NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Literature Reader Chapter 10
Unit-10 : Solutions of Questions on Page Number : 106
1 : Look at the picture given below.
While on a sight-seeing tour to an old and mysterious country far away from home, you saw this statue. Discuss with your partner what this picture tells you about the people, the place and the ruler.
Note down your ideas in the web-chart.
Answer :
Note: This question is to be answered on the basis of your own understanding, experience and thoughts. It is strongly recommended that you prepare the solution on your own. However, sample solutions have been provided for your reference.
The place: sand, desert,
Deserted, dry, barren, sandy, state of decay
The ruler must have been
Powerful, arrogant, snob, hypocrite, beheaded
The statue: broken, face is
Beheaded, on the ground, horrifying, stony
The people:
Suppressed, sad, under the tyrannical rule, terrified
NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English Literature Reader Chapter 10
Q2 : Write a letter to your friend about the sight you saw and your impression of it.
Answer :
Note: This question is to be answered on the basis of your own understanding, experience and thoughts. It is strongly recommended that you prepare the solution on your own. However, the beginning of one sample solution has been provided for your reference.
Hey S,
Hey, I am writing to you to describe something very interesting. The other day I was going through ‘Literature Reader’ where I saw a picture of a sculpture of two legs and a beheaded face lying on the floor in the desert. The impression of the same, on me, was very horrifying because it seemed to talk of a very powerful ruler who was no longer alive. Who might have guessed that years after his death…
Q3 : The poem is set in ____________________________________________
i. the wilderness
ii. an ancient land
iii. a palace
iv. a desert
Answer :
iv. a desert
Q4 : The expression on the face of the statue is one of ____________________
i. admiration
ii. anger
iii. despair
iv. contempt
Answer :
iv. contempt
Q5 : This poem throws light on the _________________ nature of Ozymandias.
i. cruel
ii. arrogant
iii. boastful
iv. aggressive
Answer :
iii. boastful
Q6 : The sculptor was able to understand Ozymandias’ ___________________
i. words
ii. expression
iii. feelings
iv. ambition
Answer :
ii. expression
Q7 : The tone of the poem is ________________________________________
i. mocking
ii. nostalgic
iii. gloomy
iv. gloating
Answer :
iv. gloating
Q8 : “The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed.” Whose hand and heart has the poet referred to in this line?
Answer :
The ‘hand’ refers to the sculptor’s hand and the ‘heart’ refers to the King’s heart.
Q9 : “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:” Why does Ozymandias refer to himself as King of Kings? What quality of the king is revealed through this statement.
Answer :
In order to emphasise on him to be the most powerful of all kings, King Ozymandias calls himself ‘King of Kings’. The king supposedly was very powerful, aggressive, arrogant and boastful.
Q10 : “Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” Who is Ozymandias referring to when he speaks of ye Mighty? Why should they despair?
Answer :
Ozymandias refers to all the other rulers to come after his reign. They should despair, because according to him, they can’t surpass his glory and power.
Q11 : Bring out the irony in the poem.
Answer :
The irony of “Ozymandias” cuts much deeper as the reader realises that the forces of mortality and flexibility, described brilliantly in the concluding lines, will wear down and destroy all our lives. There is a special justice in the way tyrants are subject to time, but all humans face death and decay. The poem primarily depicts an ironic picture of Ozymandias and other rulers like him, but it is also a prominent thought on time-bound humanity: the traveler in the ancient land, the sculptor-artist who fashioned the tomb, and the reader of the poem, no less than Ozymandias, inhabit a world that is “boundless and bare.”
Q12 : ‘Nothing beside remains.’ What does the narrator mean when he says these words?
Answer :
When the narrator says these words, he emphasises on the fact that human life is time bound. The power and popularity of the ruler descended with the descent of the ruler. Nothing is immortal and immutable in this world.
Q13 : What is your impression of Ozymandias as a king?
Answer :
To me, Ozymandias seems to be a very powerful tyrannical ruler, who was extremely boastful of himself and his kingdom.
Q14 : What message is conveyed through this poem?
