Class- 5th English (poem)

 

Poem: God Save the Beetle

Understanding the poem

A. 1. a. twice 2. b. thrice 3. c. tired 4. b. in five minutes

B. Answer the questions

1. What blunder, according to the speaker, is the beetle making repeatedly?

Ans. The beetle keeps falling into the goldfish bowl and risks getting drowned.

 

2. What request does the speaker make to God?

Ans. The speaker requests God to give the beetle some sense of direction so that it does not make the silly mistake of diving about the room and falling into the goldfish bowl and risk being drowned.

 

3. Why did the speaker return the beetle to the garden twice?

Ans. The speaker must have thought that the garden was the home of the beetle and he would be safe there.

 

4. What, according to the speaker, makes the goldfish nervous?

Ans. The speaker thinks that every time the beetle falls into the goldfish bowl with a plop, it startles the goldfish and makes the goldfish nervous.

 

C. Read these lines from the poem and answer the questions that follow.

And if you don’t get this beetle

To look after himself, who will.

 

1. Where is the beetle at this point?

Ans. The beetle is in the goldfish bowl and looks very tired.

 

2. Why does the speaker say that the beetle cannot look after himself?

Ans. The beetle keeps getting himself into a dangerous situation by falling into the goldfish bowl repeatedly. That is why the speaker says that the beetle cannot look after himself.

 

3. What else is the speaker worried about?

Ans. Besides worrying that the beetle might drown in the goldfish bowl when the speaker is sleeping at night, he is worried that the beetle falling into the goldfish bowl repeatedly makes the goldfish nervous.

 

4. The speaker requests God to help the beetle. What does this tell us about

the speaker?

Ans. Requesting God to help the beetle tells us that the speaker is a kind person and is also annoyed and getting impatient with the beetle.

 

D. Sample answers:

 

1. Give examples from the poem to bring out the humour in it.

Ans. The opening line of the poem—‘Lord, please give some sense of direction to this beetle’—is humorous. It makes us feel that the beetle is a bumbling, foolish creature that does not know where he wants to go. These lines, too, are extremely funny:

 ‘But he keeps coming back

 Zooming and diving about the room, until

 P-L-O-P!

 He’s in the goldfish bowl again,’

 We can almost hear the annoyance and impatience in the speaker’s voice.

 

2. Do you agree with the speaker that the presence of the beetle in the bowl makes the goldfish nervous? Give reasons to support your answer.

Ans. The bowl of water is the home of the goldfish, and the beetle is a stranger in that environment. I think just as a stranger’s sudden appearance in our home would make us nervous, the goldfish could also feel nervous with the beetle in its bowl swimming round and round.