Now the leaves are falling fast // W.H. Auden // Rainbow Part-2 Poetry Chapter-3

 

Now the Leaves Are Falling Fast

                                       -W.H. Auden

W.H. Auden’s Biography

1.       Wystan Hugh Auden was born in 1907 in England and died in 1973.

2.       He was a poet, verse dramatist, critic, translator, and editor.

3.       He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1948 for his collection The Age of Anxiety.

4.       Poetry to him was a ‘serious game’.

5.       He left England as early as 1939 to settle permanently in the United States.

6.       Auden’s works is dived into the British and American phases.

7.       The notable works of the English phase are The Orators, The Dance of Death, Look Stranger, Spain and Another Time.

8.       The notable works of the American phase are New Year Letter, For the Time Being, The Age of Anxiety, and The Shield of Achilles.

NOW THE LEAVES ARE FALLING FAST EXPLANATION

STANZA-1

Now the leaves are falling fast,
Nurse’s flowers will not last;
Nurses to the graves are gone,
And the prams go rolling on.

STANZA-2

Whispering neighbours, left and right,
Plucks us from the real delight;
And the active hands must freeze,
Lonely on the separate knees

STANZA-3

Dead in hundreds at the back,
Follow wooden in our track;
Arms raised stiffly to reprove,
In false attitudes of love.

STANZA-4

Starving through the leafless wood,
Trolls run scolding for their food;
And the nightingale is dumb,
And the angle will not come.

STANZA-5

Cold, impossible, ahead,
Lists the mountain’s lovely head;
Whose white waterfall could bless
Travellers in their last distress

NOW THE LEAVES ARE FALLING FAST SUMMARY

 “Now the leaves are falling fast” is one of the finest lyric poems which has been composed by the modern poet W.H Auden. The title of this poem suggests us about the death of human beings like the falling fast of leaves.
Human beings are going to their grave very fast due to suffering and diseases. In this poem, the poet tries to expose the frustration and crisis in modern life. The poet says that all fake love to one another. The messenger of death is present to snatch the real delight of people.
People who are alive today will die tomorrow. This expression suggests that human life is no better than death. The underlying idea in this poem is that death is certain. Like tree man also has to meet his end someday.

NOW THE LEAVES ARE FALLING FAST OBJECTIVE QUESTION

1.       ‘Now the Leaves are falling Fast’ __________ the frustration inherent in human life.
a) inacts
b)enacts
b)reacts
d)enact

2.       ‘Trolls’ mentioned in the poem ‘Now the Leaves are Falling Fast’ are mythological creatures __________.
a)Indain
b)Nepali
c)Russian
d) Scandinavian

3.       ‘Now the leaves are Falling Fast’ is a __________ poem.
a) pessimistic
b) optimistic
c) a and b both
d) none of these

4.       Nurses to the __________ are gone
a) heaven
b)graves
c) prams
d) none

5.       Who gets relief in the waterfall of the mountain?
a) thieves
b)devils
c)travelers
d) poets

6.       What freezes the body and separates us from the crowd of the people?
a) death
b)money
c) friend
d) love

7.       What is head which is cold and impossible?
a) mountain
b)waterfall
c) river
d) lake

8.       Who disturbs the ‘real delight’ of ageing person?
a)Whispering neighbours
b)money
c) small child
d) robber

9.       “Now the Leaves Are Falling Fast” is written by __________.
a)John Keats
b)John Donne          
c)W.H. Auden
d) T.S. Eliot

10.   W.H Auden was born in __________.
a)1907
B)1910                       
C)1930
d) 1950

11.   W.H. Auden died in __________.
a)1973
b)1970                        
c)1980
d) 1912

12.   W.H Auden won the Pulitzer Prize in __________.
a)1950
b)1948                        
c)1960
d) 1745

13.   W.H Auden won Pulitzer Prize for __________.
a)New Year Letter
b)The Orators         
c)The Age of Anxiety
d) Look Stranger

