Gujarat Board GSEB Class 9 English Textbook Solutions Beehive Poem 6 No Men are Foreign Textbook Exercise Important Questions and Answers, Notes Pdf.

Gujarat Board Textbook Solutions Class 9 English Beehive Poem 6 No Men are Foreign

GSEB Class 9 English No Men are Foreign Text Book Questions and Answers

Thinking about the Poem

Question 1.
“Beneath all uniforms …” What uniforms do you think the poet is speaking about?
Answer:
The poet is probably speaking about the uniforms that the soldiers wear at the time of war. The word “uniform” here could also mean the traditional dresses of a country.

Question 2.
How does the poet suggest that all people on earth are the same?
Answer:
The poet suggests that all people on earth are the same as they breathe, are buried, wake, sleep, hate, love and labour. The importance of the sun and air and water is equal for everyone. Everyone needs peace and suffers from starvation during wars.

Question 3.
In stanza 1, find five ways in which we all are alike. Pick out the words.
Answer:
Words which suggest the five ways in which we all are alike are :
Each of us has a similar body.
All of us breathe
All of us walk
All of us lie
We live and die on the same earth

Question 4.
How many common features can you find in stanza 2 ? Pick out the words.
Answer:
There are five common features in stanza 2. These features are the sun, the air, the water, peaceful harvest, hands and the labour.

Question 5.
whenever we are told to hate our brothers …” When do you think this happens? Why? Who ‘tells’ us? Should we do as we are told at such times? What does the poet say?
Answer:
Whenever there is war, leaders tell people to hate the other country. They tell us to do so because of their personal gains. But we should not act as a puppet in their hands and do as they say. We should understand that E; war is futile and analyse the situation before jumping to conclusions. The poet says that if we fight against them, we kill and condemn ourselves.

GSEB Class 9 English No Men are Foreign Additional Important Questions and Answers

Reading Comprehension
Read the following stanzas and answer the questions given below them :

Question 1.
Remember, no men are strange, no countries foreign
Beneath all uniforms, a single body breathes
Like ours: the land our brothers walk upon
Is earth like this, in which we all shall lie.
Questions :
(1) What does the poet ask us to remember?
(2) Identify and explain the Figure of Speech in the line: ‘Like ours: the land our brothers walk upon.’
(3) Identify and explain the Figure of Speech in the line: ‘Is earth like this, in which we all shall lie.’
Answer:
(1) The poet asks us to remember that no man in the whole world is different from us, and we live on the same earth created by God, hence no country is a foreign country We all are inhabitants of the same world.

(2) The Figure of Speech in the line: ‘Like ours: the land our brothers walk upon’ is Simile. There is explicit comparison between ‘we’ and ‘other human beings on the earth’ and the word indicating the comparison is ‘like’.

(3) The Figures of Speech in the line: ‘Is earth like this, in which we all shall lie’ are :
(i) Simile
(ii) Euphemism
(i) There is explicit comparison between the part of the earth that belongs to us and the part of the same earth on which other human beings live. The identical word of comparison ! is ‘like’.
(ii) The part of the line ‘we shall all lie’ refers to ‘death’. Thus the mention of ‘death’ is done by the use of soft or pleasing word ‘lie’. Hence ‘Euphemism’.

Question 2.
Let us remember, whenever we are told
To hate our brothers, it is ourselves
That we shall dispossess, betray, condemn,
Remember, we who take arms against each other
Questions:
(1) What, according to the poet, should we not forget?
(2) What is the general tendency of people that we should discourage?
(3) How can we not spare ourselves from s being victims of enmity?
Answer:
(1) According to the poet, we should not forget that we are not supposed to hate other human beings living on the earth for any reason.

(2) It is a general tendency of people may it be in neighbourhood, society, state or country; we don’t accept others as our own, s we became disloyal to them or many a time we blame them for our misery. And we should discourage all these practices as we, all over the earth are brethren, sons and daughters of the same Father – God.

(3) When being prepared to fight with others, we should keep in mind that they are, not different from what we are, therefore, if? we take up arms against them, in a way. We ourselves are fighting against us and we are not going to gain anything out of it; on the contrary, we are harming ourselves.

Question 3.
Remember they have eyes like ours that wake
Or sleep, and strength that can be won
By love. In every land is common life
That all can recognise and understand.
Questions :
(1) What similarities are shown between us and other human beings on the earth?
(2) How can strength be won?
(3) What can all recognise and understand?
Answer:
(1) All human beings on this earth are equal and they are similar in many ways. Their body structure is similar. While sleeping or waking their eyes remain similar as we have.

(2) The poet emphasises the fact that whether an individual or a country, nobody should be proud of one’s strength or power. If it is won by love, it is easy, but if it is tried to win it hatefully, one is supposed to suffer undesirable consequences.

(3) All can recognise and understand that in every land, i.e., in every part of the entire world, all human beings are equal and they lead common life.

Question 4.
They, too, aware of sun and air and water.
Are fed by peaceful harvests, by war’s long winter started.
Their hands are ours, and in their lines, we read
A labour not different from our own.
Questions :
(1) What are they also aware of?
(2) Why is the adjective ‘peaceful’ before harvests?
(3) What does the phrase ‘in their lines’ suggest?
Answer:
(1) They, i.e., those who are other than us – all other citizens of the world – are aware of the fact that they are also getting sunlight, air and water, all free of cost, as we do, hence there is no difference between us and them.

