No Men are Foreign Important Questions Class 9 Beehive English
Short Answer Type Questions
Question 1. What do you mean by peaceful harvest?
Answer
By peaceful harvests, we mean the crops grown during the period of peace.
Question 2. What do you mean by ‘hells of fire and dust’?
Answer
‘Hells of fire and dust’ means the wars that cause a lot of destruction.
Question 3. What is the air full of? How is it polluted?
Answer
The air is full of innocence. It is polluted by wars and hatred and it also controls the innocent minds of people. Thus, wars and hatred are not good for us.
Question 4. How does the poet prove that there are no foreign countries?
Answer
Everyone shares the same sun, earth and air. They have the same body structure and its functioning elements. So there should be no biased attitude towards anyone.
Question 5. How are all the people of the world brothers?
Answer
All human beings are similar in structure as we are all flesh and blood. We walk on the same land as long as we are alive and will be buried in the same earth when we die. We also use the same sun, air and water.
Question 6. How can we be one people though we belong to different nations?
Answer
Even if we belong to different nations, we can be one people because we all have the same body and we live and die on the same planet. All of us enjoy the same sun, air and water.
Question 7. “…whenever we are told to hate our brothers….” When do you think this happens and why?
Answer
Whenever their own importance or existence is in danger, politicians and religious leaders make us believe that our existence and our interests are in danger and provoke us to hate our fellow human beings. This happens when we allow our reason to be swayed by our fears and hatred.
Question 8. What are peaceful harvests? What do the peaceful harvests symbolise?
Answer
Peaceful harvests are the bountiful crops grown during times of peace. They are said to be peaceful because they can be nurtured only during times of peace. They symbolise happiness and prosperity.
Question 9. Who tells us ‘to hate our brothers’? Should we do as we are told at such times? What does the poet say?
Answer
The politically motivated and power-hungry people tell us to hate our brothers during wartime. The poet says that we should not get swayed by such provocation. If we do so, it would result in our own dispossession, betrayal and condemnation.
Question 10. What does the poet mean when he says “Remember, no men are strange, no countries foreign”?
Answer
The poet is making an impassioned plea telling readers to give up extreme nationalism and perceived differences between people belonging to different nations. We are brothers because we inhabit the same planet, drink the same water and breathe the same air, but we feel different and behave like enemies at times. The poet wants us to give up our misplaced patriotism and live in universal brotherhood.
Question 11. What does the poet say about ‘hating our brothers’?
Answer
The poet strongly condemns ‘hating our brothers’. He feels that when we indulge in such negativity, we actually harm ourselves. We deprive ourselves of the love of our brothers and earn condemnation for such depravity.
Question 12. What does the poet mean when he says “by war’s long winter starv’d”?
Answer
If a war is raging in a country then that country faces the threat of starvation since all agricultural production comes to a halt. Just as there are no crops in winter, war renders a land barren. That is why there is a shortage of food in winters and in times of war, too, there is deprivation and famine. People starve to death. Thus, starvation is associated with war and with winter.
Question 13. What message does the poet want to convey?
Answer
The poet wants to say that there should be no discrimination or enmity between people on the basis of their appearance religion or region. It is inhuman to hate one because of one’s different background. The poet wants that the people should love their fellow human beings as all men are brothers.
Question 14. How does air remind us of our sharing the earth? How is air innocent?
Answer
Although human beings have divided land, the air we breathe remains undivided. Air doesn’t belong to any country or territory, but moves freely across countries and is breathed by all men and women. Air is essentially clean so is it innocent. Human beings wage wars and raise dust and emit smoke, thereby polluting the air.
Question 15. Who, according to you, is the speaker in this poem?
Answer
The speaker in this poem is the poet himself who stands for the goodness of the human heart that propagates love, peace and universal brotherhood. He is a champion of love, peace and joy.
Question 16. How do we defile the earth?
Answer
We defile the earth by considering other human beings as our enemies, outsiders and foreigners; by dividing our earth into countries and by developing enmity against another group of people. We wage wars and the weapons of war pollute the air we breathe, by raising dust and smoke and by piling debris on earth.
Question 17. What is the central idea of the poem?
Answer
The central idea of the poem is that all human beings are similar and equal. Hence, we should love one another and live in peace and harmony. Universal brotherhood and harmonious co-existence will not only unite us but will also save our mother earth from getting polluted and damaged.
