Read the following extract and answer the questions that follow :
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd winds slowly o’er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,
And all the air a solemn stillness holds,
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,
And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds:
Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower
The moping owl does to the moon complain
Of such as, wandering near her secret bower,
Molest her ancient solitary reign.
Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree’s shade,
Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap,
Each in his narrow cell for ever laid,
The rude Forefathers of the hamlet sleep.
[Thomas Gray points to the poor burial of the poor villagers in the poem ‘In the CountryChurch Yard’. The poor are born poor, live poor and are burried poorly.]
1. Which figure of speech is used in the following line
“The ploughman homeward plods his weary way.”
2. What does the ringing of curfew bell mark ?
3. Who is left in the darkness?
4. What is the condition of the graves of the poor villagers ?
5. What does the owl complain about?
