TEXT BOOK SOLUTIONS AND ANSWERS WHEN I SET OUT FOR LYONNESSE CBSE – CLASS – VIII

ABOUT THE POET

·
Name – Thomas Hardy

·
Born – 2^nd June
1840, Stinsford, Dorset England.

·
Died – 11 January 1928
Dorset England.

·
Thomas Hardy is famous as a
poet, Novelist and short story writer.

·
Famous works- i) Tess of the d’Urbervilles(1891)

ii) Far from
the madding crowd, (1874)

iii) Judge,
the obscure (1895)

iv) The return
of the Native (1818)

SUMMARY OF THE POEM

The
poet is a young architect who went to Lyonnesse to supervise the renovation
work of a dilapidated church. It was 100 miles away. It was winter season and
snowfall was at the peak. He was in solitary state and during his journey he
witnessed starlight. He becomes conscious about what would happen at Lyonnesse
when he would stay there. According to him no prophet can declare this. And
even a wizard would not be able to say what would happen at Lyonnesse. When he
returned from Lyonnesse, he had magic in his eyes. All could understand that he
was filled with a rare and immeasurable radiance.

SOURCE AND THE STRUCTURE

“When
I set out for Lyonnesse” was published in the 1914 collection of poems entitled
“Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries”.

·
This is a poem of 18 lines
divided in 3 stanzas.

·
The rhyme scheme of the poem
is -A B B B A A B

·
The major poetic devices
used in the poem are-

a)
Alliteration – i) What would

ii) Should
sojourn

iii) Drust
declare

iv) wisest
wizard

b) Repetition – i)
When I set out for Lyonnesse. A hundred rules away.

ii) What
would bechance at Lyonnesse

while I should sojowin there.

iii) When I
returned from Lyonnesse

with magic in my eyes.

·
Lyonnesse – According to
Arthurian Legend, especially in the story of ‘Tristram and Iseult” Lyonnesse is
a country. It is believed as the birth place of Tristan. It is believed that
Lyonnesse has sunk beneath the waves after the Tristan stories took place.

TEXTBOOK SOLUTIONS

Working
with the poem

1. In the first stanza,
find the words that show –

i)
that it is very cold –

Ans – “The
time was on spray’

ii)
that it was late evening –

Ans-
“Starlight”

iii)
that the traveler was alone
–

Ans- “Lonesomeness

2. i) Ans:- Something
happened at Lyonnesse. It was- “unforseable”

ii) The lines that justify the answer are-

“No prophet drust declare

Nor did the wisest wizard guess”.

3. i) Read the line (stanza-3) that implies the following

“Everyone noticed something, and they made guesses, but
didn’t speak a word’

Ans.- “All marked with mute surmise”.

ii) Now read the line that refers to what they noticed.

Ans. – “My radiance rare and
fathomless”.