"Daybreak" Notes For Class XI

"Daybreak"

1. Give the substance of the poem, "Daybreak".

Ans:     At dawn, a wind rises from the sea and asks the mists to make room for its movement. It greets the ships and urges the mariners to sail in the wake of the day. Then it rushes to distant land and impels all to wake up. One by one, the wind visits the forest, the farms, and the fields of corn, the belfry tower and the churchyard. It urges the forest to hang out its leaves. Then it touches the folded wings of the wood-bird and urges it to sing. After that, the wind rushes over to the farms and asks the chanticleer to crow and announce the beginning of a new day. Then it whispers to the fields of corn to bow down to greet the morning. It also urges the belfry tower to ring the morning bell. But it sighs for the dead at the churchyard and asks them to lie quietly.

2. In the poem "Daybreak", where did the wind come from and when? Whom did it meet? What sound devices did Longfellow use in the poem?

Ans:     In the poem "Daybreak", the wind came from the sea at dawn.

            The wind met the mists and the mariners of the ship at sea. On land, it visited forests, the wood-bird, the chanticleer, the fields of corn, the belfry tower, and the dead at churchyard.

            In the poem Longfellow used a number of sound devices regulating the human world. The wind whispers, cries, shouts, sighs and speaks like a normal human being. The singing of the bird, the crowing of the chanticleer and the ringing of the bell of the belfry-tower indicate the daybreak.

3.  In the poem "Daybreak", where did the wind rush to from the sea? What did it impel all to do? In the poem "Daybreak", whom did the wind visit at sea? What did it say to them?

Ans:     In the poem "Daybreak", the wind rushed to distant land from the sea.

            It impelled all to wake up since the day was breaking.

            In the poem "Daybreak", the wind visited the mists and the mariners of the ship at sea.

            The wind asked the mists to make room for its movement. It greeted the ships and urged the mariners to sail on in the wake of the day.