The Ant and the Cricket Poem Important Questions Class 8 Honeydew English
Short Answer Type Questions
Question 1. What made the cricket bold?
Answer
Starvation and famine made the cricket bold.
Question 2. What did the ant ask the cricket?
Answer
The ant asked the cricket that what he was doing in summer times.
Question 3. When was the cricket happier?
Answer
The cricket was happier through the warm, sunny months of gay summer and spring.
Question 4. What was the young cricket accustomed to do?
Answer
The young cricket accustomed to sing all day long and enjoyed his good times.
Question 5. What did the ant tell the cricket?
Answer
The ant told the cricket that they neither borrow from somebody nor lend to somebody.
Question 6. Why did the complain?
Answer
He complained because he found his cupboard was empty and winter was come.
Question 7. Why cricket go to the ant
Answer
The cricket went to the ant for shelter and grains to eat.
Long Answer Type Questions
Question 1. (i) Find in the poem the lines that mean the same as “Neither a borrower not a lender be” (Shakespeare)
(ii) What is your opinion of the ant’s principles?
Answer
(i) “But we ants never borrow; we ants never lend”.
(ii) Ant’s principles are completely right. Those who do not think ahead can never succeed in life. And if they are helped again and again they will never learn a lesson. Ant’s are having the ability to foresee and that is why they save for future. They do not borrow from anybody and even do not lend to anyone.
Question 2. (i) Which lines in the poem express the poet’s comment? Read them aloud.
(ii) Write the comment in your own words.
Answer
(i) Folks call this fable. I’ll warrant it true; some crickets have legs and some have two.
(ii) Those who live today and think for tomorrow, succeed in the life. Enjoy your present life but save for your future. Thus the moral of the poem is to be prepared for the adverse times and always work hard instead of being negligent.
Question 3. The cricket says, “Oh! What will become of me?” When does he say it, and why?
Answer
The Cricket said the given line when it found that its cupboard was empty and winter had arrived. It could not find a single crumb to eat on the snow-covered ground and there were no flowers or leaves on the tree. It wondered what would become of it because it was getting cold and since there was nothing to eat, it would starve and die.
Question 4. The ant tells the cricket to “dance the winter away”. Do you think the word ‘dance’ is appropriate here? If so, why?
Answer
The ant told the cricket to “dance the winter away” because when it asked the cricket what it did in the summers and why it had not stored any food for summers, the cricket answered that it sang through the warm and sunny months of summers. Therefore, in reply to this, the*ant asked the cricket to “dance” the winter away just like it “sang” all through the summer and did not bother to store food for winters.
Context Based Questions
Stanza 1
A silly young cricket, accustomed to sing
Through the warm, sunny months of gay summer and spring
Began to complain when he found that, at home
His cupboard was empty, and winter was come.
Explanation
This is the poem about a silly young cricket and an ant. Cricket was only singing all day long and used to enjoy his good times during summer season. He didn’t plan anything for the future. He began complaining when he couldn’t find food in his house and by that the season has changed. So he couldn’t go out in search of food.
Questions
(i) What did the ‘silly’ cricket do?
(ii) When did he sing?
(iii) What was his complaint?
(iv) What worried him the most?
Answer
(i) A young silly cricket usually sing.
(ii) He sang in warm and sunny months of summer and spring.
(iii) His began to complain when he observed that he has no food.
(iv) The Cricket knew that he won’t be able to get food in winters.
Stanza 2
Not a crumb to be found
On the snow-covered ground;
Not a flower could he see
Not a leaf on a tree.
“Oh! what will become,” says the cricket, “of me?”
Explanation
When winter arrives, cricket couldn’t find a small amount of food to eat. As there was snow everywhere he couldn’t find a flower or a leaf on a tree, so that he could feed on. Now he knew that if he search for food, his efforts would turn out to be futile. He was also scared of his fate.
Questions
(i) What couldn’t he found?
(ii) What other things would go missing?
(iii) Explain ‘What will become’?
(iv) What is the rhyming scheme?
Answer
(i) He knew that he couldn’t get a crumb in winter.
(ii) During winter season, he couldn’t find flower or leaf to feed on.
(iii) Cricket was now scared of his future and survival.
(iv) aabb.
Stanza 3
At last by starvation and famine made bold,
All dripping with wet, and all trembling with cold,
Away he set off to a miserly ant,
To see if, to keep him alive, he would grant.
