Class 12 English Guide Soft Strom By:- Abhi Subedi Summary Exercise Question Answer With Solution

 Class 12 English Guide  

5. Soft Strom                                                  By:- Abhi Subedi

The poem ‘Soft Storm’ is written by a popular poem Abhi Subedi. He is the most popular personality in the academic field of Nepal. He has taught more than 44 years in different universities and equally contributed in the field of literature by writing several poems, essays, stories and dramas in both Nepali and English languages.

              This poem presents the speaker of the poem as a rebel in the society. He doesn’t like the useless and cruel activities of the society. This poem indirectly attacks the bad-practices of Nepali society very minutely. The poem is a bit longer than other poems of this book. It is written in free verse. It has a beautiful combination of the description between nature and society.

The poet describes the environmental disorder in Nepali society in the first stanza. In the same way, he makes a correlation of those natural disorders with the practices of human society by using the words like politics, postures, rituals and reasons. In the last line of the first stanza, the poet uses a term seamless city that refers to the problem less or unified city of the past. It's no more than the recall of the time where there were very fewer social problems in the society.

In the second stanza, he gives the reference of homeless children who are crying in Thamel. They are also crying because of hunger under the bat-bearing trees of Kesharmahal. He shows the bitter reality of a developing country through the lines. It is a serious social problem of the nation which should be solved at any cost. In the same stanza, he uses the term 'unwedded gardens of history' from which he wants to refer the past flourished incidences of the society which literally means lawless, disturbed and chaos situation created by social and political domination in the Nepalese society.

Similarly, in the third stanza, he talks about a hopeless child carrying a radio around his neck who is crying to find his mother. This phrase indicates a painful condition of street children. There is also a reference of a man who was beaten badly for no reason. Likewise, in the poem, he presents an injured man with a blood-stained shirt crying for humanity. It reflects the situation of lawlessness, which ultimately makes the speaker become rebellious against the system.  

             In the remaining stanzas the speaker has also presented the disturbed courses of our society and the courses of our nature. Dominated person can’t speak because his voice is locked. It is like the game of hide and seek. The references rain tears, sun laughter, deforested land, rhododendron blooming in winter, songs of the sad birds etc. have shown the degradation of social values and environmental conditions. Selfish and lawless activities of present people have disturbed and spoilt earth and the creatures of the earth. In the final stanza, the speaker concludes it by stating the desire for freedom for him as well as other creatures of the earth. He favours the beautiful, lovely and calm sky with sweet music of soft storm.

Answer the following questions.

a. When does the speaker grow soft? Enlist the occasions when he grows soft.

➜ The speaker grows soft on various occasions. They are enlisted below:

• ·         After he heard the tumult(noise)
• ·         When homeless children in Thamel cried with hunger
• ·         When he returns from the melee(disturbance)
• ·         When he saw a helpless child carrying a  radio around his neck
• ·         When he saw a blood-stained shirt of a man and so on.

b. What do you understand by ‘this seamless city’?

➜ By 'this seamless city', I understand a city where people can wander around freely, free of social  problems, and experience the true fruits of freedom and happiness, unbiased.

c. Describe the poor children portrayed in the poem.

➜ Under the bat-bearing trees of Kesharmahal in Thamel, poor homeless and parentless children cry out in hunger and poverty. They are deprived of their constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights.

d. What do you understand by ‘the unwedded gardens of history’?

➜ I understand the flourished(strong or pure) incidents in the past, as well as the society's ignored culture and traditions, which literally translates to a lawless, serious condition in Nepalese society caused by social and political domination.

e. Why was the forlorn child wailing ( crying)?

➜ The forlorn child was wailing to find his mother in the street.

f. What do you understand by ‘soft storm’?

➜ I understand Abhi Subedi's inner disturbing feelings as a result of a lawless society and chaotic atmosphere by 'soft storm,' the two words combined by Abhi Subedi to title his poem. A storm denotes bad weather, but when combined with the word "soft," it signifies the bad times that the poet observes in today's society.

g. Why does the speaker call our time ‘mad time’?

➜ Because our time in current society is not under the control of the constitution or the law of the nation, the speaker calls it "mad time." Corruption, favouritism, sociopolitical unfairness among the people and environmental degradation are all prevalent in society, according to him.

h. What does the speaker want to do in “hard times”?

➜ In "hard times", the speaker wants to melt like a rainbow.