Complete Summary and Solutions for For Elkana – Woven Words Class XI English (Elective), Poetry Chapter 8 – Explanation, Questions, Answers
Detailed summary and explanation of Chapter 8 ‘For Elkana’ from the Woven Words English Elective textbook for Class XI, covering the poem’s meaning, themes, tone, humour, narrative style, and complete answers to all NCERT questions and exercises.
Updated: 2 hours ago
For Elkana
Nissim Ezekiel | Woven Words Poetry - Ultimate Study Guide 2025
Introduction to Poetry - Woven Words
Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meanings beyond the prosaic. It can be structured (sonnets, haikus) or free verse, focusing on imagery, metaphor, and sound to capture emotions, ideas, or experiences.
In 'story of incident' poems, events drive the narrative; in 'story of character,' inner thoughts prevail, as in Ezekiel's subtle domestic vignette. This poem exemplifies everyday pathos, blending humor and tenderness in family dynamics.
Poetry's brevity demands precision, akin to short stories, allowing profound insights into human relations, much like the limerick's witty economy later in the unit.
Key Elements
- Forms: Lyric (personal emotion), narrative (storytelling), dramatic (dialogue).
- Devices: Metaphor, irony, understatement for layered meaning.
- Themes: Domestic life, communication gaps, familial bonds.
- Economy: Concise language transforms ordinary into evocative.
Reprint 2025-26
Author: Nissim Ezekiel (1924–2004)
Nissim Ezekiel was born in Mumbai. He is today perhaps the best known Indian poet to have written in English. He had his education at Wilson College, Bombay and later at Birbeck College, London. A professor of American Literature at Bombay University, Ezekiel has written several poems and some plays. A proficient critic, Ezekiel lectured at a number of universities in the U.S.A. and the U.K.
His poetry often explores urban Indian life with wit, irony, and gentle satire, revealing the nuances of family and society.
Major Works
- A Time to Change (1952), The Exact Name (1965)
- Plays: The Sleepwalkers, The Three Plays
Key Themes
- Domestic irony and affection
- Urban alienation, self-deprecation
- Indian English identity
Style
Conversational, understated; blends humor with pathos in free verse.
Reprint 2025-26
Full Poem Text: For Elkana
Reprint 2025-26
Poem Summary: English & Hindi (Detailed Overview)
English Summary (Approx. 1 Page)
On a balmy April evening, a husband and wife settle on the lawn, chairs askew, in companionable silence broken by the wife's practical musing on a broken window— a fix any neighbor could manage but her poet-husband, lost in reverie. Irritated yet affectionate, he retreats inward, her voice a distant hum.
Their seven-year-old son interrupts with imperious demand for dinner, legs akimbo, chin defiant. Parents unite in mock sternness: "Children Must be Disciplined." But the boy's unyielding logic—"in five minutes I won’t be hungry any more"—wins the day, mirroring the father's own stubborn charm. Laughter dissolves tension; family bonds prevail in this tender tableau of domestic discord and delight.
हिंदी सारांश (संक्षिप्त)
गर्म अप्रैल शाम में, पति-पत्नी लॉन पर कुर्सियाँ घसीटकर बैठते हैं, चुप्पी में शब्दों का इंतजार। पत्नी खिड़की के टूटे काँच पर टिप्पणी करती है—हर पड़ोसी ठीक कर सकता, सिवाय उसके कवि पति के, जो ख़यालों में खोया। वह अंदर की आकर्षक दृष्टि में खो जाता, उसकी आवाज़ लॉन पर रेंगती।
सात साल का बेटा भोजन माँगता है, दृढ़ मुद्रा में। माता-पिता अनुशासन पर एकमत, लेकिन बालक की तर्कपूर्ण जिद—"पाँच मिनट बाद भूख न रहेगी"—पिता को भाती है। पत्नी की हँसी परिवार को जोड़ती; वे घर लौटते, स्नेहपूर्ण हास्य में।
Reprint 2025-26
Structure & Analysis: Key Stanzas & Devices
Overview
The poem unfolds in free verse stanzas, tracing a single evening's domestic vignette from setup to resolution. Central conflict: Familial miscommunications resolved by humor, emphasizing irony and understatement.
Structure in Phases
- Exposition: Evening setup, wife's practicality vs. husband's reverie (Stanzas 1-2).
- Rising Action: Son's interruption, parental unity in discipline (Stanzas 3-4).
- Climax: Boy's logical retort, father's empathy (Stanza 5).
- Resolution: Laughter and unity (Closing stanza).
Points to Ponder
- Imagery: "Breezes sauntering," "voice crawls"—personifies domestic tranquility/irritation.
- Narrative Voice: First-person, confessional; asides reveal self-deprecation.
- Cultural Insight: Indian urban family—practicality meets poetic detachment.
Tip: Note circular harmony—begins in sprawl, ends in rise together.
Understanding the Poem
1. Comment on the subtlety with which the poet captures the general pattern of communication within a family.
- Ezekiel masterfully depicts familial dialogue as layered—silence precedes words, practical chit-chat masks affection. The wife's "as is her way" surveys signal routine care, while husband's inward "attractive view" shows evasion born of love, not discord.
- Son’s bold interruption fosters "unusual rapport," unspoken thoughts binding them. Subtlety lies in asides: "little bastard" endears rebellion, revealing communication's non-verbal essence—glances, wags, laughter weave intimacy beyond overt exchange.
- This pattern mirrors universal families: Irritants (window, wait) yield to empathy, underscoring how everyday banter sustains bonds, with irony softening edges for poignant realism.