Question 18. What happens when we hate our brothers?
Answer
When we hate our brothers, we try to take away what they own, we betray our brothers and we criticise them. But when we hate our brothers, in effect we rob, cheat and condemn our own selves. We do not realise that in perpetuating hatred on our brothers, we are actually harming ourselves.
Question 19. How does the poet bring out in the extract the idea that men are not strangers to one another?
Answer
The poet specifies that just like us they wake and sleep and respond to love. Even if we look different on the exterior we all can recognise and understand the universal language of love and brotherhood.
Question 20. What does the poet mean by “In every land is common life that all can recognise and understand”?
Answer
People who live in a different country are just like us. They too understand the concept and feeling of universal brotherhood. The implication is that if we extend a loving hand, they will recognise it and willingly join hands with us.
Question 21. How can we win over the strength of our opponents?
Answer
The strength of our opponents can be won over by love, instead of through brute force because everybody responds to love and appreciates the feeling of brotherhood.
Long Answer Type Questions
Question 1. What is meant by uniforms? What is there beneath all uniforms?
Answer
The word “uniform” refers to the distinctive clothing worn by members of the same organization or body or by children attending certain schools. In this poem, the poet uses “uniforms” to mean both the uniforms worn by soldiers and the varied traditional dresses belonging to different cultures and civilisations of the world, or the different clothes that symbolise who the wearers are. Beneath all uniforms lies the same human body.
Question 2. In the James Kirkup’s poem “No Men Are Foreign” explain the poet’s use of the word uniform.
Answer
The literal meaning of “uniform” is a dress, costume or identification code that is similar to a group or organisation. The poet, here, uses the word “uniform” metaphorically to denote the universal brotherhood of man. On the other hand, uniforms are necessary especially during war in order to identify oneself as belonging to that country so as not to kill or harm its own people.
In the wearing of their country’s uniform, they contradict the meaning of the word since they are set apart and identified as different—the enemy. Thus, James Kirkup points out the irony in the word uniform. This contradiction is based on the uniformity of man, as the poet suggests that all men are uniform themselves in the sense that they are “aware of sun and air and water” and they share humanity, and different uniforms identifying the wearers as being different from each other.
Question 3. A great persons tell us to live cordially and as brothers. But we people tend to fight over trivial issues. Why don’t we live with others harmoniously? What makes us fight and hurt others?
Answer
It is true that many people have been telling us to live harmoniously since long. We never follow their message. We also know that our greed to get more wealth and power cannot give us a peaceful life. But some deep-rooted evils in our society make us draw a distinction between people. We know that all customs and conventions have been made by people. God has made all people equal. But we make differences between people for our selfish motives. We start to hate even our family members due to our ego to be more powerful. By doing so, we, at last, harm ourselves. We become objects of hatred for society. In society, people dislike selfish people.
So before going to hurt other’s feeling, first of all, we should think whether doing such act with others is justified by other people or society. We should learn to live with others as brothers. We should learn to tolerate, forgive and compromise. Only in this way, our life would be happy and peaceful.
Question 4. How are we alike? Explain in context with the poem.
Answer
We all are alike. We have the same body structure. All of us need the same air to breathe, the same sun to get sunlight and warmth and the same water for many purposes. Our daily routine is also almost the same. We get up in the morning, take a bath, have breakfast and go to work or school. All of us long for love. We all sleep at night and wake up in the morning.
When our needs and feelings are the same, then we should treat all people equally.
We should not look down upon anybody on the basis of his/her colour, caste, region or gender. We should treat everyone as our brother and sister.
Unfortunately, some self-centered people fight with others and try to hurt them. They think that others have harmed them. We should not think that other people are ‘others’. They are also our brothers. If they make any mistakes, we should forgive them or compromise with them.
All men are our brothers. No human beings are strange or unfamiliar. Underneath the external trappings of different cultures or civilisations or any colour of any soldier’s uniform belonging to any nation, all human beings are the same. All men walk upon the same earth and one day are laid to rest in their graves under the same earth. Each and every human being is nourished by the same sun, breathes the same air and drinks the same water to survive.
All human beings have eyes that wake or sleep. In every land, there is a common life. Love is paramount everywhere that wins the heart. When we hate others, fight with them, raise arms against them, it is ourselves that we shall dispossess, betray and condemn Thus, despite different living conditions, all human beings are one in spirit.