BSc BA ADP English Notes Poem Lights Out (Edward Thomas) Important Questions

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Questions No 1. Critically evaluate the poem "Light Out" by Edward Thomas. Or Write the Critical Appreciation of the poem.

Ans. This is a deep descriptive poem of intimate tone. The poet presents a clear, true picture of sleep in the poem. There is another implicit meanings of the poem, too. Sleep and death resemble very much, so the poem may also be about death. In this sense it may be compared with Emily Dickinson's "Because I Could Not Stop For Death" where the poetess had given a graphic description of her journey with "death". Here the poet says that if (sleep or) death is coming, one must obey it and leave all one's occupation to go with that.

The subject-matter of the poem is valuable in both the ways. Sleep as well as death take away our consciousness and awareness from us and the poet presents this thought in a very lucid manner.  The theme has been presented in a straightforward manner. According to the poet the victim of sleep or death has to lose all his activities of life. He turns away  even from the most favorite book or beloved face and surrenders before it with full agreement. He feels that it is hovering over him but he remains unsuccessful if he shows any resistance. He must go to sleep/die when sleep/death comes. Everyone of us must lose his way into the forest of sleep/death which is very deep as well as dense.

The poet has treated the theme with full ingenuity and skill. Words used are evocative without deep emotion. Through the poem sleep (or death) are compared by way of a perfect simile with dark and deep forest. The simile is very accurate, exact and precise. It is correct both for sleep as well as for death. The implied meanings of the sleep as death are throughout lurking over all the lines so much so that by the end of the poem we recognize that the poem is as much about death as about sleep. We feel totally satisfied to read between the lines of the poem and appreciate the great art of the poet. Imagery of the leaves, darkness, foliage, trees etc. is very appropriate for the theme of sleep as well as death.

The poem is divided into five stanzas of 6 lines each having a rhyme of a a b c c b with the exception of line 14 in which the same word "ends" has been repeated instead of bringing another word rhyming with "ends" of line 13. But then perhaps it gives a stress to the meaning of the line. The rhythm of the poem does not seem to follow any particular pattern. There is a variation of 3 to 9 syllables in different lines without any balance or harmony between same numbered lines of different stanzas. But this silent and quiet rhythm creates an effect of almost a lullaby on the readers, so the form suits the subject-description. The poet takes us through itself just at the very bank of sleep/death.

Vocabulary of the poem has been mostly taken from green forest and it is simple and elaborate at one end and the same time. Most of the words are sentimental but deep. Majority of the words are monosyllabic. Some of the lines are totally composed of such words, as lines no. 12, 13, 21, 24 and 29. The word "unfathomable" is onomatopoeia as it gives a sound effect of great depth along with its meaning which is the same. The poem leaves a lasting impression on the reader.

Question No 2. What are the common, day-to-day pursuits of men and what is the impact of sleep on them? Discuss in the light of "Lights Out" by Edward Thomas.

Ans. The poem "Lights Out" by Edward Thomas is a sweet poem that is full of peace and quiet _ the peace and quiet of sleep. It is full of the details of the day-to-day, common pursuits of men. It also tells us about the impact of sleep on all these pursuits and interests of men.

"Man is a social animal" _ goes a famous saying and, therefore, he has to live in a society. A society is nothing but a collection of different men. There are good as well as bad men in a society. Hence there is a strange type of versatility in the society. There are sad as well as happy persons. "Their ways" says the poet "however straight, Or winding". It shows that the poet has full awareness of the two currents of good and evil in human society.

The "road and track" sometimes "Deceived the travellers". Love is an important pursuit here in the worldly society. Ambition is still another. Ambition and love rather constitute more than three fourths of the human life. Despair is another time-consuming factor in the life of man.

Study is, for some, a big pursuit. Such people cannot pass even a single day without study. On the other hand, some are busy not in the study of books but in the study of dear faces. So education and study constitute a single great pursuit and love another such one.

Now, according to the poet, sleep has a great, far-reaching impact on all these human pursuits. Sleep is the younger sister of death. It makes one unconscious and unaware of one's surroundings as well as pursuits. One may be a devil or a saint, a student or a lover, ambitions or pessimist, happy or sad, one has to go to sleep at the call. Sleep is like a thick forest into which all the straight or winding ways of men end. A man may be busy in any sort of pursuit but when the sleep calls, there is only one impact on him: it is that he is forced to go to sleep. No one can resist sleep.

Question No 3. What does the poet mean by coming "to the borders of sleep"?

Ans. The poet means by these words that he has become so tired that he cannot remain awake any more now. On the deeper level, we may say that he means that his cup of life has now become full and he is going to die. He is ready, in both cases, to enter into the realm.

Question No 4. Pick out all the words that suggest depth?

Ans. Here are the words that suggest death:

• unfathomable deep (line 2)
• in they sink (line 12)
• (go) into the unknown (line 22)
• tall forest towers (line 25)
• cloudy foliage lowers (line 26)
• shelf above shelf (line 27)
• silence (line 28)

Questions No 5. In what way is sleep an equalizing factor?

Ans. Sleep makes the rich and the poor unaware and unconscious of themselves. It makes the happiest and the saddest unaware and unconscious of himself. Every wish, desire, ambition, sentiment of all  the people finishes while they are asleep. So sleep is an equalizing factor. It makes all the persons equal.