Cloud Backed
Read the poem given below carefully.
- The cloud-backed heron will not move:
He stares into the stream.
 He stands unfaltering while the gulls
 And oyster-catchers scream.
 He does not hear, he cannot see
 The great white horses of the sea,
 But fixes eyes on stillness
Below their flying team.
- How long will he remain, how long
Have the grey woods been green?
 The sky and the reflected sky
Their glass he has not seen,
 But silent as a speck of sand
Interpreting the sea and land,
 His fall pulls down the fabric
Of all that windy scene.
- Sailing with clouds and woods behind
Pausing in leisured flight,
 He stepped, alighting on a stone,
Dropped from the stars of the night.
 He stood there unconcerned with the day,
 Deaf to the tumult of the bay,
Watching a stone in water,
 A fish’s hidden light.
- Sharp rocks drive back the breaking waves
Confusing sea with air.
Bundles of spray blown mountain-high
 Have left the shingle bare.
A shipwrecked anchor wedged by rocks,
 Loosed by the thundering equinox,
Divides the herded waters,
The stallion and his mare.
- Yet no distraction breaks the watch
 Of that time-killing bird.
 He stands unmoving on the stone;
 Since dawn, he has not stirred.
Calamity about him cries,
 But he has fixed his golden eyes
On water’s crooked tablet,
On light’s reflected word.
Vernon Watkins
(I)On the basis of your understanding of the passage answer the following questions with he of the given options:
 (a) Besides the heron the other birds in the vicinity are——————–
(i) more herons
(ii) stream catchers
 (iii) oysters and gulls
(iv) oyster-catchers and gulls
 (b) The heron in flight —————————
(i) goes over clouds and woods
 (ii) stones and rocks
 (iii) across the stars at night
 (iv) across the bay
(c) The sea is confused with the air when—————
(i) there is a wind blowing
 (ii) the waves break on the shore
 (iii) when the shingles are exposed
(iv) when the bird flies in the water
 (d) The bird on the stone has not stirred ————————
(i) since daylight
 (ii) since landing there
(iii) since dawn
(iv) since the waves broke
 (II) Answer the following questions briefly.
(a) What mental ability do the actions of the heron show?
 (b) Why can the heron not see the other birds?
 (c) Where did the bird alight? Why did it alight there?
 (d) What object was exposed when the waves broke against the rocks?
 (e) What is the ‘thundering equinox’ being spoken about?
 (f) Why is the water described as ‘crooked tablet’?
(III) Find words from the poem which mean the same as:
(a) steady (stanza 1)
(b) loud noise (stanza 3)
Ans. (I) (a) (iv) oyster-catchers and gulls
 (b) (i) goes over clouds and woods
(c) (ii) the waves break on the shore
(d) (iii) since dawn
(II) (a) The heron shows the mental ability of total concentration.
(b) The heron cannot see the other birds because his eyes are fixed below the birds on the still air.
(c) The bird alighted on a stone in the water to keep a close lookout for fish glistening in the water.
 (d) When the waves broke against the rocks, a shipwrecked anchor that was wedged between the rocks was exposed.
(e) The ‘thundering equinox’ refers to the thundering sound made when the waters of the sea/ bay hit against the rocks. The equinox is used to describe the equal force of both waves and rocks.
(f) The water is described as ‘crooked tablet’ because the surface of the water is broken by the movement of the wind and waves.
 (III) (a) the unfaltering (b) tumult
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