Chapter 2 – The Laburnum Top Questions and Answers: NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English (Hornbill Poem)

Question 1.
Which local bird is like the goldfinch.

Answer:
Birds which sing melodiously like the goldfinch in India include the Asian Koel, the Bulbul, the House Sparrow, the Himalayan Cuckoo, the Swallow and so on.
Think it out

Question 1.
What do you notice about the beginning and the ending of the poem?

Answer:
The beginning of the poem is about the silence and stillness of the laburnum. The end of the poem again drifts into silence and emptiness of the laburnum.

Question 2.
To what is the bird’s movement compared? What is the basis for the comparison?

Answer:
The bird’s movement is compared to that of a lizard. The basis for the comparison is the sleek, alert and abrupt movement with which the bird enters its nest. This movement of the bird is comparable to that of a lizard.

Question 3.
Why is the image of the engine evoked by the poet?

Answer:
The poet evokes the image of an engine because as soon as the goldfinch enters its nest on the laburnum top, the whole tree comes alive with the chirruping of the young ones of the bird, their twittering and the tremor of their wings. As an engine brings a seemingly dead machine to life, so the chittering family of the goldfinch brings the whole tree into life.

Question 4.
What do you like most about the poem?

Answer:
Open-ended question. Here is a suggested answer: I like the depiction and the imagery in the poem. The poet creates a mundane yet beautiful picture of a tree top that goes through stages from being silent to alive and drifts back into silence again. The imagery of an engine bringing alive a machine is also something that catches my fancy.

Question 5.
What does the phrase “her barred face identity mask” mean?

Answer:
The phrase refers to the face of the bird that is covered with fur of different colours and which looks like a mask making it the identity of the bird.
Top Extra Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Sum up in about 80 words the scene depicted in the poem ‘Laburnum Top.’

Answer:
The Laburnum tree stands in a desolate place. It is all quiet and still. There is no movement or noise on its top where a goldfinch bird has built its nest. The youngones wait anxiously for their mother’s arrival. The bird comes to feed her family. All the youngones start up their noise like an engine. Such din and excitement, however, casts only for a while. As the bird flies away, silence returns to the tree top, and all is still.

Question 2.
What gives a unique character to the Laburnum tree top ?

Answer:
The Laburnum tree top is all quiet and alone in the forest. But it suddenly comes to life with the arrival of a goldfinch. It starts up as some engine. This noise last for a short time only. As the mother bird flies away, the tree relapses into silence again.

Question 3.
What happens to the Laburnum tree in September ?

Answer:
September is an autumn month. In this season the trees shed all their leaves in order to get new ones. The Laburnum’s leaves also turn pale and the seeds fall to the ground.

Question 4.
What makes the whole tree tremble and thrill ?

Answer:
The whole tree is, as it were, shaken by the loud chirruping of the little birds. They are greatly excited to see and hear the whistling sound of the mother goldfiijch.

Question 5.
Why does the poet call the whispering of the bird ‘eerie’ ?

Answer:
The soft two noises made by the goldfinch is loud enough to disturb the silence around the tree suddenly. It is so sudden and unexpected that it startles. It sounds unnatural or strange.

Question 6.
How does the poem began and end ?

Answer:
The poem’s opening line is ‘The Laburnum Top is silent, quite still. Its closing line is ‘And the Laburnum subsides to empty’. The tree was all quiet before the goldfinch arrived. The same silence returned to the tree after the bird flew away.