Welcome to “I Remember, I Remember Workbook Answers: ICSE Treasure Chest (Evergreen),” where we delve into the nostalgic and evocative poem “I Remember, I Remember,” featured in the ICSE English Literature Treasure Chest by Evergreen Publications. This post provides comprehensive and meticulously crafted answers to multiple-choice and contextual questions, enriching your understanding of Thomas Hood’s poignant reflection on childhood memories and the passage of time.
We thoroughly analyze the poem, unraveling the essence of Hood’s reminiscences and the emotions they evoke. Each question guides readers through a deeper exploration of the text, encouraging you to examine the poem’s structure, vivid imagery, and reflective tone that Hood employs to convey his sentiments. Contextual inquiries expand our understanding, inviting critical engagement with the poem’s themes and the socio-cultural backdrop of Hood’s time.
Through this detailed examination, readers hone their analytical skills and develop a deeper appreciation for Hood’s literary craftsmanship and the universal themes of memory and longing. Whether you are a student navigating the ICSE English Literature syllabus or a poetry enthusiast captivated by Hood’s work, “ICSE Treasure Chest: I Remember, I Remember Workbook Answers” promises to be an invaluable companion. Join us on this literary journey as we illuminate the path to understanding, one workbook solution at a time.
Table of Contents
Poem In Details :
The poet recalls his childhood days in a reflective and sentimental tone. At first he remembers how as a child he would wake up early and enjoy a sunny day. The sun, personified as a human being, would appear on time to wake him up. The bond of the child with nature is thus glorified. In the present, the poet feels so gloomy and disheartened that he wishes he had died in his childhood. He is seemingly unhappy with his adulthood, a period full of worries, cares and boredom.
Then the poet recalls a variety of flowers of his childhood days roses, violets, lilies. The colours of flowers used to send him into raptures. He remembers the tree where the robin had built its nest. He recalls the place where his brother planted a laburnum tree on his birthday. His remark-The tree is living yet l – shows his excitement.
The poet recalls how he used to enjoy ‘flying’ on the swing. He would feel free like a bird and feel quite ‘light’ and cheerful. Contrasting the feelings of his childhood with his adulthood, he says that in childhood he was free and composed while in adulthood he is quite unhappy and ‘fevered’. No waters of ‘pools’ now can restore his childhood calm and peace.
Finally, the poet recalls dark, tall fir trees. In childhood, he thought the sky was close to the top of the trees. Now in adulthood he has acquired knowledge and calls it his childhood ignorance. But at the same time he feels that he was close to heaven in childhood whereas he is not in his adulthood. With the loss of innocence he has also lost the bliss of childhood.
Stanza Wise Explanation :
Stanza 1
The poem opens with the anaphoric line that continues to sound throughout the poem. It focuses on the pronoun ‘I’ which at once establishes an intimacy with the reader. The poet remembers the idyllic past of his joyful childhood. He remembers how he would wake up early and enjoy a sunny day. The sun, as a personified human being. is shown to do his duties perfectly well and efficiently, suggesting perfection in nature. It was in childhood that he was cheerful as he had an intimate bond with nature. The light of his day seems to have come to an end with his adulthood. He wishes that during his blissful childhood he had died so that he would not have to experience the gloomy period of his adulthood.
Stanza 2
The poet recalls various coloured flowers of his childhood-roses, violets, lilies, etc. These colourful, beautiful flowers used to make his life colourful. He remembers the place where his brother planted a laburnum tree, which is still living.
The whole stanza reveals how the poet feels happy and excited as he remembers his childhood.
Stanza 3
This stanza brings out the longing for childhood freedom in the poet’s mind as he recalls how he used to ‘fly’ like a wingless bird on a swing and experience the thrill of swinging in fresh air. His soul was then ‘light’ (‘cheerful, calm and quiet’). Now in adulthood he suffers from the ‘heaviness’ of soul, indicating gloominess, boredom and restlessness. The poet clearly articulates his feelings of regret and exhaustion of being grown-up. No summer pools can now calm his ‘fevered’ mind.
Stanza 4
The poet recalls having seen tall, dark fir trees whose tops then seemed to be near the sky. Now he knows it was his childhood ignorance. But he also knows that the so-called wisdom of his adulthood has come at the cost of his childhood innocence. He feels that he was closer to heaven in childhood than he is as a grown-up man. The contrast between childhood and adulthood is brought out vividly by using positive words (‘fresh’ and ‘cool’) for childhood and negative words (‘heavy’, ‘close’, ‘farther’) for adulthood.
