Q. The poet says, “Beauty is heard in…”
Can you hear beauty? Add a sound that you think is beautiful to the sounds the poet thinks are beautiful.
The poet, Keats, said: Heard melodies are sweet, But those unheard are sweeter.
What do you think this means? Have you ever ‘heard’ a song in your head, long after the song was sung or played?
Ans. We find the melodious notes of the cuckoo or the nightingale very pleasing to the ears. But that pleasure is still incomplete. We have models of perfect beauty in our imagination. And we wait anxiously to hear our beloved’s voice and the chanting of prayers in holy places. We all look for perfection. A poetic phrase, idea or expression haunts us all through life.
Q. Read the first and the second stanzas of the poem again. Note the following phrases.
corn growing, people working or dancing, wind sighing, rain falling, a singer chanting
These could be written as
corn that is growing
people who are working or dancing
Can you rewrite the other phrases like this? Why do you think the poet uses the shorter phrases?
Ans. Yes, a few other phrases have been shortened in the poem. For example, stream flowing, baby crying, etc. I think the poet uses the shorter phrase for creating musical effect.
Q. Find pictures of beautiful things you have seen or heard of.
Ans. Each one of us has a different concept of beauty in physical form or in thoughts and ideas. Your experience may be different from your friend’s. So try to recall yourself beautiful scenes and sounds.
Q. Write a paragraph about beauty. Use your own ideas along with the ideas in the poem. (You may discuss your ideas with your partner.)
Ans. Our whole life is a mad search for beauty in different forms. Every fine art is a treasure house of beauty – be it dance, or poetry or sculpture. What the tribal people regard as beauty may look ugly to us. So beauty has as many forms as one can imagine. But nobody can fail to see beauty in good deeds, heroic actions, sweet voice and in nature.
