Hi Everyone!! This article will share Apostrophe To The Ocean Questions & Answers.
This poem is written by George Gordon Byron. In my previous posts, I have shared the questions and answers of A Musical Instrument, A Cry Against Exploitation and The Heart Of The Tree so, you can check these posts as well.
Apostrophe To The Ocean Questions & Answers
Question 1: Where does the speaker find pleasure?
Answer: The speaker finds pleasure amidst nature. He says there lies a society amidst nature where no one intrudes. He finds pleasure in the pathless woods, and joy on the lonely shore. By ‘pathless woods’, the poet also means that the path that others have not tread.
Question 2: Name the ways in which man has tried to conquer the ocean.
Answer: Man has tried to control the ocean with ships and armaments.
Question 3: Man can spoil everything around him but not the ocean. Why is this?
Answer: The poet says that man can spoil everything around him but not the ocean because the ocean overpowers man with its might.
Question 4: What is man’s petty hope? What happens to it?
Answer: Man’s petty hope is to find some near port or bay while being lost in the ocean. Ultimately, he is dashed onto the land left to lie.
Question 5: To what things does the speaker compare the huge oak trees?
Answer: The huge oak trees are compared with the Leviathans.
Question 6: What is the comparison between the realms of men and the surface of the sea?
Answer: The realms of men are perishable with time. They decay and dry up, whereas the surface of the sea is immortal. There is not even a wrinkle on its surface, with the passage of time.
Question 7: Is the ocean afraid of being alone? How do we know this?
Answer: The ocean is certainly not afraid of being alone. Because it is eternal, bottomless and powerful.
Question 8: Read the lines and answer the questions:
1. The wrecks are all thy deed, nor doth remain
A shadow of man’s ravage, save his own
(a) What wrecks is the speaker speaking of?
Answer: The poet is talking about shipwrecks.
(b) Whose deeds are the wrecks?
Answer: The wrecks are the ocean’s deed.
(c) What are man’s ravage?
Answer: Man’s sins are ravages.
2. He sinks into thy depths with bubbling groan
Without a grave, unknelled, uncoffined, and unknown.
(a) Who is the ‘he’?
Answer: ‘He’ refers to Man.
(b) Where does ‘he’ sink?
Answer: He sinks into the depths of the ocean.
(c) What is the result of his sinking?
Answer: He gets lost in an unknown world in an unknown grave, uncoffined.
3. His steps are not upon thy paths, – thy fields
Are not a spoil for him, – thou dost arise
And shake him from thee; the vile strength he wields
(a) Whose steps does the speaker refer to?
Answer: Man’s steps are being referred to here.
(b) Why are the fields not a spoil for him?
Answer: The ocean’s fields are not spoil for man because his authority is limited to the shores.
(c) Whose strength is superior?
Answer: Ocean’s (Nature’s) strength is far superior to man’s. The power of nature is insurmountable.
Question 9: The speaker compares the powers of man and ocean in different ways. What are they?
Answer: The poem talks about the concept of man versus nature. He refers to the power of man to be limited while that of the ocean’s (or nature) to be unlimited.
Question 10: The speaker says that the ocean mirrors God Almighty in many ways. He just enumerates the ways. Explain in detail how this is done in each instance.
Answer: Nature is the mirror image of Almighty God. The ocean is a force of nature that transcends all human endeavours. Just as God’s powers are boundless, the ocean’s powers are limitless too. Just as God punishes all who destroy his creations, Ocean wreaks havoc on all those who try to control it.
Question 11: What is the poet’s attitude towards the ocean? What tone does he use? Is it friendly or angry? Support your answer with examples.
Answer: The poet’s attitude towards the ocean is very eulogising. He worships and loves nature yet is angry at men. He continuously talks about the mighty ocean dominating men.
Question 12: According to Lord Byron, our authority is limited only to the shores of the sea. Is it true? Have we not made inroads into the sea by building our empire there? Quote some examples to prove this.
Answer: Yes, it is true. We have had empires like Greece and Rome.
So, these were Apostrophe To The Ocean Questions & Answers.