Hi Everyone!! This article will share Nicholas Nye Questions & Answers.
In my previous posts, I have shared the questions and answers of A Drive in The Motor Car, The Tide Rises The Tide Falls and Cat so, you can check these posts as well.
Nicholas Nye Questions & Answers
Question 1: How are the natural aspects of the field and its surrounding described by the poet?
Answer: The field was covered with purple, spiky thistles and grass. The orchard was full of apple trees in which many birds nested.
Question 2: How does the donkey pass his day?
Answer: The donkey passes his day munching thistles, drowsing in the meadow, and lazily swinging his tail.
Question 3: What physical description does the poet give of the donkey?
Answer: The donkey is old, lean, grey and lame. It is bony and knobble-kneed.
Question 4: What characteristics does the poet see in the donkey?
Answer: The donkey is lazy since there is not much to do and there is sadness in him as revealed in the way he brays. The poet sees courage and tenacity under his skin and a serenity in his eyes. One can see that he is good-natured because he smiles once in a while. These characteristics are brought out through phrases like ‘wonderful gumption’, ‘clear calm light’, ‘… would smile and smile’, and ‘… not much too hearty and hale’.
Question 5: In what way does the poet feel close to the donkey?
Answer: The poet feels close to the donkey because there is no one else to share the poet’s solitude.
Question 6: Do you think the poet and the donkey are similar? Give reasons for your answer.
Answer: The poet and the donkey are similar because they both laze around in the meadow all day. They are both old, sad, and lonely as they share their loneliness with each other.
Question 7: Read the lines and answer the questions:
1. Half asleep and half awake,
While the birds went twittering by,
(a) Who or what is half asleep?
Answer: The poet is half asleep.
(b) When and where is the subject half asleep?
Answer: The subject is half asleep on the orchard wall, in the blazing heat of the day.
(c) Is the subject alone?
Answer: The subject is not alone in that place. A donkey, Nicholas Nye is also around.
2. But a wonderful gumption was under his skin,
And a clear calm light in his eye,
(a) What does ‘gumption’ mean?
Answer: Gumption here means an inner courage and strength which was reflected through the calmness in his eyes and a smile.
(b) Why is it surprising that the subject has gumption? What is being said prior to this about the subject?
Answer: It is surprising that Nicholas had gumption because he was over twenty years of age and was now lean and grey. Prior to this it was said that he walked with a limp, at times lazily swung his tail, and would bray with a sigh at the break of day.
Question 8: Is there a rhyming scheme in the poem? What is it?
Answer: The rhyme scheme of the poem is abcbdefe.
Question 9: Which words does the poet use to rhyme with ‘Nye’ in each stanza?
Answer: ‘Nye’ rhymes with – by, sigh, eye, sky, why.
So, these were Nicholas Nye Questions & Answers.