The Echoing Green (Poem) | UNIT - 6 | Short Question Answers

Q.1: What activities are taking place on the echoing green?

The sun brightens the sky; the birds sing louder; the children play and the old men remember their own childhood: are the activities that are taking place on the echoing green.

Q.2: How does Blake portray the relationship between nature and human life in the poem?

The poem ‘Echoing Green’ as a whole symbolizes continuity of life. The poet has linked the nature’s shifting of day into night with the spirits of youth and the weariness of old age respectively.

Q.3: What role do the ‘old folk’ play in the scene described? How does their presence add to the poem’s meaning?

The role of old folk in the poem ‘Echoing Green’ is that of observer. They observe the play of children and thus symbolically connect the past with the present.

Q.4: What is the significance of the shift from lively activity to quietness as the poem progresses?

The shift from brightness to darkness and from cheerfulness to weariness indicates a natural shift from youth to old age.

Q.5: How might the ‘echoing’ of green symbolize memory or continuity between generations?

The echo of cheerful play of the children rings the internal echo of the old folk which collectively symbolizes memory whereas overall echoing of green represents continuity between generations by mitigating generation gap, through shared joys, between youth and old.

Q.6: How does the imagery in the poem contribute to the tone and mood of the scene depicted?

The imagery in the poem adds to joyous and playful tone in the beginning and, a more reflective mood by the end of the poem.

Q.7: In what ways does the poem reflect the themes of innocence and the passage of time?

The poem reflects the theme of innocence through the imagery of children and birds, and that of passage of time through natural shift of day into night and youth into old age.

Q.8: How might the poem be interpreted as a reflection on the cycles of life and the natural world?

The description of children at dawn, the old folk at noon and the return of children in their mother’s lap by the evening represents three cycles of life in the natural world e.g., youth, old age and death.