2. Poetic effect is achieved in the poem through understatement and asides. Discuss this with examples.
- Understatement tempers domestic friction: "Unwilling to dispute the obvious fact" downplays marital tease, evoking wry amusement. "I look away" minimizes evasion, heightening ironic self-awareness.
- Asides like "who happened to be me" inject humor, personalizing universal husband-wife tropes. "Declames the little bastard" affectionately undercuts sternness, blending critique with fondness.
- These devices craft light pathos—brevity amplifies emotional depth, transforming mundane into evocative, as laughter "holds the three of us together."
3. How is the idyllic juxtaposed with the pedestrian in the poem?
- Idyllic April "breezes sauntering" and "sprawl in silence" evoke pastoral ease, clashing with pedestrian broken pane and dinner demands—romantic reverie meets household chores.
- Son’s "crescent-moon-like chin" poeticizes defiance, yet "I am hungry" grounds in childish urgency. This contrast highlights family’s charm: Elevated imagery softens prosaic tugs, blending beauty in banality.
- Juxtaposition underscores theme—ordinary disruptions enrich idyllic bonds, as logic trumps wait, laughter resolves.
4. Explain the undertones in the statement: ‘Wife and husband in unusual rapport State one unspoken thought’.
- Undertones convey ironic unity: "Unusual" hints typical discord yields rare alignment against child, unspoken "Children Must be Disciplined" masks parental vulnerability—stern facade hides amusement.
- Subtext reveals affection: Shared glance (she looks, he away) implies complicity, critiquing yet celebrating marital shorthand where words unnecessary.
- Overall, it evokes tender satire—rapport fleeting, thought parental solidarity amid chaos.
5. Comment on the capitalisation of all the words in the line: ‘Children Must be Disciplined’.
- Capitalization parodies solemnity, elevating truism to mantra, underscoring mock gravity—parents invoke it as alliance against rebellion.
- Ironic emphasis highlights performative discipline; unspoken, it amplifies humor, as logic soon undermines it.
- Device mimics parental pomposity, blending satire with empathy for flawed authority.
6. What makes the urgency of the child’s demand seem logical?
- Boy’s retort—"in five minutes I won’t be hungry any more"—employs childlike pragmatism, inverting adult delay into temporal absurdity.
- Logic mirrors father’s ("the boy is like his father"), winning empathy; urgency stems from immediate need, outwitting five-minute veto.
- This appeals via innocence—pure reason disarms, transforming demand into delightful deduction.
Talking about the Poem - Discussion Prompts
Discuss in pairs or small groups
1. How does humor reveal deeper family truths?
- Understatements like "obvious fact" expose loving exasperation; explore: Does laughter as resolution mirror real homes?
- Modern ties: Social media's filtered families vs. Ezekiel's raw vignettes—does irony foster or hide tensions?
- Personal: Share humorous family "logic" moments—how do they strengthen bonds?
2. Role of silence and asides in communication.
- "Sprawl in silence" preludes words; discuss: When does quiet speak louder than speech?
- Cultural: Indian reticence in affection—compare to direct Western styles.
- Extension: Rewrite a stanza without asides—note lost nuance.
Appreciation & Analysis
TRY THIS OUT: Paraphrase the poem and notice the change in effect. Comment on the deft touch with which the poet transforms ordinary events into evocative poetry.
- Paraphrase (prose): On a nice evening, we sit outside. Wife mentions broken window; I ignore. Son demands food now, not later, because hunger fades. We laugh and eat.
- Change: Loses rhythm, irony—prosaic flattens emotional layers; no "crawls" or "logician" spark.
- Deft touch: Devices like personification ("breezes sauntering"), capitalization elevate mundane—silence to "sprawl," argument to "appeals," crafting affectionate satire from routine.
Language Work
1. Poetic Devices
- Irony: "Every husband... except... me"—self-mockery.
- Personification: "Voice crawls up and down the lawn."
- Metaphor: "Crescent-moon-like chin"—poeticizes stance.
2. Word Associations
| Family Dynamics | Domestic Imagery | Emotional Shifts |
|---|---|---|
| rapport, unspoken, rapport | lawn, chairs, window-pane | silence, laughter, sprawl |
The Limerick
The limerick is a small five line poem, expressing a single thought. It is usually funny with a punch or joke in the last line. In fact, the limerick is to poetry what slapstick is to comedy. The rhyme scheme is ‘a a b b a’: the first and second lines rhyme with the fifth, while the third and fourth lines rhyme with each other. One reason why the limerick is popular is that almost anyone can try his/her hand at it. May be you could too!
- A novice was driving a car / When, down the road, his son said “Papa, / If you drive at this rate / We are bound to be late— / Drive faster!” He did, and they are.
- Earth’s plan had a hopeful beginning / but man spoiled its chances by sinning. / We hope that the story, / Will end in Earth’s glory / But at present the other side’s winning!
- There was once a man from Peru / Who dreamed he was eating his shoe / He woke up with a fright / In the middle of the night / And found that it was perfectly true!
- There was a teacher named Ms Brass / Who was blessed with an unruly class / They slept and snored / And completely ignored / Theorems like Pythagoras.
Reprint 2025-26
Interactive Quiz - Test Your Understanding
10 MCQs on poem, themes, and devices. Aim for 80%+.
Suggested Reading
- The Night of the Scorpion and Other Poems by Nissim Ezekiel.
Reprint 2025-26
Group Discussions
No forum posts available.
Easily Share with Your Tribe
