Important Questions
Animals – Walt Whitman
-The poem is in Free verse.
-The poet is attracted to the calmness and satisfaction in animals.
-Humans lie awake in the dark weeping for their sins.
-They sweat and whine about their condition.
-The habit of owning things by humans has been called a mania.
-The poet believes that animals got their values from humans while humans have lost them.
-Since animals do not have the desire to own anything, therefore they are always satisfied.
-The poet finds that animals do not trouble others. They are kind and innocent. They don’t weep for their sins
1. “I think I could turn and live with animals,
They are so placid and self-contain’d.
I stand and look at them long and long.
(a) Name the poet and the poem.
View AnswersAns. The name of the poet is Walt Whitman and the poem is “Animals”.
(b) What quality of the animals impressed the poet?
View AnswersAns. the qualities of placidity, self-dependence, complacence and simplicity of the animals impressed the poet.
2. “They do not sweat and whine about their condition
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins.
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God”
(a) Who is the ‘they’ referred to here?
View AnswersAns. The ‘they’ referred to here are the animals.
(b) Name the things ‘they’ do not do.
View AnswersAns. “They’ do not worry about their condition or sins. ‘They’ do not make each other sick discussing their duty to God.
3. “Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.
(a) Who is the speaker here?
View AnswersAns. The speaker here is the poet Walt Whitman.
(b) What does the speaker mean when he utters those lines?
View AnswersAns. The speaker means that the animals are independent and free. None of them have excessive regard for any of them or to their kind. None is respectable or unhappy.
4. “They bring me tokens of myself, they evince them plainly in their possession
I wonder where they get these tokens.
Did I pass that way huge times ago and negligently drop them?”
(a) Who is ‘they’ referred to here?
View AnswersAns. “They’ referred to here are the animals.
(b) What are the ‘tokens’ mentioned here?
View AnswersAns. The tokens mentioned in the poem mean the symbols of the true nature of human beings. These tokens are actually tokens of virtue such as containment, honesty, innocence and the likes of it.
5. Who wrote the poem, “Animals”?
View AnswersAns. Walt Whitman wrote the poem “Animals”.
6. Name the book from where this poem has been taken.
View AnswersAns. This poem has been taken from Walt Whitman’s collection of poems, “Leaves of Grass”.
7. What was the wish of the poet?
View AnswersAns. The wish of the poet was to turn into an animal and live with them.
8. What are the qualities possessed by the animals?
View AnswersAns. The animals possess the qualities of placidity, self-dependence, complacence and simplicity.
9. What, according to the poet, do the animals not do regarding their condition?
View AnswersAns. The animals, according to the poet, neither sweat and whine about their condition nor lie awake at night and weep for their sins.
10. What do the animals not do for their sins?
View AnswersAns. The animals do not lie awake at night and weep for their sins.
11. Are they dissatisfied?
View AnswersAns. No, they aren’t
12. With what are the animals not demented?
View AnswersAns. The animals are not demented with the mania of owning things.
13. What do the animals bring to the poet?
View AnswersAns. The animals bring token of mutual love and understanding to the poet.
14. Why does the poet wonder?
View AnswersAns. The poet wonders where the animals got the tokens they bring to him.
15. Give the meaning of the following words:
Placid –
Self-contained –
Weep –
Demented –
Kneels –
Evince –
View AnswersPlacid – calm
Self-contained – independent/self-dependent
Weep – to express deep sorrow by shedding tears
Demented – mad
Kneels – to fall or rest on the knees
Evince – show
16. Why does Walt Whitman feel more at home with animals?
View AnswersAns. Animals are placid and self-contained. They worry neither about their condition nor about their sins. They are not dissatisfied, respectable, unhappy or demented with the mania of owning things. They show their relations with the poet. So the poet Walt Whitman feels more at home with them.
17. What quality of the animals mesmerizes the poet?
View AnswersAns. The poet is mesmerised with the animals’ qualities such as placidity, self-dependence, complacence and simplicity.
18. How do the animals act about their condition and duty to God?
View AnswersAns. The animals never sweat and whine about their condition. They do not make others sick discussing their duty to God.
19. How are animals’ superior to human beings?
View AnswersAns. The animals are placid, self-sufficient, complacent and simple. Unlike humans, they do not worry about their condition and sins, nor do they make others sick discussing their duty to God. They are not demented with the mania of owning things. So they are superior to human beings.
20. What are the ‘tokens’ that the poet says he may have dropped long ago, and which animals have kept for him?
View AnswersAns. The ‘tokens’ are of mutual love and understanding that the ancestors of the poet used to share with the animals thousands of years ago. The poet says that they dropped them and the animals kept them.
21. Mention three things that humans do and animals don’t.
View AnswersAns. Humans sweat and whine about their condition; but animals don’t. Humans lie awake at night and weep for their sins; but animals don’t. Humans make each other sick discussing their duty to God, but animals don’t