NCERT Solutions for Class 10th: The Tale of Custard the Dragon (Poem)

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 will help the students in learning complex topics and problems in an easy way. Class 10 English First Flight NCERT Solutions will help students in understanding the topics in most simple manner and grasp it easily to perform better. You can study in an organized manner and set a good foundation for your future goals

Page No: 132
Thinking about the Poem

1. Who are the characters in this poem? List them with their pet names.
Answer
The characters in this poem are Belinda, a little black kitten, a little grey mouse, a little yellow dog, a little pet dragon and a pirate.

2. Why did Custard cry for a nice, safe cage? Why is the dragon called a “cowardly dragon”?
AnswerCustard cried for a nice, safe cage because it was a coward. It is called a ‘cowardly dragon’ because everybody else in the house was brave. Belinda was as brave as a barrel of bears. Ink and Blink are described as so brave that they could chase lions down the stairs and Mustard was as brave as a tiger in rage. Compared to them, Custard cried asking for a nice and safe cage, which is why it is called a coward.
3. “Belinda tickled him, she tickled him unmerciful…” Why?

Answer
Belinda tickled the dragon unmercifully because it was very scared and cried for a safe cage. They all laughed at it as it was a coward.

4. The poet has employed many poetic devices in the poem. For example: “Clashed his tail like iron in a dungeon” − the poetic device here is a simile. Can you, with your partner, list some more such poetic devices used in the poem?
Answer
In the entire poem, the poet has made extensive use of similes. Apart from simile, another poetic device that has been used is repetition. For example, the repetitive use of the word ‘little’ in the first stanza to emphasise how everything from the house to Belinda to her pets were all little. Also, in the seventh stanza, the poet has made use of incorrect spelling as a poetic device to maintain the rhyme scheme of the poem. He has chosen to write ‘winda’ instead of ‘window’ as ‘winda’ rhymes with ‘Belinda’, whereas ‘window’ does not. He has also used alliteration in the poem. For example, in the tenth stanza, ‘Custard’ has ‘clashed’ his tail with a ‘clatter’ and a ‘clank’. Similarly, in stanza eleven, the pirate ‘gaped’ at the dragon and ‘gulped’ some ‘grog’.

6. Can you find out the rhyme scheme of two or three stanzas of the poem?
Answer
The rhyme scheme of each stanza of this poem is aabb.

7. Writers use words to give us a picture or image without actually saying what they mean. Can you trace some images used in the poem?
Answer
Some such images used in the poem are ‘mouth like a fireplace’, ‘chimney for a nose’, ‘brave as a barrel full of bears’, ‘brave as a tiger in a rage’, ‘went at the pirate like a robin at a worm’, etc.

8. Do you find The Tale of Custard the Dragon to be a serious or a light-hearted poem? Give reasons to support your answer.
Answer
The Tale of Custard the Dragon is a light-hearted poem. It is almost a parody. The names of the pets of Belinda are all rhyming and funny. Belinda has been compared to a barrel full of bears. The kitten and mouse, both little, could chase lions down the stairs. The little yellow dog was as brave as a tiger, while the dragon was a coward and they all teased him. However, when the pirate came to their little house, all of them were engulfed in fear and had hid themselves. Ironically, the ‘cowardly’ dragon came to their rescue and jumped snorting like an engine. It clashed its tail and charged at the pirate like a robin at a worm and ate him up. Even as everybody became happy to see the bravery of the dragon, they again came back to glorifying themselves that they could have been twice or thrice braver than the dragon. Finally, at the end of the poem, the situation again came back to the other pets being brave and the dragon being the coward.

Important Link

Short Summary-  The Tale of Custard the Dragon (Poem)

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NCERT Solutions for Class 10th: Fog (Poem)

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 will help the students in learning complex topics and problems in an easy way. Class 10 English First Flight NCERT Solutions will help students in understanding the topics in most simple manner and grasp it easily to perform better. You can study in an organized manner and set a good foundation for your future goals

Page No: 115
Thinking about the Poem

1. (i) What does Sandburg think the fog is like?
(ii) How does the fog come?
(iii) What does ‘it’ in the third line refer to?
(iv) Does the poet actually say that the fog is like a cat? Find three things that tell us that the fog is like a cat.

Answer
(i) According to Sandburg, the fog is like a cat.

(ii) The fog comes on little cat feet.

(iii) In the third line ‘it’ refers to the fog that has covered the city and it seems as if it is looking over the city like a cat.

