Hi Everyone!! This article will share The World From a Railway Carriage Questions & Answers.
This poem is written by R.L Stevenson. In my previous posts, I have shared the questions and answers of God is Good, Sri Madhavdev and Fairy Story so, you can check these posts as well.
The World From a Railway Carriage Questions & Answers
Question 1: What is the poem about?
Answer: The poem is about a fast moving train and the people, places and things seen from it.
Question 2: What is the aim of the poet while writing this poem?
Answer: The aim of the poet is to entertain readers with an exciting description of a train ride.
Question 3: What does ‘charges along like troops in a battle’ mean?
Answer: It means that the speed of the train seems as the soldiers attacking their enemy in a battle field.
Question 4: Read the lines and answer the questions:
Faster than fairies, faster than witches,
Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches.
(a) What is faster than fairies and witches?
Answer: The railway carriage is faster than fairies and witches.
(b) Why does the poet mention bridges, houses, hedges and ditches?
Answer: The train crosses bridges, houses, hedges and ditches so, the poet mentions these.
(c) Where are they?
Answer: They are along the railway track.
Question 5: Read the lines and answer the questions:
‘Here is a cart runaway on the road lumping along with men and load.’
(a) What is the name of the poem?
Answer: The name of the poem is ‘The World From a Railway Carriage’.
(b) Why is the cart described as ‘Lumping along’?
Answer: The cart is described as ‘Lumping along’ because the cart is loaded with men and load which makes the cart move slowly.
The World From a Railway Carriage Questions & Answers
Question 6: Why does the poet say ‘Each a glimpse had gone forever’?
Answer: The poet says ‘Each a glimpse had gone forever’ because all the sights seen while travelling are just for a moment and the next moment they disappear.
Question 7: Which are the images that we can construct in mind on reading this poem?
Answer: The poem presents a series of lifelike images such as a speedy train moving in the midst of meadows, hills, river etc.
Question 8: What are the expressions used by the poet to show the amazing speed of the train?
Answer: The expressions used by the poet to show the amazing speed of the train are – “faster than fairies”, “faster than witches”, “charging along like troops”, “fly as thick as driving rain”, “each a glimpse and gone forever” etc.
Question 9: Who is tramp and what was he doing?
Answer: Tramp is a person who goes from one place to another place in search of work or as beggar. He was watching the train passing by and gathering brambles.
Question 10: Can we compare the speedy movement of the train with the passage of time?
Answer: Some lines from the poem suggest the transience of life such as “Each a glimpse and gone forever.”
Question 11: Does the train move through a village or a city? Justify your answer.
Answer: The train moves in a village like setting as evident in expressions like “sights of the hill and the plain”, “all through the meadows” etc.
Question 12: What does the poet see from a railway carriage?
Answer: He sees the beauty of the area, bridges, ditches, houses, horses, meadows, hills and a boy who is collecting services hardly, a man who is lifting the overloaded cart and a homeless person who is doing nothing but to stare the train.
The World From a Railway Carriage Questions & Answers
Question 13: What pleasures does the railway journey give to the poet?
Answer: The railway journey gives an immeasurable pleasure to the poet. The sights of meadows, daisies, mill, river, hill that is the natural beauty offers him an everlasting joy.
Question 14: Explain what ‘glimpse and gone forever’ mean in the context.
Answer: In this context ‘glimpse and gone forever’ means that while travelling nothing remains stationary, everything moves along with the movement of the train. So every scene that you see in just a glimpse disappear as the train keeps moving and a new scene comes in the place of previous one.
Question 15: And ever again, in the wink of an eye, Painted stations whistle by. ‘In the wink of an eye’ means very quickly. Explain ‘painted stations whistle by’.
Answer: It is a scene seen from a speeding railway carriage. A passenger can see various stations passing by. On the way, as the carriage speeds through the stations, they appear to be painted pictures.
Question 16: Find me in the poem:
(a) I can alert you – Whistle
(b) I can help you to cross the river – Bridge
(c) I can carry you – Cart
(d) I can border your garden – Hedge
(e) You can play with me – Rain
(f) You can climb on me – Hill
(g) You can lay down on me – Meadows
(h) You can ride on me – Horse
Question 17: Write a few pairs of rhyming words from the poem.
Answer: Battle – cattle
Road – load
Plain – rain
Question 18: What is the theme of the poem?
Answer: The joy that we get from travelling is the major theme of the poem. Also, beauty of nature comes as a theme in the descriptions like “meadows”, “the horses and cattle”, “sights of the hill and the plain” etc. The poverty of human beings too is a theme, as suggested by the scene in which a tramp looks excitedly at the train.
So, these were The World From a Railway Carriage Questions & Answers.