Study Material of The frog and the nightingale (Summary and Word Meanings)
Summary of the Poem
In a bog, which was called Bingle Bog, there lived a frog, who was crazy about his singing and incessantly sang from the evening to the morning light. All the creatures living in the bog found his songs to be most unpleasant and they tried to beat and insult him, but the frog was very insensitive and boastful. The frog kept singing with extreme passion because this was his way of expressing his heart-felt elation.
One day the creatures of the bog were pleasantly surprised to hear a very melodious and soothing song sung by a nightingale. The frog was shocked and felt jealous. He wanted to be the undisputed singer of the bog. The nightingale’s song created a sensation and all the creatures praised it tremendously.
The frog was very cunning and he introduced himself as the owner of the tree, on which the nightingale sang. He also boasted that he was a music critic, who wrote for ‘Bog Trumpet’. The nightingale was impressed that a musician like Mozart was taking interest in her. When the frog offered to train her for a modest fee, the nightingale felt that her dream had come true. The exploitation of the nightingale began. The frog would organise musical concerts and mint money. He would make the nightingale practice even in adverse weather. He instructed her to sing passionately and with full force, since that was what the public wanted. Initially a number of creatures flocked to listen to her, but later the crowd dwindled because the nightingale’s songs became routine, lusterless and her voice was tired. The frog would scold and humiliate her for no reason. One day, out of sheer stress and fatigue, the nightingale’s vein burst and she died.
The frog called the nightingale ‘stupid’, ‘nervous’ and ‘without originality’. His ego was satisfied and he again became the ‘unrivalled singer’ of the bog.
Terms and Meanings from the Poem
• Bog - an area of land that is very wet and muddy
• Awn - on misspelt and mispronounced so that it rhymes with dawn
• Loathed - hated
• Cacophony - a very loud and unpleasant noise
• Minstrelled - sang
• Elation - great pride and joy
• Rapt - totally interested, so that you cannot think of anything else
• Serenaded - sang beautifully
• Loon - a large water bird
• Teal - a small duck
• Enraptured - filled with fascination and delight
• Encore - repeat
• Baritone - a male singing voice, fairly deep
• Sash - a long piece of cloth that you wear round the waist or over the shoulder, usually as a badge of honour
• Scale - a sequence of musical notes that go up and down, one after the other
• Hoarse - rough and unclear
• Quivering - shaking
• Subdued – with little energy
• Tiara - a semicircular metal band decorated with jewels and worn by wealthy women on formal social occasions
• Trills - singing two musical notes one after the other, repeatedly and very quickly
• Billings - publicity for a concert, show etc.
• Zipped – sang quickly
• Morose – miserable
• Prone – liable
• Panache - a very confident, elegant style
• Foghorn - a very loud, unpleasant noise
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