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Digvijay Pandya, Lovely Professional University Unit 17: Explanation of Unseen Passages in Verse

Unit 17: Explanation of Unseen Passages in Verse Notes

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
17.1 Solved Explanations
17.2 Review Questions
17.3 Further Readings

Objectives

After reading this unit students will be able to:
• Understand explanations of unseen verse.
Introduction

In this section various unseen passages have been given for the students to evaluate their skill and
develop their understanding. Some of these passages have been provided along with their
explanations. While reading these passages students will be able to understand and explain easily.
17.1 Solved Explanations

1. Read the following passages carefully and explain them:
St. Agnes’ Eve — Ah, bitter chill it was!
The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold;
the limp’d trembling through the frozen grass,
And silent was the flock in woolly fold:
Numb were the Beadsman’s fingers, while he told
His rosary, and while his frosted breath,
Like pious incense from a censer old,
Seem’d taking flight for heaven, without a death.
Past the sweet Virgin’s picture, while his prayer he saith.
His prayer he saith, this patient, holy man;
Then takes his lamp, and riseth from his knees,
And back returneth, meagre, barefoot, wan,
Along the chapel aisle by slow degress:
The sculptur’d dead, on each side, seem to freeze,
Emprison’d in black, purgatorial rails:
Knights, ladies, praying in dumb orat’ries
He passeth by; and his weak spirit fails
To think how they may ache in icy hoods and mails.
Explanations: These lines have been taken from the poem St. Agnes Eve, composed by John Keats.
The poet begins with a description of the winter season and suggests some powerful pictures while
depicting the effect of the season on animals and birds and then on man.
Keats begins the poem with the description of intense cold in winter on January 20th and mentions
its uncomfortable effect on birds, animals and human beings. The owl, though protected by thick

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