Geography Lesson poem Summary notes class 8th English honeydew

Short Summary

The poem Geography Lesson describes the poet’s opinion of the land below when viewed from the sky. He finds the earth the least attractive from above and continues going higher up.

As the poet moves higher, he realizes that the country is full of cities and valleys. This made him realize that people are completely dependent on land and water for their existence. At one point of time, the poet also realizes that there is more water on earth than land. He also understands that there are many boundaries on earth that lead to hatred among people.

Geography Lesson Summary in English

The author of this poem is Zulfikar Ghose. Ghose was born in India before independence. Eventually, after independence, he settled in Pakistan, and now, he resides in the USA. This is a single stanza poem of 24 lines and does not have any rhyme scheme. In this poem, Ghose talks about three things, firstly, how everything looks from the sky, secondly, how civilization was set up, and lastly, why people hate each other.

The poet says that when he sees the city from a jet, he finds that the cities are not well-planned. He realizes that water is very essential for various activities such as agriculture, transport, business, etc. As the jet moves higher, he reflects that people have built boundaries and hate each other.

The poem displays the poet’s concern for the division and friction among people. The poem begins with the poet seeing the city from the jet. He says that from that height everything seems too small. He can see the full city properly. Also, he finds that the city is not properly planned and is disorganized. Thus, it has no particular style.

When the jet reached the height of 10,000 feet, he could see that the cities were located near the rivers or water resources. He realizes that the availability of water resources is the reason behind the unorganized cities.

The cities grew as per the necessities. People settled near the water resources more as they require water for almost all their activities. He understands that the fertile land and water are the key to human existence. Thus, he can see the logical reason for the development of the cities.

Drinking water is vital to human life. Water is necessary for almost all human activities such as agriculture, production, business, transport, etc. He also now is clear that the Earth has more water than land and also that the Earth is round.

Lastly, he ponders why have people on Earth built walls, boundaries, and fences. The poet says that human beings have a lot of knowledge about the Earth, its shape, the emergence of civilizations, cities, and nations.

But, in this quest, we have attained absolutely no knowledge about how to live peacefully on this amazing planet. He fails to understand that why do people hate each other so much. He feels that people are selfish, jealous, and have a narrow mindset. Also, he finds that the Earth is one but people living on it have divided and fragmented it.

He also feels that people on the planet are not living in harmony together for shallow reasons. If people decide to forget their differences and stay together peacefully, this planet would be a wonderful, beautiful and amazing place to live.

Geography Lesson Summary in Hindi

इस कविता में कवि ऊँचे उड़ रहे वायुयान से नगर और देश के दृश्य का वर्णन करता है। जब जेट वायुयान उड़ा तो आकाश साफ था। कवि ने खिड़की से बाहर झाँका। शहर सुन्दर ढंग से सुनियोजित लग रहा था। लेकिन धरती पर तो यह बिल्कुल बेतरतीव लगता है। यहाँ बिना किसी शैली और तारतम्य के अनेकों गलियां और घर हैं।

जब यान 10,000 फुट की उँचाई पर उड़ा रहा था, कवि नीचे झाँका और भूगोल की मजबूरी उसे समझ में आ गई। वह समझ गया कि हर देश में नगर नदी तट पर क्यों बसे होते हैं। दूसरी बात लोग मुख्य रुप से घाटियों में रहते हैं। यह भूमि दो पहाड़ियों के बीच समतल स्थान होती है। जमीन और जल लोगों की प्राथमिक आवश्यकताएँ हैं। वे लागों को आकर्षित करते हैं।

जब यान जमीन से छ: मील से ऊपर उड़ा तो धरती गोल दिखाई दी। कवि फिर नीचे झाँका। अब उसे धरती पर जमीन से ज्यादा जल दिखा। कवि को इसका कारण भी समझ में आ गया कि ऐसा क्यों होता है पर उसे भूमि का ईटों की तथा घृणा की दीवारें बनाकर विभाजन करने के पीछे क्या तर्क है यह बात समझ में नहीं आई। उसे यह बात भी समझ में नहीं आई कि लोग एक दूसरे की गर्दन के लिये उतावले क्यों रहते हैं।