14.   In the second line of the poem, ‘Now the Leaves are falling Fast’ ‘Nurse’ stands __________.
a)a mango
b)a fruit                      
c)a tree
d) child

15.   “Whispering neighbours, left and right’ is a line from the poem __________.
a)An Epitaph
b)Song of Myself    
c)Now the leaves are falling fast
d) none

16.   W.H Auden left England in __________.
a)1935
b)1939                        
c)1945
d) 1940

17.   The __________ of death are the whispering neighbor.
a)friends
b)enemies
c)messenger
d) brothers

18.   Auden’s work is divided into __________ phases.
a)4
b)3                
c)2
d) 5

19.   ‘Nurse’s flowers will not last’ is a line written by __________.
a) John Donne
b)John Keats            
c)W H Auden
d) T.S. Eliot

20.   Auden’s work is divided into the British and __________ phase.
A)Indian
b)Russian
c)American
d) Pakistani

21.   New year letter by W.H Auden is __________.
a)Indian phase
b)American Phase
c)British phase
d) Russian phase

22.   Look Stranger, Spain, Another Time by Auden is __________ phase
a)Indian
b)American
c)British
d) None

23.   The orators, the dance of death by Auden is __________.
a)Russian phase
b)American phase
c)British phase
d) none

24.   The age of anxiety, For the time Being, The Sheild of Achilles by Auden is __________.
a)British Phase
b)American Phase
c)Indian Phase
d) none

25.   Now the leaves are falling fast is __________.
a)song
b)sonnets  
c)lyric
d) a ballad

26.   __________persons are travelers.
a)young
b)new                         
c)dull
d) old

27.   Trees shed their leaves in __________.
a)winter
b)autumn
c)summer
d) spring

28.   __________waterfall could bless the travelers passing through that way.
a)white
b)yellow    
c)red
d) black

29.   The leaves are falling __________.
a)slow
b)good                        
c)fast
d) bad

30.   The __________ has become dumb to see the leafless trees.
a)hen
b)sparrow                 
c)nightingale
d) peacock

31.   The prams are __________.
a)running
b)standing
c)rolling
d) going

32.   The travelers are we __________ beings, moving towards our death.
a)angel
b)human    
c)urban
d) rural

33.   The falling of __________ refer to the speedy arrival of death.
a)leaves
b)rain                          
c)dust
d) water

NOW THE LEAVES ARE FALLING FAST QUESTION ANSWER

1.       What does the poet mean when he says “Now the leaves are falling fast”?
Ans. The leaves are symbolic of old people. As leaves fall fast in winter, so are the people dying in their old age.

2.       How do we complete our last journey to the grave?
Ans. The grave brings peace to our sufferings.

3.       Who are the ‘whispering neighbours’?
Ans. The agents of death are the whispering agents. In old age people are always obsessed by thoughts of death.

4.       How does human life become miserable?
Ans. Humans grow old. In old age they become inactive and weak. They are cut off from society. They are lonely and miserable.

5.       In what way will the travelers be blessed?
Ans. The white waterfall or the cold hand of death will bless them. it will rescue them from their miseries.

6.       What do ‘Trolls’ do in the ‘leafless wood’?
Ans. Trolls look angrily for food in leafless wood.

7.       Who are the ‘travellers’ and how will they be ‘blessed’?
Ans. The aged are the travelers. They will be blessed by the white cold waterfall of the mountain head. That is death.

8.       How do old people think about their own life and age when they see a child?
Ans. They are reminded of their own childhood. They think of their past with nostalgia.

9.      NOW THE LEAVES ARE FALLING FAST LINE EXPLANATION 

1.       “Now the leaves are falling fast
Nurse’s flower will not last
Nurses to the graves are gone
And the proms go rolling on”
Ans. The poet means that the leaves of the branches of the free are falling and the frees are becoming leafless. It depicts that a person is slowly moving to its death and atleast in grave. Everything perishes.