KSEEB Solutions for Class 10 English Poem Chapter 1 Grandma Climbs a Tree

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Karnataka State Syllabus Class 10 English Poem Chapter 1 Grandma Climbs a Tree

Grandma Climbs a Tree Questions and Answers, Summary, Notes

Understand the poem:

Question 1.
The speaker in the poem does not call his grandmother ‘childish’. What else was she, according to him? Why does he consider her to be so? (lines 1-4)
Answer:
The speaker calls his grandma a genius. He considers her so because she could climb all kinds of trees swiftly and even at sixty-two she had climbed a tree.

Question 2.
Grandma had been in the habit of climbing trees for a very long period. Identify the lines that suggest this.
Answer:
‘Ever since childhood, she’d had this gift’ and ‘Having learned to climb from a loving brother when she was six’.

Question 3.
Look at lines 7 and 8. ‘She would be told ’ Who do you think would tell her so?
Answer:
Probably her grown-up children, grandchildren, even neighbors and relatives would tell her not to climb trees.

Question 4.
Do you find anything odd in the reply given by the grandma? If so, why do you think it is odd? (lines 10-11)
Answer:
Usually, the persons who heard any advice from others wouldn’t respond like grandma, The odd in the grandma’s reply was, she said that she will grow disgracefully and she can do it in a better way.

Question 5.
Others had feared that granny would fall from a tree one day or the other. Did this happen? Or did something else happen? (lines 15-18)
Answer:
No, she didn’t fall from a tree; instead, after having climbed a tree she was unable to climb down from the tree.

Question 6.
What had the doctor recommended? What was the reaction of the kids to this advice?
Answer:
The doctor recommended ‘a quiet week in bed’ which meant bed rest for granny. The speaker and his family heaved a sigh of relief.

Question 7.
Quote the lines which suggest how wholeheartedly granny enjoyed climbing a tree.
Answer:
The speaker says that when his granny was confined to bed, for her it was a brief season in hell. This line shows how wholeheartedly she loved climbing trees and how she missed the joy. There is also another line which is more direct in telling us how much the grandma loved trees – ‘Being happier in a tree than in a lift.’

Question 8.
‘My dad knew his duties’. What did he think his duty was?
Answer:
The poet’s father was a dutiful son and in accordance with grandma’s wishes, he knew that his duty was to build a house for granny on the tree-top.

Question 9.
Look at the picture given below the title. Quote the lines that might have guided the artist to draw that.
Answer:
‘When last she climbed a tree, she was sixty-two’, ‘That a house in a treetop was she what now wanted’, ‘Made her a tree-house with windows and a door’.

Read and appreciate:

A. 1. Read the poem again.

Question 1.
Does the behavior of grandma strike you as unusual? If so, support your view quoting her ways and responses to others. One is done for you.

• Grandma climbing a tree. (way 1)
• _________________ (response)
• __________________ (response)

Answer:
My grandma was a genius. (The speaker’s response to the grandma climbing trees) That climbing trees should stop when one grew old. (response of others)
And that growing old should be gone about gracefully, (response of others)
Well I’ll grow disgracefully, (response of grandma)

Question 2.
‘Growing old gracefully’ is an expression used in the poem. Discuss with your partner whether what the grandma was doing was graceful or otherwise.
Answer:
Grandma thinks that she was living gracefully from childhood to old age. Up to that age, she leads a graceful life. But in the opinion of the others, she should live a graceful life like other grandmothers and not go and climb up the trees at her age.

Question 3.
Both the narrator (speaker in the poem) and his father were very considerate towards Grandma. Substantiate the statement with textual support.
Answer:
Both the narrator and his father were considerate towards grandma. This shows in the following lines.
“When granny asked the house on a treetop father said …………… That’s all right you’ll have what you want, dear. I’ll start work tonight.
With my expert assistance, he soon finished the chore.”
Narrator’s role
“I climb to her room with glasses and tray ……………. and drinks sherry with me”.

Question 4.
If you were to divide the entire poem into two parts, which line would you pick up to be the beginning of the second part? Why?
Answer:
The line ‘After the rescue…’ could be taken as the beginning of the second part because until then the narrator talks about his granny’s ability to climb trees and her passion for climbing trees despite dissuasion from others. But, in the part to follow, he talks about her confinement to bed when the doctor advises her rest, her insistence to live on the treetop and her success at getting a house built on the treetop and her happy living in that house.

Question B. 1.
Have a close look at the rhyme scheme. Write at least five pairs of rhyming words, e.g. said – bed.
Answer:
Why-high, you-two, gift-lift, told-old, gracefully-disgracefully, agree-tree, another- brother, all-fall, town-down, well-hell, stronger-longer, undaunted-wanted, right-tonight, chore-door, day-tray, me-tree.

