Welcome dear students! Today we are going to learn about The Comet And The Moon from Class 6 English_FL. Before we begin our poem, let us do a quick pre reading task. Sit with your partner and discuss these questions together. First, when do you get bored? Second, what makes you bored? Third, what do you do to relieve your boredom? Take a moment to think about your answers. In this beautiful poem, the moon asks a speeding comet to stop and listen to his worries. The poem is written by Richard Edwards. Let us now read the poem together, stanza by stanza.
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Stanza one begins. Tell me said the comet, As it whooshed past the moon's pale face, Why do you look so sulky As you make your way through space? Let us understand this first stanza. The comet is moving very fast through space. It passes the moon, which looks pale. The comet notices that the moon seems unhappy and asks why it looks so sulky while traveling through space.
Stanza two continues. You will sulk as well the moon said, if you were doomed like me, To always plod the same path In chains of gravity. Here, the moon replies to the comet. The moon says that if the comet were in its position, it would also feel unhappy. The moon feels trapped because it must always walk the exact same path, held tightly by the force of gravity. It feels like a prisoner in chains.
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Stanza three reads. You are free to flare and sizzle, You roam like rockets do, While I am stuck here in the orbit Of the Earth dot dot dot I envy you. In this stanza, the moon compares itself to the comet. The comet can shine brightly and make hissing sounds as it moves freely like a rocket. Meanwhile, the moon is fixed in its circular path around the Earth. Because of this lack of freedom, the moon feels jealous of the comet.
Stanza four says. Once things were better dash spacemen Came up to float and walk And scratch my back. Now life is too dull So, comet, stay and talk. The moon remembers happier times when astronauts visited it. They floated and walked on its surface, and the moon playfully says they even scratched its back. But now, those visits have stopped, making life very boring. The moon begs the comet to stop and keep it company.
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Stanza five concludes. The comet didn't answer, Already it had gone To wag its tail round Venus While the moon trudged on. The final stanza shows the comet ignoring the moon. It has already moved far away to playfully swing its glowing tail around the planet Venus. Meanwhile, the moon continues its slow, heavy journey through space alone.
Now let us learn the important words from the poem. I will give you the exact meanings as in your textbook. A comet is a celestial body that moves around the sun and looks like a bright star with a tail. Whoosh means to make a soft sound when moving very fast. Sulky means in a bad temper, refusing to talk. Plod means to walk laboriously. Chains of gravity means confined to the force that attracts the bodies to the centre of the earth. Flare means to blaze with bright flame. Sizzle means to make a hissing sound as of water falling on hot metal. Envy means a feeling of discontent aroused by another's better fortune. Trudge means to walk laboriously, traverse. Please remember these exact definitions for your exams.
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Let us now answer the first set of comprehension questions. Question one A asks who whooshed past the moon's pale face. The answer is the comet whooshed past the moon's pale face. Question one B asks who was sulking. The answer is the moon was sulking. Question one C asks when was life better for the moon. The answer is life was better for the moon when spacemen came up to float, walk, and scratch its back. Question one D asks why the comet did not answer the moon. The answer is the comet did not answer because it was already moving very fast and had gone to play around Venus.
Now let us move to the second set of questions. Question two A asks what the comet wanted to know when he saw the pale faced moon. The comet wanted to know why the moon looked so sulky and unhappy while traveling through space. Question two B asks why the moon thinks that he is doomed. The moon thinks he is doomed because he is forced to always travel the exact same path, trapped by the chains of gravity. Question two C asks why the moon envies the comet. The moon envies the comet because the comet is free to flare, sizzle, and roam through space like a rocket, while the moon is stuck in Earth's orbit. Question two D asks which line in stanza five suggests that the comet is very active, and to explain it. The line is To wag its tail round Venus. This suggests the comet is very active because wagging its tail shows playful, energetic movement as it travels around another planet. Question two E states that the moon is non human, but he does two things which we humans do. What are they, and what figure of speech is this? The two things are sulking and talking. The figure of speech used here is personification, where human qualities are given to a non human object.
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Next, let us look at the vocabulary exercise. You are asked to match the words in column B with the words in column A. The list includes breezy, imaginary, bored and sulky, free to fly, and dull, to be matched with life, moon, comet, conversation, and poem. Think carefully about which adjective best describes each noun based on the context of the poem, and write down your matched pairs.
Now let us discuss personification. In poems, poets make objects, animals and birds behave like us, people. This device is a figure of speech called personification. It brings pictures of the things personified before our mind. From our poem, the examples of personification are the moon sulking, the moon talking to the comet, the moon feeling doomed, the moon envying the comet, and the comet wagging its tail. These are all human actions given to celestial bodies.
The next question asks if you are given a chance, would you like to be the moon or the comet? Give reasons for your answer. Your textbook leaves this as an open question for you to explore. To answer it well, think about the characteristics of each. If you value freedom, adventure, and exploring new places, you might choose the comet. If you prefer a steady routine, watching over the Earth, and having visitors, you might choose the moon. Whatever you decide, write down your choice and support it with clear reasons drawn from the poem.
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Finally, let us complete the writing exercise together. I will read the passage with blanks, and then share the completed version so you can check your work. The passage begins. Have you ever gazed at a starlit sky? Go out on a new moon night and look up at the heavens. You will see crores and crores of them. You may even identify a constellation or two. A constellation is a group of fixed stars such as the Great Bear. Gazing at the stars try to imagine the space our universe must occupy. Scientists say that the galaxy is a star system that circles round and round in unimaginable space at unimaginable speeds. The missing words you should fill in are sky, night, at, heavens, crores, constellation, stars, at, galaxy, and round. Practice writing this paragraph to improve your vocabulary about space.
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We have now covered the entire chapter, from the pre reading discussion to the poem, glossary, comprehension questions, vocabulary exercises, and the writing task. Remember that personification is a key literary device in this poem, and understanding the exact meanings of the glossary words will help you in your exams. Keep practicing reading the poem aloud to feel its rhythm and emotion. Thank you for listening! Keep revising and practicing. Goodbye! [CHAPTER_COMPLETE]