Chapter 4 – Childhood Top Questions and Answers: NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English (Hornbill Poem)

Question 1.
Identify the stanza that talks of each of the following.

Answer:
Individuality rationalism hypocrisy
Stanza I deals with rationalism.
Stanza II deals with hypocrisy.
Stanza III deals with individuality.

Question 2.
What according to the poem is involved in the process of growing up?

Answer:
According to the poet, the process of growing up primarily means loss of innocence and simplicity. It means losing trust in people, noticing their faults and becoming more individualistic. It essentially means loss of sincerity, faith, trust and acceptance.

Question 3.
What is the poet’s feeling towards childhood?

Answer:
The poet feels that childhood is a period of innocence when one accepts people at face value and trusts ffiem. It is that time of life when one trusts others without dwelling on the insincerity in the world. It is a phase of acceptance and humility.

Question 4.
Which do you think are the most poetic lines? Why?

Answer:
The last stanza of the poem is most poetic as it summarises the poem with sensitivity and seeks solace in the fact that the virtues related with childhood are not dead and gone. However, they are just found in children who the poet still considers virtuous.
Extra Questions and Answers

Question 1.
What is the theme/central idea of markus Natten’s poem ?

Answer:
The theme of the poem is the process of growing up. The poet is curious to know for certain when he ceased to be a child and became an adult. All he knows is that childood lies hidden in the face of a small child.

Question 2.
Does the find answer to his query-When did my childhood go ?

Answer:
No. He gets confused. He can only guess but not be sure of the right answer. Perhaps he lost her childhood innocence when he started questioning the concept of right and wrong, of hell and heaven. Or when he started judging the grown-ups and found them hypocritical. Or when he discovered that he could think independently and even better than others.

Question 3.
What does the poet finally conclude in the last stanza ?

Answer:
The poet fails to find a definite answer to his question when or at what style he became a grown-up person. In the last stanza he gives an answer to the question where his childhood has gone. He thinks that childhood innocence in its purest form can be seen only on a child’s face.

Question 4.
Sum up the main ideas of the poem ‘Childhood’ in about 80 words.

Answer:
The poet in the first three stanzas tries to find out when he crossed the stage of childhood and became a grown-up adult. Three answers came to his mind. He became a mature grown-up person when he discovered that Hell and Heaven have no definite locations anywhere.
Secondly, the grown-ups are commonly hypocritical. They do not practice what they preach to others. Thirdly, he discovered that he has a mind of his own and he can think independently. The poet is, however, convinced that childhood innocence can be seen only on the face of a child and not any adult.