Question 2.
“It was like a brief season in hell”. Name the figure of speech in the sentence. What are the two things compared? Explain.
Answer:
Simile. Granny’s forced rest on bed, without being allowed to go out and climb a tree is compared with a short stay in hell. The experience would be so torturous for granny that it is being compared with the unpleasantness of hell.

Question 3.
‘For being happier in a tree than in a lift’. What is suggested through this line?
Answer:
Granny was happier in the company of nature climbing trees, rather than use modern amenities like the lift. The suggestion could also include the idea that lift is the artificial and unhealthy mode used by us to avoid climbing the stairs.

Question 4.
‘There was not a tree, she hadn’t been up’ is an expression.
Rewrite the above sentence without using ‘not’ (note: the meaning should be the same).
Give some more examples from outside the text to illustrate the effective use of double negatives.
Answer:
She had been up every tree.
OR
She had been up all trees.
Examples of double negatives:

• It wasn’t uninteresting.
• I cannot say that I do not disagree with you.
• Mr. Jones was not incompetent.
• She is not unattractive.
• It’s not unusual to be loved by anyone.
• I have so much to do that I haven’t ever got time to rest.
• Her daughters seldom ever visit her at the hospital.

Grandma Climbs a Tree Additional Questions and Answers

Answer the following questions in a word or a sentence each:

Question 1.
Why does the poet consider his grandmother a genius?
Answer:
The poet considers his grandmother a genius because she could climb any tree however tall or wide even at the age of sixty-two.

Question 2.
Which words tell us that she climbed tall upright trees as well as low ones which branched out?
Answer:
‘Spreading or high’.

Question 3.
How old was a grandmother when she last climbed a tree?
Answer:
Sixty-two.

Question 4
How old was a grandmother when she first climbed a tree?
Answer:
Six.

Question 5.
From whom did grandmother learn climbing trees?
Answer:
Grandmother learned climbing trees from her brother.

Question 6.
What was considered disgraceful?
Answer:
The family members considered climbing trees while growing old as disgraceful.

Question 7.
What was the outcome expected of grandma climbing trees?
Answer:
It was expected that one day grandma would have a terrible fall.

Question 8.
What was the outcome that occurred?
Answer:
Grandma climbed a tree one day and could not come down.

Question 9.
What is grandma’s confinement to her bedroom compared to?
Answer:
Grandma’s confinement to her bedroom for a week is compared to a brief season in hell.

Question 10.
Why did grandma consider the quiet week in bed a brief season in hell?
Answer:
Grandma considered the quiet week in bed a brief season in hell because she wasn’t able to leave the bedroom and go out, let alone climb a tree.

Question 11.
What did grandmother demand from the poet’s father?
OR
What did grandma ask for as soon as she was better?
Answer:
She demanded a treetop house.

Question 12.
Who provided expert assistance in the construction of the tree-house?
Answer:
The poet provided expert assistance to his father in the construction of the tree-house.

Question 13.
What does the poet call his grandmother?
Answer:
The poet calls his grandmother a genius.

Question 14.
According to the poet, what was grandmother’s right?
Answer:
To reside in a tree is considered as grandmother’s right.

Answer the following questions in 2-3 sentences each:

Question 1.
A genius is someone with exceptional ability. What was grandma’s ability? What was exceptional about it?
Answer:
Grandma’s special ability was her passion for climbing trees. What was surprising was that she could climb any tree however tall or wide.

Question 2.
Was grandma unusual only in being able to climb trees, or was it also unusual in how she felt about it?
OR
What is uncommon about the desire or quality of the grandmother? How does the poet term this uncommon quality or desire?
Answer:
Grandma was unusual in not only climbing trees but also the way in which she dismissed all criticism. She was not bothered about what other people had to say about her passion. She had the spirit of freedom in her thoughts and actions. Hence the poet terms her a genius.

Question 3.
Why did her family worry about her tree-climbing when she was growing old?
Answer:
Naturally, the members of the family were worried about the well-being of Grandma. They were worried that she would fall and get hurt. But strangely, it was not the problem of falling. It was stranger. Grandma, who had climbed a tree, was hot able to come down and had to be rescued by others.

Question 4.
Was grandma happy living in the tree-house? What words indicate that she enjoyed herself?
Answer:
Yes, she definitely was. Phrases like ‘She sits there in state’, ‘drinks sherry with me’ and ‘upholding her right’ indicate this.

