Examples from other poems from this period:

• How neatly doe we give one onely name

• To parents issue and the sunnes bright starre!

Examples from other poems from this period:

• How neatly doe we give one onely name

• To parents issue and the sunnes bright starre!

What is the contrast between the liveliness of the swans and human life?

Is the poet’s attitude a representation of how the average Indian feels both towards human violence and nature’s fury?

Why is the act of nature described as ‘precise’?

Is it ‘selfishness’ and ‘callousness’ that makes the poet break her childhood promise to her grandmother of renovating the house? Why does she do nothing about rebuilding the house?

What is the discordant note heard in the end of the third stanza?

From which line does the import of the title strike the reader?

Write short descriptions of five other rare musical instruments that are used by folk cultures.

Take note also that the apostrophe is not used for indicating the possessive form: loves philosophy.

You came across ‘dulcimer’ in the poem ‘Kubla Khan’. Did you note down ‘Psaltery’ as another musical instrument? They are very similar. Look up the illustrations for the two in an illustrated dictionary. Find out in what ways they are different from one another.