2nd Year English Notes | The Blades Of Grass

2nd year English notes The Blades of Grass Chapter Number 03 study question, Writing skills, Language Study Exercise 1, Language Study Exercise 2.

Part- 2 English notes chapter 01 to chapter 20.

The Blades of Grass Chapter Number 03

Study Questions

Q 1. Stephen Crane, in “The Blades of Grass,” uSes an interesting personification to express the idea that the best deeds are those done without a thought of reward:”Truly virtuous are those who are virtuous, not for fear of punishment or hope of reward, but for the love of virtue “This poem has the structure of a narrative with a dialogue between God and blades of grass. The setting is Heaven:

Read the first stanza. What does God ask the little blades of grass? What do the blades of grass say in response?
Read the second stanza. What does the little blade of grass say when it is addressed by God? Why was God moved by the blade’s answer?

Answer:

In Heaven, in front of God stood three little grass modestly while looking down at the ground. God benevolently asked them, “What have you done?” In response, one of the blades musters up the courage to have a talk with the mighty God. It decided to narrate its life by talking about the merits of life.
One of the little blades spoke first to God and said, “My Lord, once in my life I happened upon a beautiful butterfly, which was dreadfully caught in spider’s web. Tears rolled down from her eyes, as she tried hard to get out of it, but all in vain, My Lord. The struggle she made just vibrate the web and alert the spider. The spider slowly and gradually approached it. I didn’t want it to fulfill its desire so I struggled to break its web so to free the butterfly.”

After listening to the little blade of grass, the God rose from His throne and opened His arms lovingly and said, “I know your lives, and I have seen your deeds, and you, little blade of grass, have indeed done good deeds and lived a just life by serving others in good spirit.”

Q 2. This poem uses personification. Personification is talking about inanimate and abstract objects as if they were human. Why does the poet use blades of grass to communicate such a fundamental idea? Why didn’t he use man to convey his idea?

Answer:
Personification is one of the best techniques used in poetry to convey important messages to the masses craftily. The poet uses blades of grass to communicate the fundamental idea of doing good deeds just for the sake of virtuousness, not for the fear of punishment or the hope of reward. He uses blades of grass because he wanted to tell people that whether anyone is weak or powerful in this world, would get reward or punishment in the world hereafter. He didn’t use man in his poem as he wanted to give a vibrant color and interesting taste to his poetry and took his poetry to a new destination.

Writing

Now that you have understood the poem, write a paraphrase/explanation of the poem in your own words.

Answer:

Stanza 1:

In this poem, the poet gives his poetry a dramatic look by adding dialogues between God and the three little blades of grass. In the first stanza, the scene was set up in Heaven where God was sitting sophisticatedly on His glorious throne and stand in front of Him three innocent feeble blades of grass. God asked them the question that what have they done in their lives on earth. The blades didn’t seem to be brave enough to talk about their deeds in the beginning so they were looking down at the ground respectfully. One of the blades musters up the courage to recount their deeds eagerly and tells God about the benefits of the life which He has given to them. One of them felt quite ashamed while discussing their past and acts in front of the Creator.

Stanza 2:

In the second stanza, the poet focused on the detailed conversation that took place between God and His creation i.e. blades of grass. One of the blades said, “Oh Lord! It happens once that a beautiful and colorful butterfly sat on a ider’s web unknowingly that it might turn in a cage for it. When it moved, the spider’s web vibrated and the spider became attentive towards a yummy feast. The blade of grass further added that it didn’t want the butterfly to be eaten by the spider so it moved a bit and cut its web. In this way the butterfly flew away, I became happy but the spider was not on losing its prey.

Now it was the turn of the second blade. It elaborated its tale of starving ants. It started that once a group of starving ants came near to me, they were quite weak so I decided to take them to the mountain of food. As they started following me, a gorge came in our way. I felt a sudden expression of disappointment on their feeble faces. I bent myself and helped them to cross the gorge without any hurdle.

They looked quite gale for this act of mine and then they ate the food as well as took some to their colonies too.
The third little blade of grass was looking down due to shame. God once more asked from it that what you have done. It began with a heavy voice and tears started rolling down from the little eyes. It said that I had done good deeds on the earth with the unfortunate ones but I had forgotten any tale like my fellow grass. Please forgive me, Lord.

After listening to this, God rose from His throne and warmly welcomed the third little grass, not only that but other two were amazed at such a stance from God. He said to the little blade of grass that I knew it very well that you have done good deeds in your life, I have seen you performing good acts, you have lived a just life and are indeed the best little blade of grass.
At the end, all three of them were welcomed but the third one received the warmest welcome by the angels. From then onwards, they lived happily ever after in Heaven’s immaculate beauty.

Language Study Exercise 1

Point out the Noun Clauses in the following sentences:

I often wonder how you are getting on.
I fear that I shall fail.
He replied that he would come.
Do you deny that you stole the watch?
I thought that it would be a fine day.
That you should cheat me hurts me.
No one knows who he is.
He saw that the dock had stopped.
That you should say this is very strange.
I don’t see how you can get out of this mess.
I earn whatever I can.
I do not know what he wants.
There were no complaints except
I went to see what had happened, that the day was too hot.
I do not understand how it all happened.
Pay careful attention to what I am going to say.
It grieved me to hear that she was ill.
I want to know how far it is from here.
Where we were to lodge that night was the problem
He begged that his life might be spared.
I think you have made a mistake.
Can you guess what I want?
How the burglar got in is a mystery.
It is uncertain whether he will come.
I do know what he will do.

