Questions And Answers Of The Poem Television By Roald Dahl ICSE Class 9, 10 English Literature
You are going to go through Questions And Answers Of The Poem Television By Roald Dahl ICSE Class 9, 10 English Literature. Understanding a text meticulously in its entirety is very important for a learner for scoring better in the ICSE Class 9 English exam. Experts made ample to ensure a thorough critical and line-by-line analysis. Let us find Questions And Answers Of The Poem Television By Roald Dahl ICSE Class 9, 10 English Literature.
1. What does the poet want to convince the readers through this poem?
Roald Dahl, the renowned American Poet Novelist, in his poem Television mocks at the ridiculous habit of parents in letting their children spend their time in front of the Television. The poet begins the poem as a warning.No Parents should ever let their children watch the idiotic thing. They grew addicted to it in no time. They eventually lose interest in everything else other than television. The poet wants the parents to realize their folly of allowing their children to sit glued onto the t.v set. Instead, he wished them to be more careful in rearing them up. The children, at a very early age, get used to watching television incessantly and that leads them to an unavoidable dangerous situation. Children lose much of their creative thinking. They swallow junk shows that lie undigested. The pulp is received by them on a daily basis. They are at the verge of an imagination wreck. Books and reading become secondary. Neither could they sustain interest in pursuing anything written. The wild imagination of a child thus becomes a clay pool. Besides all this, watching television has health hazards as well. So Roald Dahl, advises everyone not to install this idiotic thing.
2. ”In almost every house we have been
we have watched them gaping at the screen
They loll and slop1 and lounge about
And stare until their eyes pop out”
Explain the above lines.
The above lines are from the popular poem Television by the renowned poet and novelist Roald Dahl. The poet seems very much concerned
about the young kids who were exposed to television at a very young age. He raises a pointed finger on those parents who let their children watch television for hours so that they won’t bother them any longer. Unaware of the danger behind such an unmindful action, these parents lead a comfortable and seemingly peaceful life at home. They could do their works as the kids would sit silently for hours. Through this poem, the poet mocks the parents and warns them as well. Kids are completely lost in the television and they walk and eat and do every other activity sitting glued onto the television. They would go on watching until their eyes pop out. Children prefer watching television as they have nothing to endeavour themselves. Everything is presented to them in visuals. Their brain eventually stops functioning. They feel no appetite for reading or deciphering. Their creative skills die within. They become good for nothing fellows who could not think for themselves. The poem is an eye-opener for the parents who think that they make their children happy by letting them watch television. They think of it as one of their parental obligations. Those who are busy with themselves find it difficult to give time to their kids find comfort in thinking that they keep their kids engaged and happy by television. They never realize that they are doing irreparable harm to their beloved kids.
3.” Last week in someone’s
place we saw a dozen eyeballs on the floor” Explain
The poet wants the readers to go deep into the gravity of the situation. It is not a figment of his imagination. The poet says that the harms a television may inject in a child are innumerable. At his tender age, he should be told stories to ignite his imagination, he should be given books to read so that he could predict a possible ending of his own. Sitting in front of the television chops up all such possibilities. He thinks mashed up. He reacts seldom. He is more of a sick body than an active child. His childhood no longer lingers in his mind when he grows up. He would not be able to b solve the puzzles of real life. He would thus become a great failure in life as well. The poet wanted to make fun of the situation and warn the parents that they are really spoiling their own kids’ lives. The figure of speech used is hyperbole. It’s a kind of an exaggeration that states the seriousness of the situation. A dozen eyeballs refer to a group of children sitting in front of the television, unmindful of the world outside.
4. How are the parents being benefited by the television?
The poet Roald Dahl, warns the parents about the destruction they cause on their kids. The parents who let their children watch television for hours on end, benefit from it too. They don’t have to get involved with their childish antics. Neither are they worried about their neighbors complaints of breaking window glasses or they would not have to scold the kids for fighting and kicking eachother.No naughty kid would climb on a window and wreck your nerves. Parents would get immense time for themselves. They could peacefully engage in their works. None of them would be interrupted from the flow of their world by the incessant queries of the kids. The parents are at ease while the kids are engaged. They are silent almost all the time.
5. According to the poet what exactly does television do to a younger kid?
The poet Roald Dahl, in his poem titled as television talks about the ghastly threats a kid is exposed to if he is allowed to watch it for long.The kids who watch television slowly become addicted to it. They become senseless as they lose their reasoning power. Everything is presented to them as visuals in quick succession. So they stop thinking for themselves. The inquisitive nature of a kid dies with himself. Their brains rot because of zero use. The imagination that lives vividly in the mind of a kid dies for good. It is junk in their mind. It clogs their thoughts and clutters their mind. Minds, if not cleaned remain as a sick unit and cause psychological ailments. The children always remain dull and blind. They see nothing outside. The children fail to understand the difference in a fantasy and a fairyland. Their brain reduces itself to a mashed cheese. They could no longer think. They only see. The power of discretion dies. The child gets reduced to a live statue without any emotions and feelings. He is in a different world of his own where the serial characters fight and destroy for no sane reasons.
6. What could be the possible reactions the poet anticipates from the parents?
The poet anticipates that the parents may shout that they were right in allowing their kids in watching TV since it gives them happiness. What else should they give their beloved children to get them engaged. How will we keep the children amused if they weren’t allowed television? They would ask the poet for more suggestions as to how to make their kids most delighted. The parents would never admit their folly. The parents would make faces reacting to this warning. They would finalize that they were right. The air of knowing everything make them sound harsh.
