Foreign Lands Class 4 Question Answer and Summary

The Poem “Foreign Lands” is written by a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer R. L. Stevenson. In this post, I am detailing you about Foreign Lands Class 4 Question Answer and Summary. The exercise discussed in the post is based on Tulip Series English for students of Class 4 from JKBOSE. In our previous post, you read about the Summary and Questions of the Poem Against Idleness and Mischief. Let’s get started with this post:

Foreign Lands Class 4 Question Answer and Summary

Introduction

The Poem “Foreign Lands” written by R. L. Stevenson is first published in 1913 in his book A Child’s Garden of Verses: Selected Poems. The poem originally has five stanzas in it but the Tulip Series Book IV has 4 stanzas. The poem describes the stages of human life symbolically in this poem.

Foreign Lands Class 4 Poem Text

Up into the cherry tree
Who should climb but little me?
I held the trunk with both my hands
And looked abroad in foreign lands.

I saw the next door garden lie,
Adorned with flowers, before my eye,
And many pleasant places more
That I had never seen before.

I saw the dimpling river pass
And be the sky’s blue looking-glass;
The dusty roads go up and down
With people tramping into town.

If I could find a higher tree
Farther and farther I should see,
To where the grown-up river slips
Into the sea among the ships,

To where the road on either hand
Lead onward into fairyland,
Where all the children dine at five,
And all the playthings come alive.

Foreign Lands Class 4 Poem Word Meaning

Foreign Lands Class 4 Summary in English

The poet talks about the dreams of a boy and indirectly symbolises the various stages of life. The poet says that to a grown-up person the things may seem ordinary, but the child finds them exciting and the child wishes to climb still higher. He describes that various stages of life have varying desires and wishes.

The first stanza of the poem shows the child’s desire to see the foreign lands. He says that if he could climb the tree then he would be able to see the foreign lands.

The second stanza of the poem says that after he climbs the tree and he sees the garden next door is decorated with beautiful flowers and there are distant places he had never seen before. It means that when a man is in his childhood, he desires to explore the distant lands and when he grew up, he starts to explore these places.

The third stanza of the poem describes the stage of his life when he is grown-up and had gone on long trips.  During this time, he sees the river and he personifies the river as a “dimpling river” and also uses the river as a metaphor that is, it is the looking-glass for the sky. This stanza explains the experiences of a person in his youth age.  He also experiences various ups and downs in life and states them as “dusty roads” curving up and down and many people are walking with heavy sound because of the load they are carrying means everyone has his issues to sort out.

The fourth stanza of the poem describes the stage of his life where if he could climb a higher tree, he would have seen the matured river getting merged with the mighty ocean where the ships are floating. This stanza explains that at a certain age the thoughts of a person gets matured.  

The last stanza of the poem explains the thought that every human being after becoming mature will again go into the period of childhood. He imagines the road leading to the fairyland where the children would have completed their dinner at five and would have played with the playthings that had come alive.

Foreign Lands Class 4 Summary in Hindi

कवि एक लड़के के सपनों के बारे में बात करता है और परोक्ष रूप से जीवन के विभिन्न चरणों का प्रतीक है। कवि कहता है कि एक बड़े व्यक्ति को जो चीजें सामान्य लगती हैं, बच्चे को वो चीज़ें रोमांचक लगती हैं और बच्चा और भी ऊपर चढ़ना चाहता है। कवि वर्णन करता है कि जीवन के विभिन्न चरणों में व्यक्ति की अलग-अलग होती हैं।

कविता का पहला छंद बच्चे की विदेशी भूमि को देखने की इच्छा को दर्शाता है। वह कहता है कि अगर वह पेड़ पर चढ़ सकता तो वह विदेशी भूमि को देख पाएगा।

