Oft, In The Stilly Night

by Thomas Moore

Answers for all the questions from the poetry ‘Oft, In The Stilly Night’ included in the CHSE +2 book ‘Invitation to English – 1’.

Think it out

1. When do the past memories occur to the poet?
Answer – The memories occur to the poet when, gripped by death throes, he reminisces about the his joyful childhood days.

2. What does “other days” mean?
Answer – He refers to the childhood days that re long gone as ‘other days’.

3. Are the memories of boyhood sweet or sad? Quote the line in support of your answer. How does the poet grieve for his dear ones who have passed away?
Answer – As is natural, childhood memories are a mix of joy and sadness. Cheers and tears mark the times spent in the company of friends. The following two lines of the poem point to this.

The smiles, the tears,
Of boyhood’s years,

The poet grieves for his friends who have departed the world for good. He refers to them as ‘shining eyes that are dimmed and gone’.

4. How does he recall his friends?
Answer – The poet pines for his dear childhood friends with whom he spent a lot of joyful moments. Their deaths have ‘broken his heart’.

5. Does the poet feel lonely in the absence of his near and dear ones? Quote the line in support of your answer.
Answer – The poet is gripped by loneliness that gnaws him relentlessly. The absence of his old friends haunts him all the time. The following lines bring forth the state of his grief-stricken mind.

6. Simile is a figure of speech used to make comparison between two unlike things using “as”, “like” … .What figure of speech does the poet use to express his loneliness?
Answer – The poet has used metaphor to express his grief.

7. The figure of speech used to express inanimate beings as animate is called personification. Give the example of personification used in the poem?
Answer – The examples of ‘personification’ are present in these lines. They are underlined.

Like leaves in wintry weather;
I feel like one
Who treads alone
Some banquet-hall deserted,
Whose lights are fled,
Whose garlands dead.