Answer:
1. I often wonder how you are getting on.
2. I fear that I shall fail.
3. He replied that he would come.
4. Do you deny that you stole the watch?
5. I thought that it would be a fine day.
6. That you should cheat me hurts me.
7. No one knows who he is.
8. He saw that the dock had stopped.
9. That you should say this is very strange.
10. I don’t see how you can get out of this mess.
11. I earn whatever I can.
12. I do not know what he wants.
13. There were no complaints except that the day was too hot.
14. I went to see what had happened.
15. I do not understand how it all happened.
16. Pay careful attention to what I am going to say.
17. It grieved me to hear that she was ill.
18. I want to know how far it is from here.
19. Where we were to lodge that night was the problem.
20. He begged that his life might be spared.
21. I think you have made a mistake.
22. Can you guess what I want?
23. How the burglar got in is a mystery.
24. It is uncertain whether he will come.
25. I do know what he will do.

Language Study Exercise 3

Write down a dozen Complex sentences, each containing a Noun Clause. Make the Noun Clause a subject in the first three, an object in the next three, and in apposition to a Noun or Pronoun in the next three. Use the Noun Clause predicatively in the last three.

Answer:
Noun Clause as subject
1. What Alisha said made her friends cry.
2. What Merab wrote surprised her family
3. What the man did was not very polite.

Noun Clause as object
1. She didn’t know that the directions were wrong.
2. He didn’t realize that the stove was off.
3. They now understand that you should not cheat on a test.

Noun Clause as Apposition to a Noun or Pronoun
1. You must never forget this, that honesty is the best policy
2. It was unfortunate that you were absent.
3. It is feared that he will not come.

Noun Clause as Prediction
1. His great fear is that he may fail.
2. This is where I live.
3. Life is what we make it.

Language Study Exercise 4

Point out the noun clause and say whether it is the object of some verb or the Complement of some verb, or in apposition to some noun or pronoun, or the object of some preposition:

1. Tell me how you found that out.
2. That he will succeed is certain.
3. I think you have made a mistake.
4. She says her mother is ill.
5. How long I shall stay here is doubtful.
6. I did not know that he had come.
7. It is clear that he was guilty.
8. I do not understand how it all happened.
9. Can you tell who wrote Shakuntala?
10. All depend on how it is done.
11. Do you deny that you stole the purse?
12. The law will punish whosoever is guilty.
13. I think! know your face.
14. Ask if dinner is ready.
15. The report that he was killed is untrue.
16. He was very hopeful that he would succeed.
17. Do whatever you think is right.
18. I don’t see how you can get out of this mess.
19. Do you know when the train will arrive?
20. Whoever came was made welcome.
21. I understand you know the situation.
22. My verdict is that the prisoners shall die.
23. I cannot express how sorry I’m.
24. They guessed what he meant.
25. I am afraid that she will be angry.
26. Will you explain why you behaved so?
27. No one can tell how this will end.
28. The truth is that we have been deceived.
29.Itisnotclearwhohasdonethis.
30. I do not know how I can deal with this rascal.
31. I did not know whether I should laugh or cry.
32. We are desirous that you should succeed.

Answer:
1. Tell me how you found that out. (Object of a verb)
2. That he will succeed is certain. (Subject of a verb)
3. I think you have made a mistake. (Apposition to a pronoun)
4. She says her mother is ill. (Object of a verb)
5. How long I shall stay here is doubtful. (Subject of a verb)
6. I did not know that he had come. (Object of a verb)
7. It is clear that he was guilty. (Object of a verb)
8. I do not understand how it all happened. (Object of a verb)
9. Can you tell who wrote Shakuntala? (Subject of a verb)
10. All depends on how it is done. (Object of a verb)
11. Do you deny that you stole the purse? (Object of a verb)
12. The law will punish whosoever is guilty. (Object of preposition)
13. I think I know your face. (Apposition of a pronoun)
14. Ask if dinner is ready. (Complement of a verb)
15. The report he was killed is untrue. (Apposition to a pronoun)
16. He was very hopeful that he would succeed. (Complement of a verb)
17. Do whatever you think right. (Object of the preposition)
18. I don’t see how you can get out of this mess. (Object of a verb)
19. Do you know when the train will arrive? (Subject of a verb)
20. Whoever came was made welcome. (Subject of a verb)
21. I understand you know the situation. (Apposition to a pronoun)
22. My verdict is that the prisoners shall die. (Complement of a verb)
23. I cannot express how sorry I’m. (Object of a verb)
24. They guessed what he meant. (Object of the osition)
25. I am afraid that she will be angry. (Apposition of a pronoun)
26. Will you explain why you behaved so? (Object of a verb)
27. No one can tell how this will end. (Object of a verb)
28. The truth is that we have been deceived. (Complement of a verb)
29. It is not clear who has done this. (Object of preposition)
30. I do not know how I can deal with this rascal. (Object of preposition)
31. I did not know whether I should laugh or cry. (Apposition of a noun)
32. We are desirous that you should succeed. (Complement of a verb)