Workbook MCQs :
Read the following questions and select the correct option:
1. In childhood the poet was quiet close to nature.
2. He was very happy then.
(a) 1 is the cause for 2.
(b) 1 is an example of 2.
(c) 1 is independent of 2.
(d) 1 is a contradiction of 2.
Answer :- (a) 1 is the cause for 2.
2. Select the correct option in the context of these two statements.
Statement 1: As a child the poet thought the fir trees were close to the sky.
Statement 2: As an adult he laughed at his childhood ignorance.
(a) Statement 1 is true but statement 2 is false.
(b) Statement 1 is false but statement 2 is true.
(c) Both the statements are true.
(d) Both the statements are false.
Answer :- (c) Both the statements are true.
3. The little window where the sun
Came peeping in at morn
Select the option that shows the use of the same literary device as the one in the above lines.
(a) Because I could not stop for Death He kindly stopped for me.
(b) Frail as a dragon-fly’s wing
(c) A hundred years should go to praise Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze
(d) My spirit flew in feathers then.
Answer :- (a) Because I could not stop for Death He kindly stopped for me.
4. ‘But now, I often wish the night Had borne my breath away.
Which of the following words best describes the poet’s mood?
(a) excited
(b) jealous
(c) gloomy
(d) confused
Answer :- (c) gloomy
5. Which of the following statements is NOT true of the poet?
(a) He was quite happy in his childhood
(b) He is not happy with his life as an adult
(c) He feels guilty when he ponders over his childhood ignorance.
(d) He feels that wisdom gained at the cost of one’s innocence is worthless.
Answer :- (c) He feels guilty when he ponders over his childhood ignorance.
6. What do the opening lines the poem create ?
(a) happy
(b) sad
(c) nostalgic
(d) indifferent
Answer :- (b) sad
7. ‘He never came a wink too soon’? What does ‘he’ refer to here?
(a) the moon
(b) the poet’s father
(c) the sun
(d) the poet’s brother
Answer :- (c) the sun
8. Which of these statements is NOT true?
(a) The poet feels miserable as a grown-up man.
(b) The poet laments the loss of childhood innocence.
(c) The poet wishes that he had died in his childhood.
(d) The poet wishes to die now.
Answer :- (d) The poet wishes to die now.
9. What kind of tree was planted by the poet’s brother?
(a) fir tree
(b) laburnum
(c) rose
(d) oak
Answer :- (b) laburnum
10. And thought the air must rush as fresh To swallows on the wing.’
Which figure of speech is used in these lines ?
(a) simile
(b) metaphor
(c) irony
(d) oxymoron
Answer :- (a) simile
11. Which word correctly depict the poet’s state of mind as an adult now.
(a) depressed
(b) joyous
(c) bored
(d) thrilled
Answer :- (c) bored
12. What is the main idea conveyed by the poem?
(a) that adulthood is a period of gloom and restlessness.
(b) that childhood is the best period in man’s life.
(c) that one must recall one’s childhood.
(d) that childhood memories play an important role in man’s life.
Answer :- (b) that childhood is the best period in man’s life.
13. That is so heavy now’. What does ‘heavy’ refer to here?
(a) the poet’s spirit now
(b) the swing
(c) the poet’s spirit in childhood
(d) old days of childhood
Answer :- (a) the poet’s spirit now
14. In the last stanza the poet refers to ‘childish ignorance’. How does he view it as an adult?
(a) sarcastically
(b) positively
(c) negatively
(d) ironically
Answer :- (b) positively
15. Which one of these in the poem is associated with childhood freedom?
(a) the sun
(b) swing
(c) the flowers
(d) the fir trees
Answer :- (b) swing
Comprehension Passages :
Passage – 1
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :
I remember, I remember, The house where I was born, The little window where the sun Came peeping in at morn; He never came a wink too soon, Nor brought too long a day, But now, I often wish the night Had borne my breath away!
(I) In what mood does the poet recall his childhood ? Why?
Answer :- The poet recalls his childhood in nostalgic mood. He laments the loss of his childhood as he feels the childhood period is a blissful period without cares and worries while the adulthood is full of stress and tension.
(II) How is the sun treated here? Which memory of the poet’s childhood is associated with it?