Question 5.
What kind of trees could grandma climb?
Answer:
Grandma could climb all kinds of trees. Even if the tree had grown to be huge with its branches spreading wide or high, grandma could climb the tree quickly.

Question 6.
How did grandma respond to the doctor’s advice?
OR
How did grandma feel while she lay in bed?
Answer:
Grandma behaved well and obediently remained in bed for a week though for her it was like a brief stint in hell. She resisted the temptation to climb trees though nature invited her to do so with every breeze whispering of summer and dancing leaves.

Question 7.
‘The outcome was different’. What was the outcome? What was it different from and in what way? What was the immediate result of that outcome?
Answer:
The family members were worried that one day grandma would have a terrible fall. But the outcome was different. She climbed a tree one day and couldn’t come down. The immediate result of this was that the doctor recommended a quiet week in bed for grandma.

Question 8.
What did the family members tell the grandmother as years went by?
Answer:
The family members told grandma that she should stop climbing trees as she had grown old. They also said that one should grow old gracefully.

Question 9.
What was unusual in the reply given by the grandma?
Answer:
Grandma was very childish in her reply. She said that she would grow old disgracefully.

Question 10.
What did the doctor recommend? How did the family members react?
Answer:
The doctor recommended grandma a quiet week in bed. The family members sighed with relief.

Question 11.
The speaker in the poem does not call his grandmother ‘childish’. What else was she, according to him? Why does he consider her to be so?
Answer:
The speaker does not call his grandma childish. He calls her a genius because he admires her ability to climb trees of all sizes. He can understand her passion for climbing trees and does not consider it disgraceful.

Question 12.
How, according to the poet, was his grandmother a genius?
Answer:
According to the poet, his grandma was a genius because from her childhood to her old age she had climbed trees of all sizes. Even at sixty-two, she was happier on a tree than in a lift. The speaker is wonder-struck by this ability of the grandma and calls her a genius.

Question 13.
What qualities of grandma do you appreciate?
Answer:
The grandma’s ability to live life according to the dictates of her heart is appreciable. She was totally unconventional in her approach to life and didn’t go by what society considered right or wrong. She was a genius in climbing trees and had climbed a tree when she was sixty-two.

Answer the following questions in 8-10 sentences:

Question 1.
Write in your own words the substance of the poem ‘Grandma Climbs a Tree’.
Answer:
Refer to the summary.

Question 2.
“My grandmother was a genius”, says the poet. Justify your answer.
OR
According to the poet Ruskin Bond, his grandmother was ‘unique’. Write a paragraph to support this statement.
OR
The poet appreciates his grandmother’s extraordinary behaviour very much. Justify.
OR
Describe in your own words how the poet’s grandma was a genius and how she upheld ‘her right to reside in a tree’.
OR
The behaviour of Ruskin Bond’s grandmother is unusual. Explain.
OR
Ruskin Bond’s grandmother had an unusual habit of climbing trees. How was she successful in fulfilling her desire to live in a treehouse?
OR
Write in your own words how passionate the poet’s grandma was in climbing trees.
Answer:
The poem ‘Grandma Climbs a Tree’ portrays Ruskin Bond’s unconditional love for his family. He says that his grandmother was a genius as she could climb trees. Spreading or high, she’d be up their branches in a trice. When last she climbed a tree, she was sixty-two. Ever since childhood, she’d had this gift for being happier in a tree than in a lift. And though, as years went by, she would be told that climbing trees should stop when one grew old, and that growing old should be graceful, she’d laugh and say, ‘Well, I’ll grow old disgracefully, I can do it better.’ And her family members had to agree for in all the garden there wasn’t a tree she hadn’t been up, having learned to climb from a loving brother when she was six. But it was feared by all that one day she’d have a terrible fall.

The outcome was different – once while the speaker and his family members were in town, grandma climbed a tree and couldn’t come down. After she was rescued, the doctor strongly recommended a quiet week in bed. Though the speaker and his family sighed with relief, for granny it was like a brief season in hell, being confined to her bedroom. But she held her peace till she felt stronger. Then she sat up and said, ‘Til lie here no longer!’ And she called for the speaker’s father and told him undaunted that a house in a treetop was what she now wanted. The speaker’s dad knew his duties.

He said, “You’!! have what you want, dear. I’ll start work tonight’. With the speaker’s expert assistance, he made her a treehouse with windows and a door. So Granny moved up, and every day the speaker climbed to her room with glasses and a tray. She sat there in majesty and drank sherry with the speaker, upholding her right to reside in a tree.

