Beehive Poem No Men Are Foreign - CBSE Test Papers

CBSE Class 9 English Language and Literature
Beehive Poem Chapter-6 No Men Are Foreign
Test Paper-01
Read the following passages and answer the questions:
  1. I am a citizen, not of Athens or Greece, but of the world.
    Remember, no men are strange, no countries foreign
    Beneath all uniforms, a single body breathes
    Like ours: the land our brothers walk upon
    1. Who is the poet of the poem ‘No Men Are Foreign’?
    2. Why does the poet say that I am a citizen of the world?
    3. What do you understand by word ‘uniform’?
    4. Explain ‘The land our brothers walk upon’.
  2. Is earth like this, in which we all shall lie.
    They, too, aware of sun and air and water,
    Are fed by peaceful harvests, by war’s long winter starv’d.
    Their hands are ours, and in their lines, we read
    1. What is the rhyme scheme of the stanza?
    2. Who too are aware of sun and air and water?
    3. Explain ‘Their hands are ours?
    4. Why has the poet used apostrophe in the word starved?
Answer the following questions in about 30 words:
  1. What is the attitude of the poet towards human race as a whole?
  2. Why does the poet say, ‘it is ourselves that we shall dispossess, betray, condemn’?
  3. What was the mood of the poet when he wrote this poem?
  4. What is the poet trying to convey through this poem?
  5. Why does the poet say that under the uniform the same body lies?
  6. What is the motive of the poet about the poem?
Answer the following questions in about 100 words?
  1. The poem is all about ‘Xenophobia’. Does the poet like the idea of the people to create their societies propagating xenophobia or jingoism?
  2. What is the central idea of the poem?
CBSE Class 9 English Language and Literature
Beehive Poem Chapter-6 No Men Are Foreign
Test Paper-01
Answers
    1. James Kirkup is the poet of the poem ‘No Men Are Foreign’.
    2. The poet says that he is a citizen of the world because in his eyes all men are same, and they should not be divided based on countries or religion.
    3. The word ‘uniform’ stands for the uniform worn by the army personnel.
    4. ‘The land our brothers walk upon’ refers to the Earth on which we live. The poet wants to convey that those in other countries also share the same land that we do.
    1. The rhyme scheme of the stanza is a b c d or no rhyme.
    2. People of other countries too are aware of sun and air and water?
    3. ‘Their hands are ours’ denotes that they too are like us and have the same number of hands that we have.
    4. The poet used apostrophe in the word starved and made it ‘starv’d’ to give it a poetical touch. Most poets and novelists use this fashion.
  3. The attitude of the poet towards human race is very positive. He doesn’t want war among nations for a piece of land or based on religion.
  4. The poet says, ‘it is ourselves that we shall dispossess, betray, condemn’ for he wants to convey that by destroying people of other countries we are not only harming them but harming ourselves too.
  5. The mood of the poet was full of gloom and sadness when he wrote this poem because he saw the ravages and destruction caused by war.
  6. Through this poem the poet is trying to convey that we belong to the same human race and thus have common ancestors. We all have been bestowed with similar bodies and limbs and therefore should not wage a war with others.
  7. The poet says that under the uniform the same body lies. He wants to express that different countries may have their soldiers in different uniforms, but human body is the same that wears it.
  8. The motive of the poet is that we should refrain from war and not destroy people of other nations based on religion, culture, race or colour or for land as all are human and have descended from the same ancestors.
  9. ‘Xenophobia’ is the fear and distrust of that which is perceived to be foreign or strange. Xenophobia is a political term and not a recognized medical phobia. It may develop from the perception that other race, culture or religion or country is trying to destroy your identity.
    Xenophobia can also be exhibited in the form of an "uncritical praise of another culture" in which a culture is recognized "an unreal, labelled and mysterious quality". The terms xenophobia and racism are sometimes confused and used interchangeably because people who share a national origin may also belong to the same race. Due to this, xenophobia is usually distinguished by opposition to foreign culture.
  10. The central idea of the poem is that all people are equal, have descended from the same ancestors and have been bestowed with same body, limbs and mind. The earth is a single entity, but we have divided it into different continents, nations either based on the religion or culture. The poet says we wage wars to acquire a piece of land that belongs to other country but what we do, we destroy not only our neighbor, we destroy our people as well. The destruction caused by war is like a long winter in which the vary people who wage war are at the receiving end.