UNIT-1

THE GRASS IS REALLY LIKE ME

I. Answer the following:-

1. What does the poet mean by the phrase, ‘raise its head’?

A. By this phrase the poet means, the feelings found in women to

2. Explain the phrase, ‘unfurl underfoot to fulfil itself?

A. The poet describes that the blade of grass tries to grow despite

being trampled upon. In the same manner the women tries to

crave her ‘destiny’ identity or become independent despite

being sulfed repeatedly.

3. Refer to lines 5 or 4. Are they contrasting which one do you

think is the poet referring to?

A. The line four talks of the women made to feel ashamed of her
being a woman and the line five talks about the forcible
submission of women by men. They are contrasting and the
poet refers to the second thought more he feels that women by
herself is never submission but its man who makes become
one.
4. The poet is associating herself with the grass why? when she
says ‘me’ is she referring to just herself or the entire women
folk?
A. Whenever the grass,the lawnmovers moves it down the
ground level not allowing it to raise its head. In the same way
the woman is not allowed to assert her individuality but is
 stifled by man. When the poet says ‘me’,she does not talk
about only her but she talks of the entire women folk.

5. Do you think the ‘lawnmovers’ are the same in the case of the

A. While the actual lawnmovers moves down the grass to ground

level, the metropherical lawnmovers or the men stifle the

freedom to women by keeping them submission.

6. Pick out the line from which the poet shifts the attention from

grass to woman ? who is ‘you’ in the line?

A. To level woman too! From this line, the poet shifts the
attention from ‘grass’ to woman. ” The word ‘you’ in the line
11 refers to the men in general who try to stifle the
independence of women.

7. What does the phrase ‘scorching defeat ‘refer to? What does

the poet mean by the words ‘grafted on the earth?

A. The phrase ‘scorching defeat’ means the feeling of helpless

Disillusionment a woman feels when man tramples on her
individuality and independence .By grafted on the earth the
poet means that woman have to remain as people without any
importance in the society like dried stalks of straw thrown in a
corner.

8. What is the poet trying to tell us in the lines 18 and 19 ?

A. The poet says, that when women try to assert this individuality,

they are ruthlessly subdued and have by loosing this

independence become living dead from grass they turn into

 straws.

9. But neither the earth nor woman’s desire to manifest life dies?

Explain the meaning of the above two lines.

A. Inspite of the grass being moved repeatedly it continues to

grow in the same manner how many ever time a man tries to
stifle the independence of a woman she continues to strive for
it.

II. Answer the following:-

1. The poet say ‘the grass is also like me’, how does she bring out
this relationship in the second stanza?
A. The poet says that just like the grass which gets moved down by
the lawnmovers as soon as it raises its head ,she is stifled and
subdued she tries to assert herself.
2. Explain the ironical ideas used by the poet in the last stanza?
How do you analyze them?
A. In the last stanza the poet says that just like the cut grass
become straw, the defeated or stifled woman become the living
dead and instead of living, merely survive.
3. The poet has used some unusual words and phrases to evoke
images in the readers mind for instance , ‘scorching sense of
shame ‘.Such a poetic device is called imaginary. Pick out such
phrase from poem.
A. 1)Raise the head.
2)Moves it down.
3)Scorching defeat of their courage.
4)Grafted on to the earth.
5)Merely straw not survive.

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