(iv) No, the poet does not actually say that the fog is like a cat. However, he has used cat as a metaphor for describing the fog. He says that the fog comes on its little cat feet, which implies that the fog is like a cat as it comes slowly. He also says that the fog looks over the harbour and the city and then moves on, implying that the fog has covered the city and is sitting and looking at it, thereby again comparing it to a cat. This is reiterated when he says that the fog looks over the city sitting on ‘silent hunches’. This also shows the reference to a cat as a cat always sits with its knees bent. Hence, he has compared the fog to a cat without actually saying so.

2. You know that a metaphor compares two things by transferring a feature of one thing to the other (See Unit 1).

(i) Find metaphors for the following words and complete the table below.
Also try to say how they are alike. The first is done for you.

Answer

3. Does this poem have a rhyme scheme? Poetry that does not have an obvious rhythm or rhyme is called ‘free verse’.
Answer
No, this poem does not have a rhyme scheme. It is written in free verse.

Important Link

Short Summary-  Fog (Poem)

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NCERT Solutions for Class 10th: The Trees (Poem)

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 will help the students in learning complex topics and problems in an easy way. Class 10 English First Flight NCERT Solutions will help students in understanding the topics in most simple manner and grasp it easily to perform better. You can study in an organized manner and set a good foundation for your future goals

Page No: 100
Thinking about the Poem

1. (i) Find, in the first stanza, three things that cannot happen in a treeless forest.
(ii) What picture do these words create in your mind: “… sun bury its feet in shadow…”? What could the poet mean by the sun’s ‘feet’?
Answer
(i) The three things that cannot happen in a treeless forest are the sitting of a bird on trees, the hiding of insects and the sun burying its feet in the shadow of the forest.

(ii) The sun radiates heat and the given words create a picture of the hot, radiating sun cooling its feet in the cool shadow of the forest. The sun’s ‘feet’ refers to its rays that reach the earth.

2. (i) Where are the trees in the poem? What do their roots, their leaves and their twigs do?
(ii) What does the poet compare their branches to?
Answer
(i) In the poem, the trees are in the poet’s house. Their roots work all night to disengage themselves from the cracks in the veranda floor. The leaves make efforts to move towards the glass, while the small twigs get stiff with exertion.

(ii) The poet compares the ‘long-cramped’ branches that have been shuffling under the roof to newly discharged patients who look half-dazed as they move towards the hospital doors after long illnesses and wait to get out of the hospital. The branches also have cramped under the roof and want to get out into the open to spread themselves in fresh air.

3. (i) How does the poet describe the moon: (a) at the beginning of the third stanza, and (b) at its end? What causes this change? (ii) What happens to the house when the trees move out of it?
Answer
(i) In the beginning of the third stanza, the poet says that the whole moon is shining in the open sky in the fresh night. However, at the end of the stanza, she describes the moon as broken into many pieces such as a shattered mirror. This change is caused by the trees that have made their way from her home to outside. Their branches have risen into the sky, blocking the moon, which is why the moon seems to be broken into many pieces. These pieces can be seen flashing at the top of the tallest oak tree.
(ii) When the trees move out of the house, the glass gets broken and the smell of the leaves and lichens still reaches the rooms of the house.

Page No: 101
4. Now that you have read the poem in detail, we can begin to ask what the poem might mean. Here are two suggestions. Can you think of others?

(i) Does the poem present a conflict between man and nature? Compare it with A Tiger in the Zoo. Is the poet suggesting that plants and trees, used for ‘interior decoration’ in cities while forests are cut down, are ‘imprisoned’, and need to ‘break out’?

(ii) On the other hand, Adrienne Rich has been known to use trees as a metaphor for human beings: this is a recurrent image in her poetry. What new meanings emerge from the poem if you take its trees to be symbolic of this particular meaning?
Answer

(i) Yes, the poem presents a conflict between man and nature. While nature is more free and unbounded, man prefers to live in bounded spaces and also wants to curb nature. He uses plants for interior decoration of houses, cuts trees to make a house for himself, kills animals for food or other purposes and cages them in zoos. In all these ways, man curbs nature and denies plants and animals the freedom in which they should live. The poem shows that trees and plants are rebelling against man as they strive to work their way out into the open. For instance, in the poem A Tiger in the Zoo, the poet presents the fact that animals feel bounded by cages. They can only take a few steps inside the cage, whereas they really want to run and leap into the open. This signifies the fact that plants and animals feel caged by humans and want to break out from the imprisonment at the hands of humans.

