MP Board Class 9th English Solutions Chapter 10 A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal

The poet admits that he was in a sort of a deep sleep because he did not fear the harsh reality of life. He had taken life for granted and had never thought that one day death could separate him from his beloved Lucy. For him she was like an immortal goddess who was unaffected by age and mortality.

As she is dead, she lies motionless. She cannot hear or see. She has been buried in the earth and rotates along with the Earth. One day she will get assimilated with the trees, rocks and stones that are a part of the earth

कवि स्वीकार करता है कि वह एक गहरी नींद की तरह था क्योंकि उसे जीवन की कठोर सच्चाई से डर नहीं लगता था। उन्होंने जीवन के लिए जिंदगी ली थी और कभी नहीं सोचा था कि एक दिन मौत उन्हें उनकी प्यारी लुसी से अलग कर सकती है। उसके लिए वह एक अमर देवी के तरह थी जो उम्र और मृत्यु दर से अप्रभावित थी। जैसा कि वह मर चुका हैं, वह गतिहीन है । वह सुन या देख नहीं सकती। उसे पृथ्वी में दफनाया गया है और पृथ्वी के साथ घूमता है। एक दिन वह पेड़ चट्टानों और पत्थरों के साथ आत्मसात हो जाएगा जो पृथ्वी का एक हिस्सा है

Questions

1. “A slumber did my spirit seal”, says the poet. That is, a deep sleep ‘closed off his soul (or mind). How does the poet react to his loved one’s death? Does he feel bitter grief? does he feel a great peace ?

2. The passing of time will no longer affect her, says the poet. Which lines of the poem say this ?

3. How does the poet imagine her to be, af-ter death? Does he think of her as a person living in a very happy state (a ‘heaven’) ? Or does he see her now as a part of nature ? In which: lines of the poem do you find your answer?

Answers

1. The poet reacts to his loved one’s death so greatly. He feels an extreme shock in it. Death is always associated with pain, misery and sorrow.

2. ‘She seemed a thing that could not feel/ The touch of earthly years’ suggests this.

3. The poet imagines her to be an inseparable part of the earth’s system. No, the poet does not think so because ‘heaven’ is not a dead thing. Yes, she has become a part of nature.

She shall live as long as Nature lives. The line ‘Rolled round in earth’s diurnal course/With rocks and stones and trees’ has this answer.