7. What answer does the poet have in-store as a reply for them?
The poet points out that before television was invented people did live a contented life. They too had their leisure times. They gave birth to kids as well. Their kids grew too. But how did they manage to spend their time or how did they live at that time or how did their kids get entertained? There is a solid answer for all these queries. They had books. They read and read and read. Books were everywhere. They ate and drank reading books. They woke up with books and books were even beside their pillows while they sleep. They never felt bored. They never lose their connection with books. More books waited for them to be read. They lost themselves in the labyrinth of mysteries and fairytales and adventures. They lived with those characters. The younger ones grew with many spirits. They were never fed up with reading and growing with such tales. Books met their needs.
8. What request does the poet make to the parents?
The poet Roald Dahl, in his poem television talks about the harmful effects of keeping television installed in houses. He says that television is detrimental to the mental and physical growth of kids. He says that there was a time when television was not in vogue and people lived a fruitful life. Kids were imaginative and more creative. They could face life more easily. They have fought and won many battles and have been to places exotic through books. All their needs were met by books and they had a healthy attitude towards life as well. Hence the poet advises parents not to install the television at all. If, installed undo the television as early as possible and instead of it keep bookshelves everywhere with beautiful books. The kids would gradually turn to books one day. Having Nothing to do would make them turn the pages and once their reading is ignited no one can stop them from reading. Maybe, for the time being, they may feel angry for breaking their comfort zones. But when they grow up, definitely they will be truly thankful for the most valuable gift that you have endowed upon them. They will love you more for what you did for them. They will realize how foul and unclean and junk were the things that they have been watching on that idiotic box.
9. Explain ”Great Scots and Gadzooks”
It is an expression used by the poet to show his annoyance at the parents who pretend that they did a wonderful thing in letting the kids watch television
10. How would the children react if the television is uninstalled?
The children may grow tempered. They may shout and yell at the parents for not letting them do something which they are used to do. They would kick and bite you to show their extreme displeasure and uncomfortableness. They would constantly fight and nag with parents for getting back their television. They would feel completely deprived of all their rights and would go on resisting until their wish is granted. But still, the poet tells that kids would soon turn to books having nothing else to do.
11. Figures Of Speech Used In The Poem
Apart from a load of visual images, the poet has used a number of poetic techniques to make his poem more alluring. They are similes, alliteration, and hyperbole. Similes are comparisons that use as or like for example.
His brain becomes as soft as cheese.
“And pirates wearing purple pants”
is an example of alliteration. The consonant”p” recurs throughout the line.
And in its place, you can install. is an example of assonance where a nearby vowel repeats. For example: “i” repeats in, ”in” and ”its”and finally in ”Install”
Synecdoche is a figure of speech used to refer apart by the whole or vice versa
.Ex.. Pair of eyeballs for referring children.
Personification. The poet has attributed human
qualities to the television.
Ex..It kills the imagination dead. Television is supposed to be imagined as someone with hands and legs to perform an action.
Questions And Answers
What did Roald Dahl say about television?
Dahl now opines that by watching television, the brain becomes soft like cheese. Children now believe everything they watch or hear on TV. They cannot find their own logic to analyse and interpret a thing. The power of thinking, the thought process freezes and gets rusty.
What is the theme of the poem television?
The theme of television poem, poem has give the positive message of child and it is one that encourages children to road. Reading is something that helps children concrete without necessarily breaking the mind in a way. It is the allow children use their imagination and have just as much fun.
What is the summary of the poem television?
The poet talks about the importance of books in the lives of the children and most importantly, how this passion for books has been substituted with the addiction for television. The poet makes the television set like an evil which hinders the growth of brains for the children and hampers their creativity.
What are the ill effects of television in the poem television?
According to the poet, watching television regularly damages the sense in the head. Children are drawn away from the reality, the real world around him. He just believes what he watches, without considering the context.
What type of poem is television?
Polysyndeton: Close repetition of conjunctions. In the poem ‘Television’, polysyndeton is used every here and there. “They loll and slop and lounge about” / “They sit and stare and stare and sit” / “And treasure isles, and distant shores” / “And sailing ships and elephants” etc
What is the conclusion of the poem television?
In conclusion, the poem “television” the poet makes the television set like an evil which hinders the growth of brains for the children and the hampers their creativity.
What is the poet attitude towards television?
As revealed in the poem, the poet is disgusted with television as it captures the attention of little children for long hours and makes their brains dull. He sees television in sharp contrast with books which he feels are the only things that can give children the imaginative faculty and pure joy.
How far do you agree with Roald Dahl’s poem television?
I completely agree with the poet on his views expressed in this poem. I also believe that the television is an ‘idiot box’ that needs to be urgently sabotaged for the children who spend too much time gazing at the television screen. The poem is a humorous one which warns us about a serious danger.
How is the poem television a satire?
It is a stinging satire on Television. In this poem Roald Dahl expresses concern over what the modern invention the television set has done to children. He points out that watching TV has become a craze in modem time.
What message is the poet trying to convey through television?
In the poem, the poet is trying to show the parents how unhealthy a television is in our children’s lives and is asking us to uninstall the television set. In place of it, the poet has asked us to install a book shelf with books in it, for the children.