(ii) If trees are symbolic of human beings, then it could be said that humans too want to break away from the shackles of the busy and selfish lives they lead. They also want to go out into the nature and be free. They work all day and sometimes all night to try and achieve something though they do not have the time to enjoy it. They keep striving hard in their routines as they feel cramped under the roofs of their homes and offices. Even they want to break free and go out into the peaceful nature.

Important Link

Short Summary-  The Trees (Poem)

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NCERT Solutions for Class 10th: Animals (Poem)

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 will help the students in learning complex topics and problems in an easy way. Class 10 English First Flight NCERT Solutions will help students in understanding the topics in most simple manner and grasp it easily to perform better. You can study in an organized manner and set a good foundation for your future goals

Page No: 84
Thinking about the Poem

1. Notice the use of the word ‘turn’ in the first line, “I think I could turn and live with animals…” What is the poet turning from?

Answer

The poet is turning away from living with other humans as he finds them complicated and false. He would rather live with animals that are self-contained and non-complaining.

2. Mention three things that humans do and animals don’t.
Answer

The poet has drawn three comparisons between humans and animals.
► Humans sweat and work to make a living and later whine and sulk about the amount of work they have to do to survive. Animals, on the other hand, do not whine about their condition.
► Humans lie awake at night and cry for the wrongs they have done. Animals do not weep for anything they do and sleep peacefully.
► Finally, humans make each other sick by discussing their duties to God. However, animals do not have any god and they live and survive without any prayers or fasts.

3. Do humans kneel to other humans who lived thousands of years ago? Discuss this in groups.
Answer
Yes, humans kneel to other humans who lived thousands of years ago. They worship their ancestors and pray by kneeling in front of their portraits. They hold religious sermons and ceremonies in their memory.

4. What are the ‘tokens’ that the poet says he may have dropped long ago, and which the animals have kept for him? Discuss this in class. (Hint: Whitman belongs to the Romantic tradition that includes Rousseau and Wordsworth, which holds that civilisation has made humans false to their own true nature. What could be the basic aspects of our nature as living beings that humans choose to ignore or deny?

Answer
The token that the poet says he might have dropped long ago, and which the animals have kept for him, is his true nature as a human. While humans came close to civilisation, they gradually moved away from their true nature. The natural instincts that humans had and the innocence with which they lived and helped each other have been left behind somewhere. As they got near civilisation, they chose to leave behind the virtues of kindness, sincerity, unselfishness, joy, satisfaction, respectability, and sharing. They took to vices such as greed, selfishness, desire to capture everything, and other such inhuman characteristics. Animals have carried forward the real instincts and characteristics, which the poet looks at and tries to remember where he had negligently lost his true nature.

Important Link

Short Summary-  Animals (Poem)

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NCERT Solutions for Class 10th: Amanda! (Poem)

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 will help the students in learning complex topics and problems in an easy way. Class 10 English First Flight NCERT Solutions will help students in understanding the topics in most simple manner and grasp it easily to perform better. You can study in an organized manner and set a good foundation for your future goals

Page No: 62
Thinking about the Poem

1. How old do you think Amanda is? How do you know this?
Answer
Amnada is must be about 9−10 years old. She is school going girl. The things that her mother scolds her for are all typical instructions given to a 9 or10 year old girl.

2. Who do you think is speaking to her?

Answer
Her mother is speaking to her.

3. Why are Stanzas 2, 4 and 6 given in parenthesis?
Answer
Stanzas 2, 4 and 6 are given in parenthesis because they are the thoughts of the child in between the instructions that she is being given by her mother, which are given in stanzas 1, 3 and 5. The scolding by the mother and the child’s thoughts are placed in alternate stanzas by the poet.

4. Who is the speaker in stanzas 2, 4 and 6? Do you think this speaker is listening to the speaker in stanzas 1, 3, 5 and 7?
Answer
In stanzas 2, 4 and 6, the speaker is the child, Amanda. No, she is not listening to her mother who is the speaker in stanzas 1, 3 and 5. She is lost in her own dreams and doesn’t listen to what is being said to her.

5. What could Amanda do if she were a mermaid?
Answer
If Amanda were a mermaid, then she would drift slowly on a languid emerald sea. She would be the sole inhabitant of the relaxed green sea and would move slowly on it.

