Hi Everyone!! This article will share Exile House Questions & Answers.
In my previous posts, I have shared the questions and answers of The Giant Mirrors of Rjukan, Raja Ravi Varma and Zlata’s Diary so, you can check these posts as well.
Exile House Questions & Answers
Question 1: Choose the correct answer:
(a) The house in which the speaker lives is
Answer: his temporary home in another country.
(b) The central idea of stanza 2 is that
Answer: they had plenty of food to eat.
(c) The speaker discovered that their house seemed to ‘have grown roots’ which means that
Answer: the house was overgrown with plants and vines.
(d) Stanza 4 of the poem express regret over the fact that
Answer: the future generation of the poet may not see their homeland.
Question 2: Read and answer the questions:
Our tiled roof dripped,
And the four walls threatened to fall apart,
But we were to go home soon.
(a) What do the dripping roof and the crumbling walls indicate?
Answer: The dripping roof and the crumbling walls indicate the dilapidated state of the poet’s current home.
(b) Why did the condition of the house not matter to the speaker?
Answer: The condition of the house did not matter to the speaker because he was looking forward to going back to his homeland soon.
(c) What does the last line mean? Is there some kind of despondency in it?
Answer: The last line means that at the time of moving away from his home country, the poet felt that they would be able to return back here soon. Yes, there is a note of despondency in the way the line is uttered. It seems as though the poet’s thoughts will be in vain and he will be proved wrong with the nature of events that are to unfold.
Question 3: Read and answer the questions:
Then pumpkins rolled down the cowshed thatch,
Calves trotted out of the manger.
(a) What do the pumpkins rolling down the cowshed and Calves trotted out of the manger indicate?
Answer: The imagery of the pumpkins rolling down the cowshed and Calves trotted out of the manger show that the poet enjoyed a situation of abundance in life. He was surrounded by food that he grew to eat and his original house had space for animals too.
(b) Did they settle down in their new home? How can you tell?
Answer: No, they were not able to settle down in their new home. We know this because the poet kept looking forward to go back home again and he was not able to rest in peace in the new place.
Question 4: Read and answer the questions:
Grass on the roof,
Beans sprouted and
Climbed the vines…
(a) What happened to the roof?
Answer: The roof got covered with grass over time.
(b) What is the speaker worried about?
Answer: The speaker is worried about the vines of beans that climbed all over the house.
(c) What do these events indicate?
Answer: These events indicate the state of disarray that they fell in, once the poet was unable to stay in it anymore.
Exile House Questions & Answers
Question 5: Read and answer the questions:
The fences have grown in to the jungle,
Now how can I tell my children
Where we came from?
(a) What had happened with the passage of time?
Answer: With the passage of time, the fences of willow trees had overgrown to form a jungle and the house was overgrown with all kinds of plants. The house was not habitable any more. It was difficult to even spot it correctly amidst all the overgrowth.
(b) What is the speaker worried about?
Answer: The poet is worried about how he will be able to show his children where he came from. The house is so overgrown with the plants that he is sad his once favourite place will be completely inaccessible now.
(c) Why can he not tell his children where they came from?
Answer: He cannot tell his children where they came from because he can no longer show them the place. He can perhaps only speak about it from memory but there is no way to see the place anymore.
Question 6: What is the mood of the poem? Is there a feeling of despair? Which lines show this?
Answer: The mood of the poem is one of despair, sadness and nostalgia. The poet harks back to a time he can no longer be a part of. He longs for this house which is no longer accessible. Yes, there is a note of despair in the poem. Especially in lines ‘But we were to go home soon’ and ‘Now how can I tell my children/Where we came from?’ the despair comes out very acutely.
Question 7: Why do you think the speaker has to live away from his home? Look at the title.
Answer: The speaker probably has to live away from his home because he has been exiled from his country. The title of the poem ‘Exile House’ also states this very clearly. He has probably been driven away due to some political conflict his country has had with another, making it unsafe for him to live in his own house.
So, these were Exile House Questions & Answers.