10th English : The House on Elm Street
Unit 7.2 > The House on Elm Street
A. Read the given lines and answer the questions given below.
1. It sat alone.
What happened there is still today unknown.
It is a very mysterious place,
And inside you can tell it has a ton of space,
But at the same time it is bare to the bone.
a. What does ‘It’ refer to?
It refers to the house,
b. Pick out the line that indicates the size of the house?
And inside you can tell it has a ton of space
2. I drive past the house almost every day.
The house seems to be a bit brighter.
On this warm summer day in May.
It plays with your mind.
a. To whom does ‘I’ refer to?
l refers to the poet or the narrator
b. Pick out the alliterated words in the 2nd line.
‘The words are bit, brighter.
3. It never grows leaves,
Not in the winter, spring, summer or fall.
It just sits there never getting small or ever growing tall
a. What does ‘it’ refer to?
It refers to ‘The Tree’
b. In what way the tree is a mystery?
Usually a tree has leaves but this tree is without leaves in all the season, Further it doesn’t grow.
4. Rumors are constantly being made,
And each day the house just begins to fade.
What happened inside that house?
a. Does the house remain the same every day?
One is not sure about it. It is told that the house gets faded every day.
b. How does the poet consider the house to be a mystery?
‘The poet considers the house to be a mystery because nobody knows the happening inside that house.
5. What happened inside that house?
I really don’t know
I guess it will always be a mystery
a. Does the poet know what happened in the house?
The poet doesn’t know what happend in the house, Her very words are; I really don’t know.
b. What is the mystery about the house?
There is no sign of life inside the house. That is mysterious about the house.
B. Answer the following in a paragraph.
1. Where is the house located? Why is it a mysterious place?
| Nadia Bush, the poetess, writes this poem in an imaginative mood. She says there is a house on Elm Street; it suddenly turn alive at might. The lights flicker off and on. Then in the day time it is brightened, It is told that the house disappears gradually. The poetess says she doesn’t know anything about it. She thinks it is always a mystery to her. Totally by looking at the house, its location, the happenings inside the house, the people’s view about it makes is real mystery. |
2. How is the mystery depicted in the poem?
| The poetess begins the poem with the line ‘Te sat alone. This very line itself depicts a mystery, Then she goes to say “What happened there is till today unknown’, The Fines quoted above reflects mystery. The poetess adds that there is no possibility of any living being there, It is reflected in the line ‘But at the same time itis bare to the bone. In the house, the lights, flicker on and off. Seeing the conditions there, the poetess says the house is shrouded with mystery. She is reluctant to go near it. Adding to these, there Is a tree without leaves, not getting small or growing tall. The people nearby say the house is fading away. By reading this poem, the reader is also in the same view as The poetess ‘How could this be? |
C. Read the poem and write the rhyming words and rhyme scheme for the given stanzas.
| Stanza | Rhyming words | Rhyme Scheme |
| 1 | alone – unknown – bone | a a b b a |
| place – space | ||
| 3 | day – May | a b a c c |
| mind – kind | ||
| 4 | tree – be | a b c c a |
| fall – tall |
D. Identify the poetic lines where the following figures of speech are employed and complete the tabular column.
| Figure of Speach | Meaning | Lines |
| Synecdoche | A figure of speech in which a part is made to represent the whole of vice versa, | “But at the same time it is bare to the bone. (The bone here refers to house.) |
| eg. “The Western Wave” was all a flame. | ||
| The “Western Weave” is synecdoche as it refers to the sea by the name of one of its parts. ie, Wave | ||
| Paradox | A figure of speech in which a statement appears to contradict itself | “It just sits there, never getting small or ever growing tall“ (Never getting small or ever growing tall is a paradox) |
| e.g. To bring peace we must war. Be cruel to be kind. | ||
| Onomatopoeia | A figure of speech wherein the word imitates the sound associated with the object it refers to | Lights flicker on and off |
| e.g. Pitter patter, pitter patter Raindrops on my pane. | ||
| Rhetorical Question | A figure of speech in the form of a question that is asked to make a point rather than to elicit an answer | “How could dis he?” Whar happened faside thar house? I guess it will always be a mystery. |
| e.g. And what is so rare as a day in June? |
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