E-CONTENT

                                     E-CONTENT.

                                             CLASS: 6 - TERM: 1

                                                        POETRY

        

                   GOING DOWNHILL ON A BICYCLE.

                                                - HENRY CHARLES BEECHING.

                     With lifted feet, hands still,

                     I am poised, and down the hill      

                     Dart, with heedful mind;

                     The air goes by in a wind.

                     Swifter and yet more swift,

                     Till the heart with a mighty lift

                     Makes the lungs laugh, the throat cry:--

                     'O bird, see; see bird, I fly.

                     'Is this, is this your joy?

                      O bird, then I, though a boy

                      For a golden moment share

                      Your feathery life in air!'

 ABOUT THE POET: 

                      Henry Charles Beeeching (15 May,1859) was a clergyman, poet and author. He was educated at the City of London School and at Balliol College, Oxford. He took holy orders in 1882, and began to work in a Liverpool parish. He later became the Dean of Norwich. He gave the clark lecture in 1900 on The history of lyrical poetry in England. He wrote a book on Francis Atterbury. He passed away on 25 February, 1919.

 EXPLANATION:

              FIRST STANZA:  The first stanza explains how the poet stands ready at the top of a hill with his feet lifted and hands steady. the he starts rolling down and the wind rushes by.

              SECOND STANZA:  The second stanza says how the poet picks up the speed and it seems to the speaker that he is actually flying and feels that it gives him a joy and freedom of the bird.

              THIRD STANZA:  In the last stanza, the poet wonders if there is any experience that comes close to the feeling of complete happiness that he is experiencing. Skating is a sport that tries him to the ground. As he slows down the bicycle, it seems to him that he is floating in a boat that rides the wind. He concludes the poem by comparing his life with a bird.

LEXICAL ITEMS:

                1. Poised - Balanced.

                2. Dart - Sudden and quick movement.

                3. Heedful - Careful.

                4. Swift - Quick.

                5. Mighty lift - Full of excitement.

RHYMING WORDS: 

                      Still-Hill

                      Swift-Lift

                      Cry-Fly

                      Joy-Boy

                      Share-Air.

NEW PHRASES AND THEIR MEANING: 

1. and down the hill dart- leave the level ground and go down the hill.  

   (Explanation - The poet breaks the line at an odd place in a sentence to give us the feel of changing over from level ground to the slope).

2. O bird.....I fly! - The rider laughs and shouts out to an                                             imaginary bird in flight.

    (Explanation - "Look, you bird! I am flying just as you are now! The bird too often stops flapping its wings as the boy stops pedalling).