(2) Usually when war is in progress, there is no peace. There is scarcity of food and other commodities. People die of hunger. But when there is no war, i.e., peace, people have enough to use and feed themselves, hence ‘peaceful harvests’.

(3) The phrase ‘in their lines’ means ‘in the conformity with them’. Here, the poet wants to state that all over the world, people do different jobs to earn their bread. If we consider the word ‘labour’ widely, it means ‘the different modes of earning money; they are in conformity with everyone in the world.

Question 5.
It is the human earth that we defile.
Our hells of fire and dust outrage the innocence
Of air that is everywhere our own,
Remember, no men are foreign, and no countries strange.
Questions :
(1) How do we defile the human earth?
(2) Identify the Figure of Speech in the line:‘Our hells of fire and dust outrage the innocence’.
(3) What does the poet mean by the words ‘innocence of air that is everywhere our own.’
Answer:
(1) We defile the human earth by hating each other and causing enmity among us. People of the world usually fight for their ego or power by waging war to no gain. This is how we defile the earth.

(2) The Figures of Speech in the line – ‘Our hells of fire and dust outrage the innocence’ are

• Metaphor and
• Personification

(i) There is an implicit comparison of‘ hells of fire and dust’. Even ‘fire and dust’ stand for ‘war’. When war takes place we find nothing but mere destruction, i.e., ‘fire and dust’.
(ii) Personification because ‘hells’ are attributed human quality of ‘enraging’.

(3) Here the words – ‘innocence of air’ suggest that usually air is non-polluted but when war takes place, it is because of ‘fire and dust’ the air gets polluted and that is ‘enragement’.

Figures of Speech
Choose the Figures of Speech in the following lines :

Question 1.
‘Remember, no men are strange, no countries foreign’.
A. Repetition
B. Litotes
C. Metaphor
D.Both ‘A’ and ‘B’
Answer:
D.Both ‘A’ and ‘B’

Question 2.
‘Beneath all uniforms, a single body breathes like ours’.
A. Simile
B. Repetition
C. Anastrophe
D. Both ‘A’ and ‘B’
Answer:
A. Simile

Question 3.
‘Are fed by peaceful harvests, by war’s long winter starved.
A. Transferred Epithet
B. Metaphor
C. Alliteration
D. All of these three
Answer:
D. All of these three

Question 4.
‘Their hands are ours, and in their lines, we read’.
A. Metonymy
B. Synecdoche
C. Metaphor
D. Allegory
Answer:
B. Synecdoche

Question 5.
‘That we shall dispossess, betray, condemn’.
A. Repetition
B. Anastrophe
C. Climax
D. Consonance
Answer:
C. Climax

Question 6.
‘Our hells of fire and dust outrage the innocence’.
A. Consonance
B. Metaphor
C. Simile
D. Climax
Answer:
B. Metaphor

Answer the following questions in three to four sentences each:

Question 1.
Write the central theme of the poem ‘No Men Are Foreign’.
Answer:
James Kirkup spreads the message of brotherhood and unity to all the people of the world. He tells that no one is strange. All feel the importance of the sun, air and water.

Question 2.
‘Are fed by peaceful harvests.’ What does it imply?
Answer:
The poet conveys that all men are equal. No men are foreign. People may belong to different countries or regions but they love peace. Peace brings prosperity and never a war.

Question 3.
‘Our hells of fire and dust outrage the innocence of air.’ Explain.
Answer:
The poet conveys that hatred pollutes the air that we live in. We create only hell if we fight among ourselves. All prosper in a peaceful environment.

Question 4.
Answer the following questions in five to six sentences each:
Give the central idea of the poem ‘No Men Are Foreign’.
Answer:
The poem is obviously a strong plea for universal brotherhood. It underlines the fact that the people of different countries have same physical, mental and emotional experiences. Their fate is the same. They are in no way different even though they wear different clothes and speak different languages.

Nobody should be viewed as stranger and no country foreign. The poet emphasises the futility of hating those who belong to other countries. When we wage war against others, we only defile our own earth. The dust and smoke caused by war weapons pollute the very air we all breathe. Thus we should never fight with others. We should remember that all of us are the children of the same God. When there is no essential difference between us and them, where is the room for hatred, violence and war?

No Men are Foreign Summary in English

No Men are Foreign Introduction:
James Falconer Kirkup (23 April 1918 -10 May 2009) was an English poet, translator and travel writer. He wrote over 30 books, including autobiographies, novels and plays.

No Men are Foreign Summary:
The poem tells us that all the divisions based on nation, caste, colour, creed or religion are baseless since we all are similar in our basic need of the common resources for our life. We all have a common source of origin and we all are dependent on the same resources for our survival. Since we are all same, we must shun all violence of all kinds and unite to make our lives better.

‘Uniforms’ here signify the armies of the several countries who are constantly at war in the name of nationhood, religion or caste. ‘Single body’ breathes refers to the inherent similarity between all human beings. ‘Peaceful harvests’ refers to the fact that it is only in the times of peace that civilization progresses.

It is only in times of peace that everybody lives in harmony and contentedness. In fact, if a war is raging in a country then that country faces the threat of starvation since all sorts of production comes to a halt.