Answer Key

1. 1. b) Standing long like a tree
2. 2. c) Three hundred years
3. 3. b) It falls as a dry, bald log
4. 4. c) A day
5. 5. a) The flower of light
6. 6. c) Living a short but meaningful life
7. 7. c) Dried up
8. 8. c) Ben Jonson
9. 9. c) The importance of a noble and meaningful life
10. 10. b) does
11. 11. better
12. 12. three
13. 13. sere
14. 14. May
15. 15. die
16. 16. light
17. 17. beauties
18. 18. measures
19. 19. Swami Vivekananda
20. 20. In bulk, doth make Man better be;
21. 21. Is fairer far in May,
22. 22. And in short measures life may perfect be.
23. 23. The poet is comparing a man’s life to a tree and a flower.
24. 24. The poet compares a huge oak tree and a small lily flower.
25. 25. The lily looks fairer in May.
26. 26. The word ‘bulk’ means great size or the larger part of something.
27. 27. The founder of the Ramakrishna Mission is Swami Vivekananda.
28. 28. In the poem, ‘bald’ refers to the oak tree without any leaves after it has dried up.
29. 29. The lily is a good example because it lives for only a day but gives so much beauty and joy in that short time. It shows that the quality of life is more important than the length.
30. 30. The poet says that the oak tree lives for a very long time, three hundred years, but in the end, it is just a dry and useless log. This shows that a long life alone does not make a life great.
31. 31. The lily is called “the plant and flower of light” because it is a symbol of beauty and brightness that shines even for a single day. Its short life is full of light and goodness.
32. 32. This line means that we can find true beauty and value in things that are small or short-lived. A man’s life can be perfect and noble not by its length, but by the good things he does in a short amount of time.
33. 33. The synonym of ‘sere’ is ‘dried up’.
34. 34. The beautiful garden had a large **proportion** of roses.
35. 35. c) a small amount
36. 36. b) from
37. 37. The past tense of ‘fall’ is ‘fell’.
38. 38. 1.c, 2.a, 3.d, 4.b