Unit 2 - 2.1 Animals English - Unit 2 - 2.1 Animals

Complete the following:
(a) The poet wishes he could ______________
(b) Animals do not complain about ______________
(c) Animals do not merely discuss ______________
(d) Animals are not crazy about ______________

What craze do animals never display?

State whether the following statements are True or False:
(a) Animals are self-reliant.
(b) Animals quarrel for their possessions.
(c) Animals do not worship other animals.
(d) Humans have given up many good qualities.
(e) Animals suffer humiliation.
(f) The poet has retained all his natural virtues.

With the help of the poem, complete the web, highlighting the good values/habits which we can learn from animals :

With the help of the poem, find the differences between animals and human beings:

I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contain'd
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition, They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins.
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God.
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things.
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago.
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.
So they show their relations to me and I accept them.
They bring me tokens of myself, they evince
them plainly in their possession I wonder where they get those tokens.
Did I pass that way huge times ago and negligently drop them?

What could have happened to the tokens of the poet's self?

Divide the class into two groups. One group should offer points in favour of (views) and the other against (counterviews) the topic : 'The life of an animal is better than that of a human being. Later use the points to express your own views/counterviews in paragraph format in your notebook.

Give one example of Rhetorical Question from the poem. Explain.

What does the poet mean by "They bring me tokens of myself?

Identify the figures of speech in the followinglines:
(a) I stand and look at them long and long.
(b) They do not sweat and whine about their condition.
(c) They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God.
(d).. not one is demented with the mania of owning things.
(e) They bring me tokens of myself. - Paradox
(f) No one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth. - Hyperbole

Find out lines from the poem that are examples of the following figures of speech:

Figures of Speech	Lines
Repetition
Alliteration
Hyperbole

Divide the class into two groups. One group should offer points in favour of (views) and the other against (counterviews) the topic : 'The life of an animal is better than that of a human being. Later use the points to express your own views/counterviews in paragraph format in your notebook.

Read the poem again and write an appreciation of the poem in paragraph format with the help of given points:
Point Format (for understanding)
The title of the poem : 'Animals'
The poet: Walt Whitman
Rhyme scheme: free verse (no rhyme scheme)
Figures of speech: Repetition, Alliteration,Tautology, Hyperbole, etc.
The theme/central idea: Animals are better than humans.