Class 10 English Treasure Chest Poem A

Considerable Speck Text Based Multiple Choice

Questions
Read the following questions and select the correct option:
1. When did the poet notice something running across his paper?
(a) when he sneezed
(b) when he was writing
(c) when he was about to put a full stop to his writing finally
(d) when he left writing
2. What did the poet like in the mite?
(a) its colour
(b) its being intelligent
(c) its being fearful
(d) its running in terror
3. How did the mite taste or smell the ink?
(a) with loathing
(b) with relish
(c) hesitatingly
(d) with a shudder
4. What did the poet imagine?
(a) that the mite was a proud creature
(b) that the mite did not want to die
(c) that the mite feared nothing
(d) that the mite was mischievous
5. Why did the mite falter and hesitate?
(a) It was happy.
(b) It was terrified.
(c) It was cunning.
(d) It did not know what to do.
6. What did the mite finally do?
(a) It squatted.
(b) It bent down and moved backwards in fear.
(c) It sat still.
(d) It ran away to the edge of the sheet of paper.
7. What do you imply by ‘collectivistic regimenting love’?
(a) love for the whole society or group
(b) forced love
(c) one-sided love
(d) indiscriminate love for all irrespective of one’s mental calibre.
8. Why did the poet not kill the mite?
(a) because it had a mind of its own.
(b) because it was a lively creature.
(c) because it had no evil intention.
(d) because the poet took pity on it.
9. What is this poem about?
(a) a mite on a white sheet of paper
(b) about the mind, its creativity and imagination
(c) collectivist ideology
(d) individuality
10. The title ‘A Considerable Speck’ is quite ……………. .
(a) amusing
(b) ironical
(c) surprising
(d) foolish
11. What figure of speech is used in the title – ‘A Considerable Speck’?
(a) alliteration
(b) metaphor
(c) oxymoron
(d) simile
12. Identify the poetic device used –
‘Set off across what I had written there.’
(a) metaphor
(b) oxymoron
(c) inversion
(d) imagery
13. Find the odd one out-
(a) too tiny
(b) been beneath
(c) modern world
(d) mind myself
14. Identify the figure of speech used-
‘Since it was nothing I knew evil of
I let it lie there till I hope it slept.’
(a) repetition
(b) anaphora
(c) enjambment
(d) oxymoron
15. Who displayed the mind on the paper?
(a) people
(b) poet
(c) mite
(d) dust
16. The line
‘Since it was nothing I knew evil of’
Means _____________
(a) the poet was evil
(b) the mite was evil
(c) the poet thought that the mite was not evil
(d) the poet thought that the mite was evil
17. Choose the suitable meaning of ‘guise’ as used in the poem
(a) form
(b) false appearance
(c) to hide real self
(d) all of these
18. Why is the mite called ‘poor’?
(a) it has no money
(b) its life is in danger
(c) it has no food
(d) it is homeless
19. What does ‘considerable’ mean in the poem?
(a) significant
(b) important
(c) crucial
(d) beneficial
20. Identify the sentence which uses ‘room’ as used in the poem-
(a) We need two rooms with twin beds.
(b) Please shift the boxes to the store room.
(c) The house is full, there is no room for more people.
(d) We are looking for an apartment with an attached servant room.
Answers
1. (c) when he was about to put a full stop to his writing finally
2. (b) its being intelligent
3. (a) with loathing
4. (b) that the mite did not want to die
5. (d) It did not know what to do.
6. (b) It bent down and moved backwards in fear.
7. (d) indiscriminate love for all irrespective of one’s mental calibre.
8. (c) because it had no evil intention.
9. (d) individuality
10. (b) ironical
11. (c) oxymoron
12. (c) inversion
13. (c) modern world
14. (c) enjambment
15. (c) mite
16. (c) the poet thought that the mite was not evil
17. (a) form
18. (b) its life is in danger
19. (a) significant
20. (c) The house is full, there is no room for more people.

