Q2 of 16 Page 87

Choose the season you most like and write an article/poem on it. Use the given clues.

• the sights


• the sounds


• the activities


• your thoughts and feeling

WINTER SEASON


Winter season is my favourite season among all the four seasons of India as it is the coldest and cosiest season. December and January are the peak winter months in which snowfall and drifting of snowflakes occurred. From dawn, heavy fog covers the whole atmosphere and in the early evening, the stars are begun to bloom brightly. Nights appear longer as compared to days. Sunlight is bearable and feels soothing during the daytime. Cold winds with mist are sometimes tough to bear during very low temperature in early mornings. In hilly regions, trees, grounds and roofs of houses get covered by the thick layer of snow and mountains with the sheet of heavy ice look very beautiful with the slight ray of sunlight.


People wear woollen clothes including sweaters, hoodies, mittens, scarfs to keep themselves warm and protect from cold. Beverages like hot tea, coffee, soup, hot chocolate give pleasurable experience and warmth to the body and mind of the people. It is the season of healthy and fresh fruits like carrot, amla, and beetroot etc which are rich in vitamins that are good for dry skin during winters. For the outing, people prefer generally the daytime to keep warm in sunlight and to get prevented from cold breezes while during the nights' barbeques with sizzling snacks are very enjoyable. Places with snowfall are wonderful for sledging and skiing. Children love to make the snowman and often fights with the snowballs among themselves. In rural places, smoke from the firewood is seen at various places where people used to bask themselves with the warmth of fires.


During winters, due to chilled whether some animals used o hibernate themselves to prevent from cold winds. Often they locate under the grounds and also inside the snowy land for months. They come out during daytime for food and air for a short period of time and then again hide inside their shelters. Livelihoods of animals are very much affected during winters. Various birds are migrated due to much cold. At the end times of winter, sometimes rainfall also occurs which worsen the condition as it lowers the temperature and often results in hailstorms and other natural disasters. Buzzing of cicadas is very much heard during nights and croaking chorus of toads after the rainfall is quite disturbing. The sky seems clear most of the time and greenery of the environment remains decent before the snowfall. Vegetation is merely done in winters as the frost and cold rain droplets merely help in irrigation.


In the end, the winter season is really a season of hopes and happiness as the main festival ‘Christmas' followed by the New year are being celebrated with great joy and enthusiasm. It feels that the souls of the people have been indulged with the warmth of wisdom and a new beginning towards the success in life.


More from this chapter

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6

Read lines 27-33. Complete the following table:

 1

a) Study the given picture. To which stanza does it relate? Give the description in the boxes in your own words.

a) __________________________________


b) __________________________________


c) __________________________________


 2

The paragraph below is a critical appreciation of the poem. Choose the correct word(s) from those given in the box and fill in the blanks suitability.



flowers personification first cutting lambs


__________________by __________________ has been termed by many critics as the __________________ poem because it gives the reader a complete picture of the __________________ and __________________of autumn.


The first stanza is full of beautiful and vivid __________________ of the season. There exists a close friendship between Autumn and the __________________. During autumn both are __________________ how to 'load and bless' plants, vines and trees with __________________and __________________. All the descriptions in stanza 1 build up to give us an image of __________________.


In the __________________ stanza, the poet describes autumn as a_____________figure of speech used here is __________________. Most of the images are those of a figure in a static position or in arrested motion. The poet shifts his view in this stanza beyond the 'cottage trees' of the __________________ stanza to the granary. Various activities connected with __________________are mentioned such as winnowing, ___________, __________________and __________________.


The final stanza begins with a disturbing and wistful __________________ but it is __________________ quickly. The poet now gives us the images of __________________ plains and __________________ clouds at the __________________ of an autumn day. There are several striking sound images in the stanza such as the __________________of gnats, the __________________ of __________________, the __________________ of __________________, the __________________ of the__________________and the __________________ of __________________.

 1

You have read the poem 'Ode To Autumn', studied it closely and found how Keats uses various visual, tactile (touch), auditory (sound) images to create a complete picture of the season. Now write to a friend abroad who has never experienced an Indian summer or an Indian monsoon.