6. Is Amanda an orphan? Why does she say so?
Answer
No, Amanda is not an orphan. She says so because she wants to be alone. She wants to roam around in the street alone and pattern dust wit her bare feet. She finds silence ‘golden’ and freedom ‘sweet’. It is for this reason that she calls herself an orphan.

7. Do you know the story of Rapunzel? Why does she want to be Rapunzel?
Answer
She wants to be Rapunzel because she wants to live alone. Rapunzel lived alone in a tall tower and had long, beautiful hair. She was held captive by her grandmother, who came up the tower by climbing her long hair. The girl also wants to live alone in a tower as she would not have to care about anything as life in a tower would be tranquil, peaceful and rare. However, she also decided that she would never throw down her hair for anyone to come up as she wanted to live alone always.

8. What does the girl yearn for? What does this poem tell you about Amanda?
Answer
The girl yearns for a life of freedom. The poem tells us that she is an imaginative girl who is constantly nagged by her unimaginative parent.

9. Read the last stanza. Do you think Amanda is sulking and is moody?
Answer
No, Amanda is neither sulking, nor is she moody. She is simply longs for her freedom. She wants to go out and play where she likes.

Important Link

Short Summary-  Amanda! (Poem)

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NCERT Solutions for Class 10th: The Ball Poem

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 will help the students in learning complex topics and problems in an easy way. Class 10 English First Flight NCERT Solutions will help students in understanding the topics in most simple manner and grasp it easily to perform better. You can study in an organized manner and set a good foundation for your future goals

Page No: 47
Thinking about the PoemIn pairs, attempt the following questions

1. Why does the poet say, “I would not intrude on him”? Why doesn’t he offer him money to buy another ball?
Answer
The poet wants the boy to experience the loss. He should learn that it is the part of life. That’s why the poet doesn’t want to interfere the boy and doesn’t want to offer him money to buy another ball.

2. “… staring down/All his young days into the harbor where/His ball went…” Do you think the boy has had the ball for a long time? Is it linked to the memories of days when he played with it?

Answer
Yes, it seems like the boy has had the ball for a long time. When it bounced into the water, all his memories of the days of childhood flashed in front of him. This led to a realisation that those moments would not come back, just like the ball. He can buy new balls and can similarly create new moments, but those that are gone would not return.

3. What does “in the world of possessions” mean?
Answer
In the world of possessions’ means people like to possess all sorts of things in the world. Money is external because it can buy only material objects; it cannot buy everything that one loses.

4. Do you think the boy has lost anything earlier? Pick out the words that suggest the answer.
Answer
No, it seems that the boy had not lost anything earlier. The words that suggest so are ‘senses first responsibility in a world of possessions’.

5. What does the poet say the boy is learning from the loss of the ball? Try to explain this in your own words.

Answer The poet says that the boy is learning to cope up with the loss of the ball. He is experiencing grief and learning to grow up in this world of possessions. He learns that there are so many things in life that are to be lost and cannot be brought back. It is useless to feel sorrow for it.

Important Link

Short Summary-  The Ball Poem

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NCERT Solutions for Class 10th: How to Tell Wild Animals (Poem)

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 will help the students in learning complex topics and problems in an easy way. Class 10 English First Flight NCERT Solutions will help students in understanding the topics in most simple manner and grasp it easily to perform better. You can study in an organized manner and set a good foundation for your future goals

Page No: 45
Thinking about the Poem

1. Does ‘dying’ really rhyme with ‘lion’? Can you say it in such a way that it does?

Answer
No, ‘dying’ does not rhyme with ‘lion’. It is for this reason that the poet has used ‘dyin’ so that when
we pronounce it, it rhymes with ‘lion’.

2. How does the poet suggest that you identify the lion and the tiger? When can you do so, according to him?

Answer
The poet suggests that if a large and tawny beast in the jungle in the east advances towards us, then it is an Asian lion. We can identify it when it roars at us while we are dying with fear. When while roaming we come across a wild beast that is yellow in colour with black stripes, it is a Bengal tiger. We can identify it when it eats us.

3. Do you think the words ‘lept’ and ‘lep’ in the third stanza are spelt correctly? Why does the poet spell them like this?

Answer
No, the words ‘lept’ and ‘lep’ are spelt incorrectly. The poet has spelled them like this in order to maintain the rhythm of the poem. When spelled this way, they rhyme with the first part of ‘leopard’, thus giving emphasis to ‘leopard’ in each line.

