Answers to probable SAQ from the poem Asleep In The Valley by Arthur Rimbaud

1. Where does the slow streamflow?

Ans: The slow stream flows through the small green valley.

2. “…they fill the hollow full of light”.- What are ‘they’ referred to here?

Ans: In the poem “Asleep in the Valley”, ‘they’ refer to the rays of the sun.

3. What is the soldier’s pillow made of?

Ans: The soldier’s pillow is made of fern.

4. Who lies stretching in the heavy undergrowth?

Ans: The young soldier lies stretching in the heavy undergrowth.

5. What is the smile of the young soldier compared with?

Ans: The smile of the young soldier is compared with the smile of an infant.

6. “The humming insects don’t disturb his rest;” Why? 

Ans: The humming insects don’t disturb the rest of the young soldier because he is dead now.

7. What does the expression ‘sun-soaked’ mean? 

Ans: It means the rays of the sun fill everything it falls upon and makes it warm.

8. Who is asked to keep the soldier warm?

Ans: The Nature is asked to keep the soldier warm.

9. “…there are two red holes.”- Where are ‘two red holes’ seen? 

Ans: Two red holes are seen in the side of the dead young soldier.

10. What does the word ‘rest’ signify?

Ans: The word ‘rest’ signifies death.

---

Visit our Youtube channel for recorded version of the live class -  Asleep In The Valley - Live Class English ( HS ) | Doubt Clearing Session 

---

Answers for probable MCQ from the poem – Asleep In The Valley by Arthur Rimbaud

The poem “Asleep in the Valley” is a/an –

(A) Ode
(B) Haiku
(C) Sonnet
(D) Dramatic monologue.

ANS) C) SONNET

What kind of poem “Asleep in the Valley” –

A) lyrical
(B) satirical
(C) rhetorical
(D) epic

ANS) B) SATIRICAL

“Asleep in the Valley” is a –

(A) Petrarchan sonnet
(B) Shakespearean sonnet
(C) Spenserian sonnet
(D) Hopkinian sonnet.

ANS) A)PETRARCHAN SONNET

The poem is about –

(A) nature
(B) love
(C) a pretty girl
(D) the futility of war.

ANS) D)FUTILITY OF WAR

Rimbaud’s poem reflects the —

A) fruitfulness
(B) heroism
(C) romanticism
(D) fruitlessness.

ANS) D) FRUITLESSNESS

The setting of the war goes back to –

(A) world war I
(B) world war II
(C)the cold war
(D) 1870sEurope.

ANS)D) 1870s EUROPE

The poem “Asleep in the Valley” reflects —

A) the pity of war
(B) the glory of war
(C) the beauty of the valley  
(D) the beauty of the soldier.

ANS) A)THE PITY OF WAR

The word ‘green’ in the poem signifies –

 (A) monotony
(B) youth and life
(C) boredom
(D) lifelines.

ANS) B) YOUTH AND LIFE

The humming insect did not disturb the soldier as –

(A) he was dead
(B) he was peaceful
(C) he was a nature lover
(D) he was violent.

ANS) A) HE WAS DEAD

The soldier’s pillow is made of –

(A) flowers
(B) fern
(C) grass
(D) leaves.

ANS) B) FERN

The soldier lies in the valley because he is a –

(A) winner of the war
(B) casualty of war
(C) sleeping person
(D) tired person.

ANS) B) CASUALTY OF WAR

The valley referred to in the poem “Asleep in the Valley” is small

(A) yellow
(B) red
(C) green
(D) grey.

ANS) C) GREEN

The soldier was –

(A) decorated with flowers
(B) mutilated
(C) lying with his feet burying in the earth
(D) lying in the bushes with his feet in flowers.

ANS) (D) lying in the bushes with his feet in flowers.

The sun’s rays fill the ———– full of light.-

(A) blank (B) empty (C) hollow (D) valley.

ANS) C) hollow

And leaves long strands of silver.- Here ‘silver’ refers to the –

(A) silvery sea beach
(B) ropes made of silver
(C) silver river bank
(D) silver-coloured sand on the river bank.

ANS) (D) silver coloured sand on the river bank.

…They fill the hollow full of light. Here ‘hollow’ refers to –

(A) the valley
(B) the open mouth of the soldier
(C) holes caused by bullets
(D) none of the above.

ANS) (A) the valley

17. The valley described by Rimbaud was –

(A) rocky
(B) sandy
(C) green
(D) barren.

ANS) (C) green

The two red holes depict –

A) arrow piercing
(B) blood clots
(C) stab marks
(D) bullet wounds.

ANS) (D) bullet wounds.

The bullets wounds have left two red holes –

(A) on the chest of the soldier
(B) on the side of the soldier
(C) on the skull of the soldier
(D) on the feet of the soldier

ANS) (B) on the side of the soldier

The boy poet refers to –

(A) Gieve Patel
(B) William Shakespeare
(C) Arthur Rimbaud
(D) John Keats.

ANS) (C) Arthur Rimbaud

The soldier’s one hand lies –

(A) on his head
(B) on his cheek
(C) on his forehead
(D) on his breast.

ANS) (D) on his breast.

The poet requests Nature –

(A) to lull the soldier to sleep
(B) to disturb the soldier’s sleep
(C) to keep the soldier warm
(D) to make the soldier catch cold

ANS) (C) to keep the soldier warm

The sleep of the soldier should not be disturbed –

(A) by the flowing stream
(B) by the flow of sunrays from the mountain top
(C) by the humming insects
(D) by the cold of the grass bed

ANS) (C) by the humming insects

The rays of the sun are compared with—

(A) stream
(B) pool of fire
(C) the beauty of a flower
(D) none of these.

ANS) (D) None of these.

The smile of the soldier is –

(A) cold
(B) warm
(C) innocent
(D) none of these.

ANS) (C) innocent