Question 3.
What qualities of grandma do you appreciate?
Answer:
Ruskin Bond projects his grandma as a feisty old lady, who could easily give the youngsters a run for their money. She followed the dictates of her heart and was unconventional in her ways. She was the happiest on the trees and even at the age of 62 climbed them. It is clear that she did not want to go to her grave with any of her desires unfulfilled. She should be taken as a model by us because quite often we don’t know what would give us happiness, and some other time even if we know, we lack either the conviction or . the confidence to pursue our dreams. Grandma is a metaphor for free will, and through her projection, Ruskin Bond breaks the myth that women and old people cannot climb trees. Here we have a fiery old woman not only climbing trees but also literally living on trees in great style.

Read the following extracts and answer the questions given below them:

Question 1.
“The outcome was different.”
a) The ‘outcome3 of what is being referred to here?
b) What was the outcome expected?
c) What was the outcome that occurred?
Answer:
a) The outcome of grandmother climbing a tree is being referred to here.
b) It was expected that one day she would have a terrible fall. But things turned out different.
c) She climbed a tree one day, and couldn’t come down.

Question 2.
“I strongly recommend a quiet week in bed.”
a) Who does T refer to?
b) Who was told to have a quiet week in bed?
c) Why was a quiet week recommended?
Answer:
a) T refers to the doctor.
b) The poet’s grandmother was told to have a quiet week in bed.
c) She was recommended a quiet week in bed because she had climbed a tree and had not been able to come down. After she was rescued, the doctor took her temperature and recommended rest.

Question 3.
My grandmother was a genius.
a) Whose grandmother is considered a genius?
b) Why does the poet consider her a genius?
c) How old was she when she last climbed a tree?
Answer:
a) The poet Ruskin Bond’s grandmother is considered a genius.
b) The poet calls her a genius because she could climb all kinds of trees, whether tall or wide, swiftly.
c) She was sixty-two when she last climbed a tree.

Question 4.
And that growing old should be gone about gracefully – She’d laugh and say, “Well I’ll grow disgracefully, I can do it better’.
a) Who is the ‘she* referred to here?
b) What was considered disgraceful by the family members?
c) Was what the grandma did graceful or otherwise?
Answer:
a) Grandmother.
b) Climbing trees while growing old was considered disgraceful by the family members.
c) What is graceful and what is not is subjective. Grandma did what her heart prompted her to do and while doing what she did, she did not hurt anyone. So it will be unfair to consider her action disgraceful.

Question 5.
For her, it was like a brief season in hell.
Confined to her bedroom, while every breeze Whispered of summer and dancing leaves.
a) What was like a brief season in hell?
b) Why was grandma confined to her bed?
c) Explain the two things compared here. What is the figure of speech?
Answer:
a) Being confined to bed for a week was like a brief season in hell for grandma.
b) Grandma climbed a tree one day and couldn’t come down. After she was rescued, the doctor took her temperature and recommended a quiet week in bed.
c) Granny’s forced rest on bed, without being allowed to go out and climb a tree is compared to a short stay in hell. It would be so torturous for granny that it is being compared with the unpleasantness of hell. The figure of speech is single.

Question 6.
“Ever since childhood, she’d had this gift For being happier than in a lift.”
a) Who does ‘she’ refer to?
b) What was the gift that she had?
c) Where was she happier?
Answer:
a) Grandma.
b) She had the gift of climbing trees easily. She could climb any tree however tall or wide.
c) She was happier in a tree.

Question 7.
She sat up and said, “I’ll lie here no longer”.
a) Who does T refer to?
b) Why was the speaker forced to lie down?
c) Why didn’t she want to lie there no longer?
Answer:
a) ‘I’ refers to grandma.
b) Grandma, after having climbed a tree, was unable to climb down. After she was rescued, the doctor took granny’s temperature and strongly recommended her a quiet week in bed.
c) She had resisted the temptation to climb trees for a week and could no longer do so.

Question 8.
He said, “That’s all right. You’ll have what you want dear”.
a) Who does ‘you’ refer to?
b) What did the person want?
c) What does the speaker mean by the above words?
Answer:
a) ‘You’ refers to granny.
b) The person, the granny, wanted a house m a treetop.
c) Her son, the speaker, knew his duties. He readily agreed to fulfill her wish.

Question 9.
“I’ll start work tonight”.
a) Who planned to start the work?
b) What was the work?
c) Why was he doing it?
Answer:
a) The poet’s father.
b) The work was to build a house in a treetop.
c) He wanted to do it to fulfill his mother’s wish to live on a tree.

