On The Grasshopper and Cricket by John Keats || Grade 11|| Optional English || Summary and Exercise

 

Summary:

This poem is a fine piece of Petrarchan sonnet by the famous poet John Keats. He wrote this poem in December 1816. It is inspired by the beauty of nature. Poets usually find beauty and poetry in spring and good weather. But Keats is different as he finds nature beautiful in all seasons including hot summer and cold winter.

The poet symbolizes the grasshopper as hot summer and the cricket as a very cold winter. He says that even when the birds stop singing during the hot summers, the Earth still sings. The grasshopper sings tirelessly during this time flying from the hedge. The poet further says that during the cold winter also the Earth keeps expressing pleasure through cricket. A cricket sings through the stones.

In the poem ‘On the Grasshopper and Cricket’, the poet John Keats celebrates the music of the Earth. He finds beauty in hot summer as well as in the cold winter. Here, in this poem, the grasshopper is a symbol of hot summer and cricket is a symbol of cold winter. The poet says that the music of nature or earth is always alive whether it is hot summer or cold and bleak winter. During the hot summer, all the singing birds are tired and take rest under the shady branches of trees. But even if they don’t sing the song of nature goes on. We can still hear the voice of the grasshopper who runs from hedge to hedge. He keeps singing tirelessly and when tired rests beneath some weed. A grasshopper carries on the duty of singing the everlasting song of nature.  During summers, he is a fun-loving and cheerful creature and is never done with his delights.

Thus, we can say that the grasshopper and the cricket, two tiny insects, perform a big responsibility. They carry on with nature’s continuous and everlasting music irrespective of the extreme climates. The poet has thus personified them. It is thus a symbolic poem. Here, the grasshopper and the cricket are a symbol of the constant joyous mood of nature.

MCQs

1.      This poem is ……..

i.an ode     ii. a n elegy      iii. a sonnet     iv. a lyric

2.      Which seasons are mentioned in the poem?

i.Summer               ii. Summer-Spring       iii. Summer-Winter               iv. Autumn

3.      The poem describes ……

i.grasshoppers        ii. crickets        iii. nature        iv. poverty

4.      What is the rhyme scheme of this poem?

i. ABBAABBA CDECDE    ii. ABABCDCD EFEF GG

 iii. ABBAABBA CDCDEE iv. AABBCCDD EEFFGG

5.      What is the poem about?

i. Beauty of nature in autumn    ii. Beauty of nature in spring

iii. Beauty of nature in summer and winter      iv. Beauty of nature in spring

Important Question-Answers:

1.         What is the poem about?

Ans: The poem is about the beauty of nature. Nature is always beautiful. The music of nature is always alive. There is beauty in hot summer as well as in the cold winter.

2.          What do grasshopper and cricket symbolize?

Ans: The grasshopper is a symbol of hot summer and the cricket is a symbol of cold winter. Both of them are tiny insects who perform a big responsibility. They carry on with nature’s continuous and everlasting music despite the extreme climates.

3.          What does cricket mean spiritually?

Ans: Spiritually, the cricket means good luck, wealth, and prosperity.

4.          What is the impact of grasshopper and cricket music?

Ans: The grasshopper and cricket music keeps the earth or nature alive. They keep nature always joyful and beautiful.

5.         Where does the grasshopper rest when he is tired?

Ans: The grasshopper rests under some weed when he is tired.

6.          What do winter and summer season suggest?

Ans: Winter season suggests the hardship, struggle and sorrow of life and summer season suggests rebirth, happiness and joy.

7.          How is the grasshopper enjoying the luxuries of nature?

Ans: The grasshopper is enjoying the luxuries of nature by singing delightfully from the hedge. Even if he is tired, he rests under some pleasant weed(झारपात). He doesn't miss to enjoy the delight of summer season.

8.          How does the grasshopper enliven nature?

Ans: The grasshopper enlivens nature by singing song from the hedge in extremely hot season. When all the singing birds are tired and take rest under the shady branches of trees, he keeps on singing and making the nature alive.