The Sower

Victor-Marie Hugo

Read the lines from the poem 'The Sower' and answer the questions that follow:

Sitting in a porch way cool,

Fades the ruddy sunlight fast,

Twilight hastens on to rule--

Working hours are wellnigh past

Shadows shoot across the lands;

But one sower lingers still,

Old, in rags, he patient stands,--

Looking on, I feel a thrill.

Black and high his silhouette

Dominates the furrows deep!

Now to sow the task is set,

Soon shall come a time to reap.

Marches he along the plain,

To and fro, and scatters wide

From his hands the precious grain;

Moody, I, to see him stride.

Darkness deepens. Gone the light.

Now his gestures to mine eyes

Are august; and strange--his height

Seems to touch the starry skies.

1. Who is the speaker here?

Answer : The poet / Victor Hugo

2. Who is the I referred to here?

Answer : The poet / Victor Hugo

3. Who is sitting in the porch way?

Answer : The poet / Victor Hugo

4. Whom the speaker is referred to here?

Answer : The sower

5. Where does the speaker/ poet sit?

Answer : In the porch way of his house.

6. What is the time mentioned here?

Answer : Evening

7. "But one sower lingers still" - What does the word 'lingers' suggests about the sower?

Answer : The line indicates that the sower is still working in his field even it is late evening. This shows that he is very dedicated and hard working person.

8. Pick out two pairs of rhyming words from the poem.

Answer : cool - rule

Fast - past

9. What is the rhyme scheme followed here?

Answer : ABAB

10 What does the poet feel?

Answer : Thrilled

11. Pick out a word from the second stanza that means 'piece of old cloth'.

Answer : rags

12. Pick out a word from the second stanza that means 'dark shape and outline of someone or something'.

Answer : silhouette

13. Why does the poet tell that the grain is precious?

Answer : In one sense, the grains grow as food in future for us. And in other sense, the grains will grow into crops and will make the sower rich

14. Why does the poet become moody or sad ?

Answer : The poet becomes sad by watching the sower struggling so much

15. Pick out visual images from the poem

Answer : porch way, ruddy sunlight, Shadows shoot across the lands, Black and high his silhouette, furrows deep, From his hands the precious grain, starry skies.

16. Pick out examples for alliteration.

Answer : Fades the ruddy sunlight fast /

Shadows shoot across / high his / sower lingers still/ his hands