poet) enter an oak wood?

Ans: The boy (poet) entered an oak wood to look for a stag.

2.Whom did he meet in the wood? How was the referred person?

Ans: He met an old woman in the wood.

She was very old. She had a knobbly stick and wore rag.

3.What was inside the old lady’s little bag?

Ans: There was poet's life's secret inside the old lady's bag.

4. When did the boy (poet) begin to quake?

Ans: When the old woman began to cackle, the boy began to quake.

5. “I came twice awake”—Explain the line.

Ans: Answer: In the poem "My Own True Family", a boy is seen to meet an old mysterious lady in an oak wood. That old lady says that she holds all the secret of his life in her little bag. And when she opens her bag, something happens to him as if he has taken birth for the second time. This birth is not physically but in mentality and attitude. Previously he was unconscious about the benefits of trees and supports in killing them. But with new birth, now he gets a heart of tree and can feel the pain of tree.

6. What did the boy (poet) observe when he came twice awake?

Ans: When the boy (poet) came twice awake, he saw himself surrounded by a staring tribe of oak trees and they tied him to a stake.

7.Who are called staring tribe here?

Ans: Here oak trees are called staring tribe.

8.What complaints did the oak trees make against the human beings?

Ans: The oak trees complained that they are chopped down, torn up but we i.e. human do not blink an eye.

10. How did the trees threaten the boy? / What promises did the trees take from the boy (poet)?

Ans: The trees threatened the boy saying that if he does not make a promise to plant two trees after seeing one oak tree felled, they will wrinkle over him with black bark and root him among them.

11. “And root you among the oaks where you were born but never grew”—Explain the line.

Ans: We and the oak trees both were born from nature. But after taking birth, the trees remain at one place for its whole life time. On the other hand, we human beings do not remain at one place after taking birth. The trees threatened the boy to root him among them i.e. in soil.

12. What altered the boy (poet)?

Ans: The dream beneath the boughs altered the boy (poet).

13. What changes happened to the boy (poet) when he came out of the wood?

Ans: When the boy came out of the wood, his walk was like a human child but his heart was like a tree.