Explanation
He was about to die of starvation and hunger as he had nothing to eat. He took a bold decision to seek help from ants to keep his body and souls together. Then, the cricket knocked on the ant’s door asking for help.
Questions
(i) What made him bold?
(ii) Where did he ‘set off do?
(iii) What did he call ant?
(iv) What was the reason ‘if is used in the lives?
Answer
(i) Starvation and famine made him bold.
(ii) He set off to the ant.
(iii) He called ant to be a miser.
(iv) Cricket was not sure that he would get any help of ant.
Stanza 4
Him shelter from rain,
And a mouthful of grain.
He wished only to borrow;
He’d repay it tomorrow;
If not, he must die of starvation and sorrow.
Explanation
He went out drenched and trembled to take refuge, from rain and hunger. He wanted to find a place to hide and some food for utility. He requested her to lend him place and food. He also promised to return it with all humility. Otherwise he would die of hunger and cold.
Questions
(i) What did he expect from ant?
(ii) What did he wish to borrow?
(iii) When would he repay?
(iv) What would happen if couldn’t repay?
Answer
(i) Cricket expected to take shelter from rain.
(ii) He wished to borrow a mouthful of grain.
(iii) He would repay the next day.
(iv) He hopes that if couldn’t repay then he should die of starvation.
Stanza 5
Says the ant to the cricket, “I’m your servant and friend,
But we ants never borrow; we ants never lend.
But tell me, dear cricket, did you lay nothing by when the weather was warm?”
Quoth the cricket, “Not 1!
Explanation
The ant gives a very important lesson of life during its conversation with the cricket. Ant says that ants neither borrow from somebody nor lend to somebody. Ants are hardworking creatures and save for the future. The ants asks the cricket what it was doing during happier times.
Questions
(i) What was the reaction of the ant?
(ii) What do ants usually do?
(iii) What was the question raised by the ant?
(iv) Was the cricket happy or depressed?
Answer
(i) Ant talked to him in a friendly manner. Yet it was sorry for the cricket.
(ii) The ants neither borrow nor lend anything to others.
(iii) The ant asked the cricket what it was doing during happier times and nice weather.
(iv) The cricket was surely depressed because the ant did not offer any help to him.
Stanza 6
My heart was so light That I sang day and night,
For all nature looked gay.”
“Your Sang, Sir, you say?
Go then,” says the ant, “and dance the winter away.”
Explanation
On hearing the cricket indulged in dancing and singing and making merry, the ant asks the cricket to try dancing and singing once again during rough times.
Questions
(i) What did the cricket reveal about his routine?
(ii) What did the ant reply to him?
(iii) What does the poet try to teach his readers?
(iv) Name the poem and the poet.
Answer
(i) The cricket revealed that he was so happy during the warm season that he sang day and night.
(ii) The ant was annoyed with his careless attitude and she replied to him to dance and be happy in winter season too.
(iii) The poet .wants his reader to value the time and work diligently. He also preaches the importance of saving for worst conditions.
(iv) Poem is ‘The Ant and the Cricket’ and Poet is ‘Aesop’s Fables’.
Stanza 7
Thus ending, he hastily lifted the wicket,
And out of the door turned the poor little cricket.
Folks call this a fable. I’ll warrant it true:
Some crickets have four legs, and some have two.
Explanation
Towards the end of the poem. He realized that it would be of no use to ask the ant for help. So he went away quietly. The poet however sympathesizes with the pathetic state of the cricket. He reiterate that people may take it as a fable/story but it is applicable to human also we should happy moments but should not ignore our future.
Questions
(i) What did he ‘hastily’ lift the wicket’?
(ii) Why did the poet call him ‘the poor little cricket’?
(iii) What is the moral teaching in the poem?
(iv) Write the poetic device in the poem.
(v) What is the rhyming scheme of the poem?
Answer
(i) The cricket learnt the lesson and by then he knew that ants wouldn’t help him at all.
(ii) The little cricket was busy dancing and merry making during the summertime. He wasted his time and saved nothing. Now, he was at mercy of the ant that refused to help him. So the poet sympathized with ‘the cricket’.
(iii) The poet gave a moral lesson that those who do not wish to help themselves cannot be saved by others.
(iv) Imagery and Personification.
(v) The rhyming scheme of the poem is aa bb cc dd.