Answer :- The sun is presented as a living being. The memory of the window of his house through which it (the sun) would peep and wake him up punctually is associated with it.
(III) What does the poet wish? Why?
Answer :- The poet wishes that he should have died in his childhood, as that would have prevented him from experiencing so much tension and stress of adulthood.
(IV) How does the poet contrast childhood and adulthood?
Answer :- The poet compares and contrasts the two periods of his life. His childhood was full of cheerfulness and freedom while his adulthood is full of despair, tension and boredom.
(V) How does the poet view swinging in his childhood?
Answer :- The poet views swinging in his childhood as an act of sheer ecstasy and freedom. The rush of air he felt on his face then was as fresh as it must have been to the flying swallows.
Passage – 2
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :
I remember, I remember, The roses, red and white, The violets, and the lily-cups, And where my brother set The laburnum on his birth-day,-
The tree is living yet!
(I) What has the poet wished earlier in the context?
Answer :- The poet has wished that he should have died in his childhood, because that was the only time when he was absolutely happy and tension free.
(II) Those flowers made of light!’ Explain.
Answer :- Flowers, as seen by the poet in his childhood, looked so bright and dazzling as if they were made of light itself.
(III) What is ‘laburnum’? What makes the poet excited about it ?
Answer :- Laburnum is a small tree with hanging bunches of yellow flowers. A laburnum was planted by the poet’s brother. The poet feels excited that laburnum was still ‘alive’.
(IV) Childhood is a period of freedom. Which childhood image in the poem reminds you of this?
Answer :- The poet’s thrill as he moved on a swing in his childhood reminds us of childhood being a period of freedom.
(V) Why does the poet refer to the fir tree tops later in the context ?
Answer :- The poet refers to the fir tree tops because in childhood he used to think that these tree tops were very close to the sky. That ‘childish ignorance” he has lost at the cost of his so- called wisdom in his adulthood.
Passage – 3
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :
I remember, I remember,
Where I was used to swing,
And thought the air must rush as fresh
To swallows on the wing;
My spirit flew in feathers then,
That is so heavy now,
And summer pools could hardly cool
The fever on my brow!
(I) What did the poet’s brother plant, and when? What is so exciting about it?
Answer :- The poet’s brother planted a laburnum on his birthday. That the plant was still living after many years was a matter of excitement to the poet.
(II) How would the poet feel as a child on a swing?
Answer :- On the swing the poet as a child would feel ecstatic, thrilled and free.
(III) Elaborate the contrast between ‘then’ (childhood) and ‘now’ (adulthood).
Answer :- In childhood, one is totally happy, excited, curious and free from all cares and worries. In adulthood, one is full of tensions, anxieties and apprehensions. In childhood one is ignorant. In adulthood one gains knowledge but loses natural cheerfulness and flights of fancy.
(IV) Explain the last line in this extract.
Answer :- In adulthood the poet’s life is full of the fever of cares and worries, which no cool waters in the summer pools can bring down. In other words, adulthood cares and worries are inevitable and cannot be done away with.
(V) Does the poet want to escape from the present harsh realities? Why?
Answer :- Yes, the poet wants to escape from the present harsh realities because he always feels tense and worried.
Passage – 4
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow :
I remember, I remember,
The fir trees dark and high;
I used to think their slender tops
Were close against the sky: It was a childish ignorance,
But now ’tis little joy
To know I’m farther off from heaven
Than when I was a boy.
(I) In what state of mind does the poet recall his childhood? What do you think has made him nostalgic?
Answer :- The poet recalls his childhood in a sentimental and nostalgic state of mind. The cares and worries of adulthood have made him nostalgic about his childhood when life was quite cheerful and carefree.
(II) What was the childhood viewpoint about the ‘fir trees’?
Answer :- The childhood viewpoint was that the tops of fir trees were so tall as to touch the sky.
(III) How does the poet view his adulthood ‘wisdom’ as compared to his childhood ‘ignorance’?
Answer :- The poet views his adult wisdom no better than his childhood ignorance, With his so-called wisdom he now finds himself more distant from heaven than he was in his boyhood.
(IV) Explain the last two lines of the extract.
Answer :- The poet finds little joy in the realization that now as a grown man he is more distant from God than he was as a boy.
(V) What does the poet now realise was “childish ignorance”?
Answer :- The poet now realises that his thinking as a child that the tops of the fir trees touched the sky was a childish ignorance’.