Answer :
Through this poem a very important message is conveyed which explains the ultimate truth of human lives that nothing is important. Everything in this world is time-bound and not immortal. The immutability of time has been explained through this poem.
Q15 : Identify and rewrite the lines from the poem spoken by the narrator, the traveler and Ozymandias:
The Narrator: ________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
The Traveller: ________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Ozymandias: ________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Answer :
The Narrator: The narrator starts the poem with the introduction as to how the traveller had narrated his trip to the ancient land.
The Traveler: Two huge yet without the upper part of the body sculptures stood in the desert. Near them lay a shattered face, which had a frown and a wrinkled expression on his face. The face also held a hostile expression of cold command. The expression could be read very well on these lifeless things because of the sculptor’s artistry. On the pedestal appeared the words of the king himself. It read that his name was Ozymandias, king of kings, who commanded the forthcoming rulers to look up to him, and be saddened by the fact that they can never beat the glory he had achieved.
Ozymandias: I am Ozymandias, king of all kings: look upon my work and be despaired by my might, which you can never surpass.
Q16 : Shelley’s sonnet follows the traditional structure of the fourteen-line Italian sonnet, featuring an opening octave, or set of eight lines, that presents a conflict or dilemma, followed by a sestet, or set of six lines, that offers some resolution or commentary upon the proposition introduced in the octave. Read the poem carefully and complete the following table on the structure of the poem.
Rhyme Scheme | Theme | |
Octave | ||
Sestet |
Answer :
Rhyme Scheme | Theme | |
Octave | ABAB-ACDC | Major theme discussed here is that everything in this |
Sestet | EDEFEF | Major theme here is that we are only human, and though we may consider ourselves to be the earth ruler’s, we wither and die like everything else |
Q17 : Complete the table listing the poetic devices used by Shelley in Ozymandias.
| Poetic Device | Lines from the poem |
| Alliteration | …and sneer of cold command |
| Synecdoche (substitution of a part to stand for the whole, or the whole tostand for a part) | the hand that mock’d them |
Answer :
| Poetic Device | Lines from the poem |
| Alliteration | …and sneer of cold command |
| Synecdoche (substitution of a part to stand for the whole, or the whole tostand for a part) | the hand that mock’d them |
| Repitition | King of Kings |
| Personification | the hand that mocked them |
Q18 : Imagine that Ozymandias comes back to life and as he sees the condition of his statue,realisation dawns on him and he pens his thoughts in a diary. As Ozymandias, make this diary entry in about 150 words. You could begin like this: I thought I was the mightiest of all but…
Answer :
Note: This question is to be answered on the basis of your own understanding, experience and thoughts. It is strongly recommended that you prepare the solution on your own. However, the following lines would give you a brief idea on how to begin your diary entry.
I thought I was the mightiest of all but I was so mistaken. Now I realize how my power and strength are in vain, and are of no importance in the face of time. I am grief-stricken by the fact that my command is of no good. The power of nature and reality is far stronger than what I thought. It has finally dawned on me that everything on this earth is bound to change, irrespective of any personal traits or choices. I have finally come to terms with the fact that I might have been a great ruler, but it was wrong to have been boastful about it. So, I think, one should be modest and sober about one’s own self…(to be continued)
Q19 : ‘Ozymandias’ and ‘Not Marble, nor the Gilded Monuments’ are on Time. Compare the two sonnets in terms of the way in which Time is treated by the poets. Write your answer in about 150 words.
Answer :
Note: This question is to be answered on the basis of your own understanding, experience and thoughts. It is strongly recommended that you prepare the solution on your own. However, the following lines would give you a brief idea on how to begin your diary entry.
All of these poets talk about the destructive power of time. There are two completely different ways that you can look at the cruel power of time. One is where time can mature and enrich people or wine, generally a good view of time. The other is where time destroys everything in its path, like the fall of an empire. Poems under consideration focus on the destructive power of time. It is believed that the passage of time is a destructive force and that the poems using that view are better as they are more powerful and display strong images about time…(to be continued)