4. Do you know what a ‘bearhug’ is? It’s a friendly and strong hug — such as bears are thought to give, as they attack you! Again, hyenas are thought to laugh, and crocodiles to weep (‘crocodile tears’) as they swallow their victims. Are there similar expressions and popular ideas about wild animals in your own language(s)?

Answer
A ‘bearhug’ is the bear’s tight embrace. Hyenas never laugh. But their faces look like that. Crocodiles do not weep but tears come when they swallow their victims.

5. Look at the line “A novice might nonplus”. How would you write this ‘correctly’? Why is the poet’s ‘incorrect’ line better in the poem?

Answer
The line “A novice might nonplus” can be correctly written as “A novice might be nonplussed”. The poet’s incorrect line is better in the poem as it maintains the rhyme scheme of the poem. By writing it incorrectly, ‘nonplus’ rhymes with ‘thus’.

6. Can you find other examples of poets taking liberties with language, either in English or in your own language(s)? Can you find examples of humorous poems in your own language(s)?

Answer
Yes, many poets take such liberties to create proper rhyming. These are for example : Kirk is used for ‘church’ to rhyme with ‘work’. Ken is used for ‘see’ to rhyme with ‘pen’.

Important Link

Short Summary-  How to Tell Wild Animals

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NCERT Solutions for Class 10th: A Tiger in the Zoo (Poem)

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 will help the students in learning complex topics and problems in an easy way. Class 10 English First Flight NCERT Solutions will help students in understanding the topics in most simple manner and grasp it easily to perform better. You can study in an organized manner and set a good foundation for your future goals

Page No: 30
Thinking about the Poem

1. Read the poem again, and work in pairs or groups to do the following tasks.

(i) Find the words that describe the movements and actions of the tiger in the case and in the wild. Arrange them in two columns.
(ii) Find the words that describe the two places, and arrange them in two columns.
Now try to share ideas about how the poet uses words and images to contrast the two situations.

Answer
(i)

(ii)

2. Notice the use of a word repeated in lines such as these:
(i) On pads of velvet quiet,
In his quiet rage.
(ii) And stares with his brilliant eyes
At the brilliant stars.
What do you think is the effect of this repetition?

Answer
This repetition is a poetic device used by the poet in order to increases the intensity of the tiger’s rage and his helpless silence.‘Velvet quiet’ refers to the quiet velvet pads of the tiger, which cannot run or leap. They can only walk around the limited space in the cage. The use of ‘quiet rage’ symbolises the anger and ferocity that is building up inside the tiger as it wants to run out into the forest and attack a deer, but the rage is quiet because it cannot come out in the open as it is in the cage. This double use of ‘quiet’ has brought immense beauty to the poem. Similarly, the use of ‘brilliant’ for the tiger’s eyes as well as the stars also brings out the magnificence of these lines. The tiger has dreams of being free in its ‘brilliant’ eyes. It sees the stars (that have also been described as brilliant) with the same eyes. It stares at the brilliant stars with its brilliant eyes thinking about how beautiful its life could be in the forest. The repetitiveness of these words gives a wonderful effect to the poem.

3. Read the following two poems − one about a tiger and the other about a panther. Then discuss:
Are zoos necessary for the protection or conservation of some species of animals? Are they useful for educating the public? Are there alternatives to zoos?

The Tiger

The tiger behind the bars of his cage growls,
The tiger behind the bars of his cage snarls,
The tiger behind the bars of his cage roars.
Then he thinks.
It would be nice not to be behind bars all
The time
Because they spoil my view
I wish I were wild, not on show.
But if I were wild, hunters might shoot me,
But if I were wild, food might poison me,
But if I were wild, water might drown me.
Then he stops thinking
And…
The tiger behind the bars of his cage growls,
The tiger behind the bars of his cage snarls,
The tiger behind the bars of his cage roars. 

PETER NIBLETT

The Panther

His vision, from the constantly passing bars,
has grown so weary that it cannot hold
anything else. It seems to him there are
a thousand bars; and behind the bars, no world.
As he paces in cramped circles, over and over,
the movement of his powerful soft strides
is like a ritual dance around a centre
in which a mighty will stands paralysed.
Only at times, the curtain of the pupils
lifts, quietly. An image enters in,
rushes down through the tensed, arrested muscles,
plunges into the heart and is gone. 

