Sympathy

Poem Class 7th Tulip Series.

Text , glossary, summary and exercise.

I lay in sorrow Deep distressed;

My grief a proud man heard.

His looks were cold, he gave me gold,

But not a kindly word.

My sorrow passed - I paid him back

The gold he gave to me.

Then stood erect and spoke my thanks

And blessed his charity.

I lay in want, and grief, and pain;

A poor man passed my way;

He bounced my head, he gave me bread,

He watched me night and day.

How shall I pay him back again for all he did to me?

Gold is great, but greater far

Is heavenly sympathy.

(Charles mackay)

Gossary

Sympathy : the feeling of being sorry for showing your care about one's problems

Deep distressed : very upset and anxious, suffering pain and in a poor physical condition

Pass : to come to an end

Charity : money food for help given to the poor ill or needy

Sorrow : a feeling of great sadness

Summary of the poem, Sympathy

The narrator with a melancholy and remorseful admission that he knows exactly what it must be feel like to be a bird kept in a cage. He then gives life this admission by contrasting the visceral everyday experiences of nature that a bird not trapped inside such a prison enjoys: bright sun, soft winds and the waters of a river. He brings the parallel to a close by describing how the normally enjoyable sounds of the first bird whistling in the morning and the first flower bud opening to let loose its sweet scent are to one trapped inside not so much enjoyable, but a part of the experience of losing freedom.

He then goes on to reveal how much is aware of the experience of being trapped like a bird by explaining the actions that such birds often demonstrate. Birds in captivity flutter their wings violently as a reaction to unwanted but repetitive requirement to use those wings to fly to the only place he can possibly fly to: his tiny little perch. The pain caused by every one of those violent fluttering of its wings can be felt each time he longs to stretch those wings out in the open, but is only allowed to sit in the same space doing the same thing day after day after day.

The poem concludes with the narrator one again regretfully admitting he knows why the bird in a case continues to sing even when its wing is sore from the fluttering and its heart is heavy from longing for a freedom that will never come. The song that the caged bird sings does not originate in happiness; indeed, it is not even really a song he sings. It is a prayer and plea masquerading as a song; a plea and prayer sent straight from its wounded heart upward and outward in search of some greater power capable of releasing it from its prison and relieving it of its misery.

Sympathy poem class 7th Tulip Series

Reading is fun

Q1. When the poet was unhappy who helped him and how?

Answer. When the poet was unhappy e a rich man help the poet by giving him gold.

Q2. When and how did the poet pay the rich man back?

Answer. When the poet was happy and his sorrow and he paid the rich man back the gold that he had given him.

Q3. How did the poor man show his sympathy to the poet?

Answer. The poor man showed sympathy to the poet and sympathy cannot be paid back like gold or money.

Sympathy poem class 7th Tulip Series

Q4. The point good not pay back to the poor man why?

Answer. The poor man showed sympathy to the poet and sympathy cannot be paid back like gold or money.

Q5. Why is sympathy that to be heavenly?

Answer. Sympathy comes from the heart. It brings happiness. It could not be paid back like gold of any other valuable thing, therefore, Sympathy is said to, be heavenly.