Hi Everyone!! This article will share The Secret of Machines Questions & Answers.
This poem is written by Rudyard Kipling. In my previous posts, I have shared the questions and answers of The Nightingale And The Glow-worm, Pocahontas and Boyhood Days so, you can check these posts as well.
The Secret of Machines Questions & Answers
Word Galaxy
- Furnace – hot fireplace to melt metal
- Ore-bed – place in earth where minerals are found
- Horses – horsepower
- Wrought – beaten and shaped
- Give us play – give space to move
- Gauged – measured exactly
- Mauretania – name of a large ocean liner
- Cisterns – tanks for storing water
- Boat-express – train carrying passengers to seashore
- Aloft – upwards
- Wilderness – empty spaces
- Nine-decked city – here, very large ship
Question 1: Read and answer the questions:
(a) Who is ‘we’ in these lines?
Answer: ‘We’ is machines in these lines.
(b) Why do they need water, coal and oil?
Answer: They need water, coal and oil to run as a resource.
(c) What do they mean by ‘to give us play’?
Answer: ‘To give us play’ means to run the machines.
Question 2: The poem highlights many things that machines can do for us. Mention four tasks which machines can perform for humans.
Answer: Machines can pull, haul, push, plough, print and weave for humans.
Question 3: What do the machines mean when they say, “we are nothing more than children of your brain”?
Answer: Man has invented machines and without him, machines cannot work on their own. That is why machines say “we are nothing more than children of your brain”.
Question 4: What actions are the machines incapable of doing?
Answer: Machines cannot detect lie. Besides, machines are not built to love or hate its owner or anyone. Thus, machines are emotionless and have no feelings and can be dangerous if not handled properly.
Question 5: Read and answer the questions:
(a) What does the machine ask us to remember?
Answer: The machines ask us to remember that they are operated according to the laws of Physics.
(b) Do machines purposefully harm us?
Answer: No, machines have no feelings like us. So, they never purposefully harm us.
(c) Explain the line: ‘If you make a slip in handling us you die!’
Answer: This line can be taken as a warning from the machines. If they are handled in a careless manner, the results can be fatal. Thus, they must be operated with utmost caution.
(d) What are the rhyming words given in the above lines?
Answer: Live-forgive, lie-die.
(e) What is the rhyme scheme of the above lines?
Answer: Rhyme scheme is abab.
(f) What is the figure of speech employed in the third line?
Answer: The figure of speech employed in the third line is personification.
The Secret of Machines Questions & Answers
Question 6: What is the nine-decked city? Why is it described as monstrous?
Answer: The ‘nine-decked city’ is referred to Mauretania, a high-speed luxury passanger ship, launched in 1906. It is described as ‘monstrous’ because it was the world’s biggest passanger ship at that time.
Question 7: What do you understand by the line ‘shall we pipe aloft and bring you water down’?
Answer: The line means that the machines can go up to a great height and can bring water down where human beings live.
Question 8: What are the machines building in the fourth stanza?
Answer: In the fourth stanza, the machines are building large clouds of smoke and they are hiding the beauty of nature.
Question 9: Read and answer the questions:
(a) Who is the speaker of these lines?
Answer: The machines are the speakers of these lines.
(b) Why do the machines call themselves children of the human brain?
Answer: The machines call themselves children of the human brain because they are the products of the creative ideas of men’s brain. They have been created by the humans.
(c) What is the figure of speech employed in the first line?
Answer: The figure of speech employed in the first line is Metaphor.
(d) What is the figure of speech employed in the last line?
Answer: The figure of speech employed in the last line is Personification.
The Secret of Machines Questions & Answers
Question 10: Which stanza shows us that the machines have mastered almost all the common human activities?
Answer: The following stanza shows us that the machines have mastered almost all the common human activities:
Question 11: Which two opposing claims do the machines make in the poem?
Answer: The two opposing claims that the machines make in the poem are:
We are everything on earth-except the Gods!
We are nothing more than children of your brain!
Question 12: Compare the last two stanzas of the poem. What difference do you see in the attitude of the machines towards humans?
Answer: In the seventh stanza, the attitude of machines sounds arrogant and dominating. They claim that they are more powerful than the people or the kings. They ask the human beings to be humble before them. They have no emotions or feelings. They don’t pity anyone or forgive them. But in last stanza, the machines admit that they are nothing more than the creations of the human brain. They are useless without human assistance.
Question 13: Is this poem a warning to humans or does it highlight the superior power of humans?
Answer: In the poem, the poet highlights the importance of machines in our life. Machines make many things easier and facilitate the work of the humans. But if not handled with care, the machines can be dangerous. However, the superior power of humans cannot be overlooked as machines are nothing more than the creations of the human brain.
So, these were The Secret of Machines Questions & Answers.