कविता का दूसरा छंद कहता है कि जब वह पेड़ पर चढ़ गया तो उसने देखा कि बगल का बगीचा सुंदर फूलों से सजा हुआ है और दूर-दूर के स्थान हैं जो उसने पहले कभी नहीं देखे थे। इसका अर्थ है कि जब मनुष्य बचपन में होता है तो उसकी इच्छा दूर-दूर तक घूमने की होती है और जब वह बड़ा होता है तो इन स्थानों की खोज करने लगता है।

कविता का तीसरा श्लोक उसके जीवन के उस चरण का वर्णन करता है जब वे बड़ा हो गया है और लंबी यात्राओं पर जाने लगा है। इस समय के दौरान, वह नदी को देखता है और वह नदी को “डिंपल नदी” के रूप में पहचानता है और नदी को एक रूपक के रूप में भी इस्तेमाल करता है, यानी यह आकाश के लिए दिखने वाला गिलास है।

यह श्लोक युवावस्था में एक व्यक्ति के अनुभवों की व्याख्या करता है। वह जीवन में विभिन्न उतार-चढ़ावों का भी अनुभव करता है और उन्हें “धूल भरी सड़कों” का नाम देता है जिसपर बहुत से लोग भारी आवाज के साथ चल रहे हैं क्योंकि वे भार ढो रहे हैं, इसका मतलब है कि हर किसी के पास हल करने के लिए अपने मुद्दे हैं।

कविता का चौथा श्लोक उनके जीवन के उस चरण का वर्णन करता है जहाँ यदि वह एक ऊँचे पेड़ पर चढ़ सकता है, तो वह परिपक्व नदी को उस शक्तिशाली महासागर में विलीन होता हुआ देख सकता है जहाँ जहाज तैर रहे हैं। यह श्लोक बताता है कि एक निश्चित उम्र में व्यक्ति के विचार परिपक्व हो जाते हैं।

कविता का अंतिम छंद इस विचार की व्याख्या करता है कि प्रत्येक मनुष्य परिपक्व होने के बाद फिर से बचपन के दौर में चला जाता है। वह उस सड़क की कल्पना करता है जो परियों के देश की ओर जाती है जहां बच्चे पांच बजे रात का खाना पूरा कर लेते थे और उन खिलौनों से खेलते थे।

Foreign Lands Class 4 Question Answers

Reading is Fun

1. Write true or false:
a) The speaker of the poem climbs an apple tree.
Ans. False

b) The speaker in the poem sees ugly places.
Ans. False

c) The speaker holds the branches with hands.
Ans. False

d) On climbing a tree, the speaker sees a house on fire.
Ans. False

Let’s Talk

The speaker in the poem imagines many things such as river, sea, ships, fairyland, children diving and playthings, etc.

Imagination means the ability to think of new ideas and form its picture in the mind.

Now imagine that you are going on a tour with your school. What are the places you would like to visit and why?

Also imagine that you have saved enough money what would you do with this money! Share your ideas with your friends.

Ans. The question is to be answered by the students in the class by sharing their ideas.

Let’s Write

1. Pick out ten nouns from the poem:

_____________    _____________

_____________    _____________

_____________    _____________

_____________    _____________

_____________    _____________

Ans.

Cherry        Tree

Trunk          Hands

Lands          Door

Garden        Flower

Eye             River

2. Match the items in Column A with Column B:

Column A            Column B

Sea                       Flower

Tree                     Door

House                   Ship

Road                   Nest

Garden                 Car

Ans.

Column A             Column B

Sea                       Ship

Tree                      Nest

House                   Door

Road                   Car

Garden                  Flower

3. Building words

Fairy           +   land = Fairyland

Rain            +   __________ = __________

__________ +   night           = __________

__________ +   bow             = __________

Good          +   __________ = __________

Moon          +   light             = __________

Ans.

Rain            +   water = Rainwater

Mid             +   night   = Midnight

Rain            +   bow    = Rainbow

Good          +   Night = Goodnight

Moon          +   light   = Moonlight

Read Aloud