ICSE Class 10 English A Considerable Speck

Extract Based Questions
PASSAGE-1
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
A speck that would have been beneath my sight
On any but a paper sheet so white
Set off across what I had written there.
And I had idly poised my pen in air
To stop it with a period of ink
(i) What is a speck? What did it turn out to be?
Ans. A speck is a tiny dust particle. It turned out to be a tiny insect.
(ii) What had the poet been doing? What does the last line here tell you in
this context?
Ans. He is waiting for the particle to move away from the sheet. He was waiting to
put a full stop to his writing.
(iii) What do you mean by ‘Idly poised my pen’?
Ans. sat idle, kept the pen in the air, waiting for the speck to move away.
(iv) What did the poet observe about the mite later in the context?
Ans. He observed that the speck of dust was a tiny mite.
(v) Why did the poet spare the mite?
Ans. He spared the mite because it was harmless.
PASSAGE-2
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
When something strange about it made me think,
This was no dust speck by my breathing blown,
But unmistakably a living mite
With inclinations it could call its own.
(i) What was ‘something strange’ about the speck?
Ans. It did not fly off in a direction but it ran here and there.
(ii) What was the first thing about the speck that struck the poet’s mind?
Ans. It had its own ability to think.
(iii) The mite had its own ‘inclinations’. Explain in the context.
Ans. The mite could think and smelled danger. It used its intelligence to save itself.
(iv) In what way did the mite reach the inked portion of the sheet of paper?
Ans. It reached the ink, perhaps to smell it or to drink it.
(v) What was it that refrained the poet from killing the mite?
Ans. The mite was very tiny, called microscopic. The poet considered it to be
harmless.

PASSAGE-3
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
It paused as with suspicion of my pen,
And then came racing wildly on again
To where my manuscript was not yet dry;
Then paused again and either drank or smelt-
With loathing, for again it turned to fly.
(i) When did the poet notice the reality of the speck on his page?
Ans. When he saw that the movement was not continuous, it ran and paused.
(ii) What is the significance of the word ‘suspicion’ in Line 1 here?
Ans. To be in fear that the pen would hit it.
(iii) How did the mite seem to drink or smell the ink?
Ans. The mite reached the inked portion, the ink being wet. It paused there, perhaps
it drank or smelled it.
(iv) What is a manuscript? How would it be dry?
Ans. A manuscript is a piece of written material. When the ink with which it was
written would dry, it would dry.
(v) What did it do in terror?
Ans. It paused then went racing and then tried to fly.

PASSAGE-4
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Plainly with an intelligence I dealt.
It seemed too tiny to have room for feet,
You must have had a set of them complete
To express how much it didn’t want to die.
It ran with terror and with cunning crept.
It faltered : I could see it hesitate;
(i) What do you mean by ‘an intelligence’ in Line 1? Why does the poet
assert this?
Ans. ‘An intelligence’ means the ability to decide what is good and bad. The poet
asserts this because he saw that the tiny mite was also intelligent and tried to save
itself from death.
(ii) What was it that refuted the poet’s thinking that the mite had ‘no room
for feet’?
Ans. The small, microscopic size of the mite.
(iii) ‘It ran with terror and with cunning crept’. Explain.
Ans. It ran here and there and paused in between. This shows it was terrorized and
was trying to be clever to save itself.
(iv) What is it that the poet satirizes later in the context? Why?
Ans. He satirizes those people who do not show their intelligence. He disapproves
indiscriminate acceptance of all human beings irrespective of their mental calibre.
(v) What does the poet appreciate in others?
Ans. He appreciates individuality.
PASSAGE-5
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
Then in the middle of the open sheet
Cower down in desperation to accept
Whatever I accorded it of fate.
I have none of the tenderer-than-thou
Collectivistic regimenting love
With which the modern world is being swept.
But this poor microscopic item now !
Since it was nothing I knew evil of
I let it lie there till I hope it slept.
(i) What position did the mite take eventually? In what state was it?
Ans. He reached the centre of the sheet, bent down and crawled backward to
indicate fear and surrender.
(ii) Explain ‘Collectivistic regimenting love’?
Ans. A collective idea among a group of people which loves all human beings
irrespective of their mental calibre.
(iii) Which ideology is implicitly criticised here?
Ans. Collectivistic regimenting love
(iv) What made the poet let the mite ‘lie there till …. it slept’?
Ans. It was a very tiny, harmless thing
(v) Why does the poet choose a ‘Considerable speck’ to express his
appreciation of the mind, its imagination and creativity?
Ans. To show that even the tiniest of all beings had intelligence and displayed it on
the sheet of paper. This display of mind made it considerable.
PASSAGE-6
Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:
I have a mind myself and recognize
Mind when I meet with it in any guise
No one can know how glad I am to find
On any sheet the least display of mind.
(i) What does the poet appreciate and why?
Ans. The display of intelligence by the mite. He is against indiscriminate acceptance
of all human beings irrespective of their mental calibre.
(ii) What quality in a writing appeals to the poet?
Ans. Display of intelligence.
(iii) Do you think the idea contained in this last stanza has relevance in the
context? What is it?
Ans. Yes. The poet can identify intelligence irrespective of the type of creature
which shows it.
(iv) In what way did the poet identify with the mite?
Ans. Both had a mind that could think and they displayed their intelligence.