A Psalm Of Life Question Answer CHSE Odisha | Invitation to English 1 | +2 2nd Year

2. What does the poet say about life in the first stanza? 

Ans: In the first stanza, the poet says that life is an empty dream. It shows us many colourful dreams and most of them are not materialised.

3. What does the poet mean by, “Live in real ! Life is earnest !” 

Ans: The poet says “life is real I Life is earnest” to counter the statement- life is an empty dream. He says that the goal of life is not death, is not grave, but to do some noble action.

4. What is the poet’s observation on ‘soul’? 

Ans: The poet says that the physical body dies and mixes in dust, but the ‘soul’ remains immortal. The fire can’t burn it. Water can’t drown it. Life is not a body; life is soul.

5. Quote the line which means – “death is not the goal of life”?

Ans: “And the grave is not its goal.” This line says that death is not the goal of life.

6. What attitude does the poet challenge in the first two stanzas? Is the attitude of the poet positive or negative? 

Ans: In the first two stanzas, the poet challenges the attitude of the pessimistic people who say, life is an empty dream. The poet’s attitude is positive because he says, “life is real.”

7. “Dust thou art, to dust thou returnest.” This expression alludes to the Bible. What are the other lines in the poem that make an allusion to the Bible? 

Answer. The other allusions to the Bible are – our hearts like muffled drums, are beating funeral marches to the grave. Again another quotation is – In the world’s broad field of battle / In the bivouac of life / Be not like dumb, driven cattle.

8. What does the poet say about the goal of life in stanza-3? 

Ans: The goal of life is not grave. The goal of life is to act so that each tomorrow finds us farther than today.

9. What is the poet’s observation on “Art”? 

Ans: The poet observes that Art is long. Time can’t destroy ‘art’. It will exist even after the death of the artist.

10. “Be a hero in the strife”- Is it an inspiring call of the poet? What other things does the poet urge us to do? 

Ans: Yes, it is an inspiring call of the poet. The poet wants us to be up and doing, to act better, to leave behind footprints, to achieve and pursue.

11. Why does the poet prefer the ‘present’ to ‘past’ and Future’? 

Ans: The poet says, future never comes in life. Past is dead and buried. Only the present is at hand. So we should make our present sublime.

12. What do the lives of great men remind us of? 

Ans: The lives of great men all remind us that we can make our lives sublime by doing honest labour, by dedicating life for mankind.

13. How do the examples of great men help a person in distress? 

Ans: When a person is in distress, he follows the footprints of great men, gets Courage, hope and sails the boat of life more vigorously than before.

14. How can we make our life sublime? 

Ans: We can make our life sublime by being up and doing, keeping heart ready for any fate. Learning to labour, achieving more and pursuing more.

15. Do you find each stanza has four lines rhyming alternately at the end and each stanza has a recurrent rhythm pattern- 8 syllables, 7 syllables, 8 syllables, 7 syllables. What is the rhyme scheme of the poem? 

Ans: The rhyme pattern of the poem is a b ab.

16. The poet uses depressing words as ‘mournful’, ’empty’, ‘dead’, ‘grave’, What other such words does he use in the poem?

Ans: The other such depressing words are “muffled drums”, “funeral marches”, “departing”, “shipwrecked brother”, “forlorn” etc.

17. What is the tone of the poet – inspiring or despairing?