Multiple Choice Questions

Question 1.
The poet’s grandmother was a genius because
A) she was intelligent
B) she was a good storyteller
C) she was physically fit
D) she loved to climb trees
Answer:
D) she loved to climb trees

Question 2.
The poet’s grandmother had the gift of
A) sitting on the branches
B) being happier in a tree than in a lift
C) climbing trees
D) being able to climb a tree at sixty-two
Answer:
C) climbing trees

Question 3.
As years went by, the poet’s grandmother was told
A) that she was growing older
B) that she was good at climbing trees
C) that she should stop climbing trees
D) that she would fall from a tree
Answer:
C) that she should stop climbing trees

Question 4.
The poet’s grandmother learned to climb
A) from her brother
B) from her friends
C) from the poet
D) by herself
Answer:
A) from her brother

Question 5.
Everyone feared that
A) granny would fall sick
B) granny was being childish
C) granny would fall from a tree
D) granny would not be able to climb down from a tree
Answer:
C) granny would fall from a tree

Question 6.
The poet’s grandmother learned to climb when
A) she was two
B) she was six
C) she was sixty-two
D) she was growing old
Answer:
B) she was six

Question 7.
The doctor recommended that
A) granny should take medicines
B) granny should not climb trees
C) granny should rest for a week
D) granny should take care not to fall
Answer:
C) granny should rest for a week

Question 8.
For granny, (a quiet week in bed’ was
A) a sigh of relief
B) like climbing a tree like every breeze
C) like a brief season in hell
D) whispered of summer
Answer:
C) like a brief season in hell

Question 9.
Granny held her peace till
A) she could sit up
B) she felt like she could climb again
C) she felt stronger
D) she could lie there no longer
Answer:
C) she felt stronger

Question 10.
In the line, -“With my expert assistance, he soon finished the chore”. What is referred to as the ‘chore’?
A) Controlling Grandma to remain in bed.
B) Dissuading Grandma from climbing the tree.
C) Building a tree-house for Grandma.
D) Drinking sherry with Grandma.
Answer:
C) Building a tree-house for Grandma.

Question 11.
The poet calls his grandmother
A) a brave woman
B) a genius
C) childish
D) a silly woman.
Answer:
B) a genius

Question 12.
As soon as the doctor recommended ‘a quiet week in bed’ for granny, all the family members
A) sighed with relief
B) laughed happily
C) danced with joy
D) felt very sad.
Answer:
A) sighed with relief

Question 13.
My grandmother was a genius. The underlined word means
A) a tree climber
B) an elderly person
C) a gifted person
D) a happy person
Answer:
C) a gifted person

Question 14.
“It was like a brief season in hell”. The figure of speech used in the sentence is
A) simile
B) metaphor
C) alliteration
D) paradox.
Answer:
A) simile

Grandma Climbs a Tree Summary in English

The poem ‘Grandma Climbs a Tree’ portrays Ruskin Bond’s unconditional love for his family. The poem shows Bond’s ability to enjoy unusual events and actions. What separates Bond from other poets is the fact that Bond converts a real life situation into a story.

The speaker says that his grandmother was a genius as she could climb trees. Spreading or high, she’d be up their branches in a trice. When last she climbed a tree, she was sixty-two. Ever since childhood, she’d had this gift for being happier in a tree than in a lift. And though, as years went by, she would be told that climbing trees should stop when one grew old, and that growing old should be graceful, she’d laugh and say, ‘Well, I’ll grow old disgracefully, I can do it better.’

And her family members had to agree for in all the garden there wasn’t a tree she hadn’t been up, at one time or another, having learned to climb from a loving brother when she was six. But it was feared by all that one day she’d have a terrible fall. The outcome was different – while the speaker and his family members were in town, grandma climbed a tree and couldn’t come down. After the rescue, the doctor took Granny’s temperature and strongly recommended a quiet week in bed. Though the speaker and his family sighed with relief and tucked her up well, for granny it was like a brief season in hell, being confined to her bedroom, while every breeze whispered of summer and dancing leaves.

But she held her peace till she felt stronger. Then she sat up and said, ‘I’ll lie here no longer!’ And she called for the speaker’s father and told him undaunted that a house in a treetop was what she now wanted. The speaker’s dad knew his duties. He said, ‘That’s all right. You’ll have what you want, dear. I’ll start work tonight’. With the speaker’s expert assistance, he soon finished the chore: Made her a tree-house with windows and a door. So Granny moved up, and every day the speaker climbed to her room with glasses and a tray. She sat there in majesty and drank sherry with the speaker, upholding her right to reside in a tree.

Grandma Climbs a Tree Summary in Kannada

Glossary:

• in a trice: very quickly
• outcome: what actually happened
• hold one’s peace: keep quiet
• undaunted: without hesitation
• chore: task
• sherry: yellow or brown coloured wine
• upholding: making clear to the world