UNIT 4: LITTLE THINGS (POEM)

 

LITTLE THINGS

TEXTUAL MEANING OF THE WORDS

 

Ø ABOUT THE POTESS:

Julia Carney was an American verse writer. She was born in 1823 in Boston and died in 1908. She was not a known personality. The poem “Little Things” is a simple poem which explain how little things are important.

Ø ABOUT THE POEM:

This short poem is about the importance of little things. This poem has a good rhyming scheme. The first word of both stanzas rhymes and the last word of second line rhymes with the last word of fourth line in both the stanzas. This  poem has a rhyming scheme “abcbdefe” . The language of the poem is simple and the tone has a soft touch of children poem. The poem has a serious tone and mood as well since the poet wants to state maxim here. It looks that through her simple maxims, she wants to encourage her fellow beings that they should not consider their deeds little, as oceans are formed from the tiny drops of water. The poetess actually wants to stress that little deeds of kindness and love will surely make our world an Eden.

 

Ø SUMMARY:

In this poem, the poetess expresses the importance of doing little deeds whether in case of any noble struggle or on our routine daily life. She encourages people by stating the fact that every great thing is a result of little things. The oceans are made from little drops of water; the great deserts are formed from little grains of sand. The poetess convinces the reader that how little kindness and little words of love can make the world Eden.

IMPORTANT QUESTION AND ANSWERS

Q01: What is the idea behind the poem “Little things”? How can we make our world an Eden?

Ans. The main idea behind the poem “Little Things” is that nothing in this world is unimportant, every drop, and every grain has its own importance and role in the system of the universe. If we decide to do simple deeds of kindness and say little words of love in this world, we can make our world an Eden.

Q02: what is an Eden?

Ans. Eden is a garden inn the paradise where Adam and Eve lived together.

Q03: What is the main idea of the poem “Little Things”?

Ans. Every great result is the outcome of our little deeds. We can make our world a paradise by just simple words of love and small act of kindness.

EXERCISE –B:

1.     There is proverb in Urdu and Sindhi, which expresses the thought, contained in the first verse. What is it?

In Urdu, it will be “Katra Katra mil kar darya banta hai.”

While in Sindhi, it is “Phuri Phuri talha”

2.     Write five lines about the little act of kindness done by you, and the result of it.

Ans. It was a hot day of the month of June when I was going back to home from my school. I was about to enter my home when all of a sudden I heard the loud screeching of a car and the meek painful voice of an animal. I turned back and saw a little white kitten lying on the hot hard street stained with blood. I quickly ran towards it and hold it in my arms. I rushed into my home and called my mother. As soon as she came, she asked me the reason for my shouting and then saw the kitten in my hand. She quickly went into her room and brought the first aid box. The kitten was severely hurt at his right leg and we knew it quite well that his leg was fractured. With the help of my mother, we cleaned the wound, put some medicine on it and bandaged it firmly. Then I gave him some milk in a pot. He drank it and slept. We took great care of the kitten for a number of days and found improvement in his walk. After a month, he started running here and there. That was the moment when we were happy to save the life of a kitten and made him walk and run on its own.

3.     Do you remember a time when you were sad, but become happy when someone spoke kindly to you? Describe it in few lines.

Ans. Yes, once upon a time when I gave the exams of class IX and I was expecting to get high grade but I was not able to get it. I got worst marks and I was upset and my family who was expecting more from me but could not fulfil their wish I have scored A grade in X but couldn’t achieve A-1. At that time one of my best friend came to me and talk to me politely and said don’t worry still you have the time to prove yourself and I have to appear in the examination of class XI, I decided to work hard and decided to prove myself and by the grace of God and my teachers I got top marks in whole school and also topped in district. That time I felt happy for myself and thankful to my friend who encouraged me to make it possible.

EXERCISE-C: Idiomatic structures explained.

1.     “Don’t make a fun of me.,” means, “Don’t ridicule me.”

2.     “Make room for more passengers.” Means “Arrange place for more passengers.”

3.     “His only aim of life is to make money” means “He is only interested in earning money.”

4.     “If you make a mistake you should say sorry” means “If you commit a fault, you must apologize.”

5.     “She spends a hour on her make-up” means “She spends a hour on beautifying herself with cosmetics.

EXERCISE-D: GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURES

Made of :

Example: What are your shoes made of?

Exercise: Complete the following sentences by using words from the brackets

(bricks, steel, foam and rubber)

1.     That house is made up of bricks.

2.     The cushion is made up of foam.

3.     These machines are made up of steel.

EXERCISE-E: IDOMS

1.      To make the most of to take the fullest advantage of the circumstances.

Example: Youth is the best time of one’s life so make the most of it.

Exercise: He let me use his bicycle for a month so I’m going to take the fullest advantage of it.(Substitute the idiom).

Ans.  He let me use his bicycle for a month so I’m going to make the most of it.

2.     To make both ends meet: to be able to live within one’s income.

Example: Due to inflation, salaried people can’t make both ends meet.

Exercise: I had to take up a part-time job to be able to meet all my expenses.(Substitute the idiom).

Ans.  I had to take up a part-time job to be able to make both ends meet.

Note: The expressions “meet my both ends”, and “make my both ends meet” are wrong and should never be used.
3. To make one’s mouth water: to cause someone to desire something intensely, especially food.

Example: The sight of the food was enough to make his mouth water.

Exercise: As soon as we got the smell of food, we felt a strong desire to eat.(Substitute the idiom).

Ans. As soon as we got the smell of food, it made our mouth water.

FOR PDF FILE OF THIS POEM CLICK DOWNLOAD PDF BELOW:

DOWNLOAD PDF