RAINER MARIA RILKE

Answer
The Zoo is very necessary place for some animals as they could be hunted down, poisoned by some wild food, or could drown in water in the forest. They also aware public about the nature of animals and make human friendly with animals. However, a zoo is not the correct substitute for a forest. In a zoo, an animal would feel caged, bound, and not free to roam about in the wild. It is for this reason that wildlife sanctuaries and national parks have been instituted in order to conserve several endangered species. These places provide protection as well as natural surroundings to these species. They can roam about freely in their habitats and are safe too. The public can visit these parks and get educated about the animals and their lifestyles. The parks and sanctuaries are run using a strict set of rules, the most prominent being the ban on hunting. Since the animals are in the open, visitors would not be able feed them and would not misbehave or try to play with them as they are under strict guidance. Such incidents have been recorded in zoos where people irritate and tease the animals. Hence, a wild life sanctuary is a good alternative for animals to be safe as well as in their natural surroundings.

Important Link

Short Summary-  A Tiger in the Zoo

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NCERT Solutions for Class 10th: Fire and Ice (Poem)

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 will help the students in learning complex topics and problems in an easy way. Class 10 English First Flight NCERT Solutions will help students in understanding the topics in most simple manner and grasp it easily to perform better. You can study in an organized manner and set a good foundation for your future goals

Page No: 15
Thinking about the Poem

1. There are many ideas about how the world will ‘end’. Do you think the world will end some day? Have you ever thought what would happen if the sun got so hot that it ‘burst’, or grew colder and colder?

Answer
Yes I believe that this world will end some but when nobody knows. Whether the sun gets hot or it gets colder in both the situations end of this world is sure.

2. For Frost, what do ‘fire’ and ‘ice’ stand for? Here are some ideas:

Answer
‘Fire’ stands for greed, avarice, lust, conflict and fury. ‘Ice’ stands for cruelty, intolerance, rigidity, insensitivity, coldness, indifference and hatred.

3. What is the rhyme scheme of the poem? How does it help in bringing out the contrasting ideas in the poem?

Answer
The rhyme scheme of the poem is: a, b, a, a; b. c, b, c,b.
The contrasting ideas of ‘fire’ and ‘ice’ are presented using this rhyme scheme. He mentions that both fire and ice are probable ends of this world. While he talks about how fire represents desire and can therefore be a cause of the end of the world, he also mentions ice in between to symbolise that the coldness and indifference towards one another will also be enough to end the world. In the second stanza, he says that he knows of enough hate in the world to be sure that even destruction through ice would be sufficient to bring about the end of the world.

Important Link

Short Summary-  Fire and Ice

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NCERT Solutions for Class 10th: Dust of Snow (Poem)

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 will help the students in learning complex topics and problems in an easy way. Class 10 English First Flight NCERT Solutions will help students in understanding the topics in most simple manner and grasp it easily to perform better. You can study in an organized manner and set a good foundation for your future goals

Page No: 14
1. What is a “dust of snow”? What does the poet say has changed his mood? How has the poet’s mood changed?

Answer
A “dust of snow” means the fine particles of snow. This “dust of snow” changed the poet’s mood. The poet’s mood changed from that of dismay to joy. He was holding the day in regret when this dust of snow fell on him and this simple little thing brought him some joy.

2. How does Frost present nature in this poem? The following questions may help you to think of an answer.

(i) What are the birds that are usually named in poems? Do you think a crow is often mentioned in poems? What images come to your mind when you think of a crow?

(ii) Again, what is “a hemlock tree”? Why doesn’t the poet write about a more ‘beautiful’ tree such as a maple, or an oak, or a pine?
(iii) What do the ‘crow’ and ‘hemlock’ represent − joy or sorrow? What does the dust of snow that the crow shakes off a hemlock tree stand for?

Answer
Frost has presented nature in quite an unconventional manner. While in other nature poems we come across birds such as nightingales or sparrows, Frost has used a crow in this poem. A crow can be associated with something dark, black, and foreboding. That is why other poets usually mention singing nightingales or beautiful white doves in their poems.

Also, the poet has written about a hemlock tree, which is a poisonous tree. He has not written about a more beautiful tree such as a maple, or oak, or pine because these trees symbolise beauty and happiness. Frost wanted to symbolise the feelings of sadness and regret, which is why he has used a hemlock tree.

The crow and the hemlock tree represent sorrow. The dust of snow that is shaken off the hemlock tree by the crow stands for joy that Frost experiences. He has, therefore, used an unconventional tree and bird in order to contrast them with joy in the form of snow.

Important Link

Short Summary-  Dust of Snow

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