25 ONCE UPON A TIME || NIOS - SECONDARY COURSE || ENGLISH-202 CLASS-X

Chapter-25 

ONCE UPON A TIME

INTEXT QUESTIONS 25.1 

I. Answer the following questions with reference to the lines in the following stanzas: 

1. Stanza 1. “Once upon a time ________ my shadow” 

a. Who does the word ‘they’ refer to?

Ans: The word ‘they’ refers to people in modern times.   

b. What effect does the poet create by using the phrase ‘once upon a time’?

Ans: By using the phrase ‘Once upon a time’ the poet indicates that he is talking about something that happened a long time ago. The phrase ‘Once upon a time’ also makes the beginning of the poem sound like the poet is telling his son a story.

c. How can a person laugh with his eyes and heart? 

Ans: When we laugh heartily and with true feelings, it gets reflected in our eyes.

d. What human behavior is being discussed in this stanza?

 Ans: Human behaviour which is false, formal, and artificial is being discussed in this stanza.

2. Stanza 2. “There was a time ________ my empty pockets.” 

a. What do the words “there was a time” refer to?

Ans: The words denote a time long past.

b. What happened at that time?

Ans:  At that time people greeted each other with real pleasure and happiness because they had true feelings for one another.

c. ‘…while their left hands search…..’. What do they search? What is the significance of this ‘search’?

Ans:The search signifies that when a person is introduced to the poet he/she shakes the poet’s hand in greeting, and at the same time he/she tries to find out if the poet is rich or poor.  

d. Based on the poem’s context what do you think will be the reaction of people who search the poet’s pockets and find them empty.

Ans: It they find poet's pocket empty away.

3. Stanza 3. “Feel at home __________ doors shut on me.” a. What does the expression ‘feel at home’ mean? Does the poet ‘feel at home’ in the situation he describes in this stanza?

Ans: The expression ‘feel at home’ means to feel comfortable. No, the poet does not feel comfortable in the situation he describes in this stanza. He finds that he is not welcomed if he/she becomes a frequent visitor, even though he is told to ‘feel at home’ and to ‘come again’.

b. Which words or expressions are used by the poet to indicate that repeated visits are not welcome.

Ans:‘I find doors shut on me.’ 

c. Have you ever experienced a situation in which you believed completely in someone who offered to help you or promised something to you. Later you realized that he/she did not mean it? How did you feel when this happened to you? If this has not been your personal experience, imagine how would you feel if you were let down.

Ans:When I realize that I did not get what had been promised, I felt shattered. It made one realize that whole world is untrue and people around me can not be trusted.

 INTEXT QUESTIONS 25.2 

I. Answer the following with reference to the lines mentioned in the following stanzas: 

1. Stanza 4. “So, I have learnt …………….like a fixed portrait smile.” 

a. What has the father learnt?

Ans: The father has learnt to wear many faces. This means that he has learned to act or behave according to the need of each situation, and not according to his own natural feeling.

b. Explain “Like a fixed portrait smile.”

Ans:According to the poet, when adults smile it is often as a formality. The smile is without any feelings or expression like the smile in a picture or a painting.

c. What do the different faces stand for?

Ans:The different faces stand for the different ways in which a person conducts himself/herself, dresses, behaves or speaks to suit the different situations he/ she has to face.

2. Stanza 5. “And I have learned too ……………….. after being bored.” 

a. Mention the other things that the father has learnt.

Ans:The father has also learnt to say things which are the exact opposite of his real feelings and of what is in his heart. He has learnt to use pleasant words without meaning them at all, or with unpleasant and unkind thoughts going on in his mind.
 

 

b. Which learnings by the father refer to emotionless relationships?

Ans: To laugh only with his teeth, to shake hands without his heart. 

c. Select any two phrases that show the contrast between intention and action.

Ans:

i. to say ‘goodbye’ for ‘good riddance’.

ii. to say ‘glad to meet you’ without being glad. 

iii. to say ‘it’s been nice talking to you’ after being bored. 

II. Imagine the following situation: Nisha’s friend, Sia has been sick and has missed a week of school. Nisha promises to share her notes with Sia and also to teach her whatever she cannot understand. But when Sia actually comes to ask her to explain something to her before the exam, Nisha makes an excuse and does not help her. Explain how this could affect Sia.

Ans: Sia would have totally depended on Nisha. When Nisha refuses Sia, it is possible that Sia refuses to appear for the exam that. Sia could have also shouted and gone into depression.

 INTEXT QUESTIONS 25.3 

1. What does the father wish for in stanza 6?

Ans:The father wishes he could once again be what he used to be. He wishes to be his true self again. 

2. In stanza 6 the teeth have been compared to ________ . 

Ans:In Stanza 6 the teeth have been compared to a snake’s bare fangs. 

3. What does the simile “like a snake’s bare fangs” bring to your mind? Explain what the poet means when he uses this simile in stanza 6.

Ans:A laugh that shows the teeth like a snake’s bare fangs brings to mind a laugh that is without real feeling. It brings to mind a person whose laugh is falsely pleasant and therefore dangerous and deceptive like a snake. The poet uses this simile to show that he has forgotten to laugh with real feeling and pleasure. When he laughs he does not laugh with his eyes and heart but only by showing his teeth.

4. What does the father ask his son to do in stanza 7 and why?

Ans: The father asks his son to show him the way to be simple, honest, natural and innocent. He wants his son to help him to find his old self, because his son is a child and children are completely natural.

TERMINAL QUESTIONS

II. Answer the following questions: 

1. What has the poet forgotten and what is his desire?

Ans:The poet has forgotten his true, natural self. He wants to get back to his state of innocence when he was open and honest about expressing his feelings and thoughts.
 

 2. In today’s world it is often difficult to know what to believe and what not to believe. What you see is often not the reality. Explain.

Ans:People in modern society say and do whatever is necessary to achieve their goals and ambitions even if there is no genuine feeling in their actions and words. As a result the actions and words are often completely the opposite of the thoughts and feelings of the person doing the actions and saying the words. Hence it is difficult to know the reality and to know what to believe and what not to believe.

3. The father and son in the poem represent two different periods of time. Elaborate.

Ans:The father as an adult stands for the modern period in which people are false and insincere and artificial. The son is a child and represents the old days when people were natural and honest and childlike. 

4. Which time according to you is better? Why?

Ans: The father wants son to teach him to simple, honest, natural and innocent.The  poet wants to get into old self.

5. By addressing his son who is the poet also addressing? 

Ans:By addressing his son the poet is actually addressing all the adults of the modern world who have lost their innocence and are artificial and sometimes heartless in their behaviour. He is trying to tell them to relearn from their children how to be natural and honest and sincere.

III. When we use humour, irony, sarcasm or exaggeration to critize someone or something, it is called satire. The poem is a satire on modern society. With the help of examples from the poem support this statement. 

Ans:The poem is a satire on the falseness in modern society. The poet expresses this by using contradictions and interesting expressions such as people ‘laugh only with their teeth’, shake hands without hearts’, ‘their left hands search my empty pockets’. By using expressions such as ‘wear many faces’ to show that people behave differently and have different attitudes in different situations and with different people instead of being one’s true self the poet brings out that people in modern society are like actors changing masks on a stage and acting in a play. There is no connection between their actions and their feelings. This is a serious problem in modern society but the poet criticizes it in the true style of a satire.