The Rainbow

                   The Rainbow

Boats sail on the rivers,

And ships sail on the seas;

But clouds that sail across the sky

 Are prettier far than these. 

There are bridges on the rivers,

As pretty as you please, 

But the bow that bridges heaven,

And overtops the trees, 

 And builds a road from earth to sky, 

Is prettier far than these.

       - Christina Georgina Rossetti.

Word meaning:

a) Boat - নাঁও 

b) rainbow - ৰামধেনু

c) river - নদী 

d) pretty - দেখিবলৈ ধুনীয়া

e) bow - ধেনু 

f) bridge - দলং

g) road - ৰাস্তা, পথ 

h) earth - পৃথিৱী 

i) sky - আকাশ 

j) build - নিৰ্মাণ কৰা, বনোৱা 

Activities:

1. Complete the following sentences by reading the poem , " The Rainbow".

a) Boats sail on the rivers.

b)   And ships sail on the seas.

c) But clouds that sail across the sky.

d) Boats and ships are pretty, but clouds are prettier.

e) The 'bow' in the poem is the rainbow.

2 . Match the following:

Boats              prettier 

Ships               Pretty 

Clouds            Prettier 

Rainbow          Pretty

Ans:

 Boats           pretty 

Ships            Pretty 

Clouds          Prettier 

Rainbow.       Prettier 

3. What are the things that the rainbow does? Fill in the blanks below with words from the poem.

Ans: 

The Rainbow  -     bridges heaven

The Rainbow   -     overtops the trees 

The Rainbow   -      road from earth to sky.

4. Two summaries of the poem are given below. Which one do you like more? Discuss your answer with the friend sitting next to you . Then share your thoughts with the rest of the class.

(a) The poem 'The Rainbow' is about nature. Here the poet compares the beauty of nature and man-made beauty. She finds that beauty created by nature is prettier than man-made beauty. The clouds that sail across the sky are prettier than boats sailing on rivers and ships sailing on the seas. But the rainbow is prettier than all the pretty things that sail on the rivers.

(b) Boats sail on the rivers and ships sail on the seas. But the clouds that sail across the sky are prettier than these boats and ships. The bridges in the rivers are beautiful. But the rainbow that builds a road from earth to sky is prettier than the bridges.

Ans: (a) The poem 'The Rainbow' is about nature. Here the poet compares the beauty of nature and man-made beauty. She finds that beauty created by nature is prettier than man-made beauty. The clouds that sail across the sky are prettier than boats sailing on rivers and ships sailing on the seas. But the rainbow is prettier than all the pretty things that sail on the rivers.

          The first summary I like most.

5. a) As you know, rhyming words are words that end with the same sound, such as sound - round . Here are some words from the poem ' The Rainbow '. Work with your and write two words that rhyme with each of them.

Ans: 

Boat - goat , coat 

Sea - bee , flee 

River - driver , cover 

Cloud - loud, proud

Ship - skip , dip 

Sky - dry , fly 

b) Now say the words aloud and recite the poem ' The Rainbow ' for practice.

6. a) Make a list of things that:

Ans:

7. Let's learn some grammar:

Read the poem ' The Rainbow ' once again. Find words belonging to the following word classes and write them in the spaces below. One is done for you. You may fill the spaces with other words if you do not find an appropriate word in the poem .

a) Noun ( naming words, for example,'boat' ): ship , cloud.

b) Pronoun ( a word used instead of a noun ; for example,'it' ): He, She.

c) Adjective ( a word that describes a person or a thing ; for example, ' pretty ' ): good, beautiful.

d) Verb: ( a word or a group of words that expresses an action; for example, 'eat', 'run'): do , read.

9. The words you have written in 8 (c) are called adjectives because they say something more about a noun or a pronoun.In the poem ' The Rainbow ' , you found the adjectives pretty and prettier. Such adjectives show the degree of something, as shown below:

Comparison of Adjectives: 

Now think of two other adjectives that can be compared in the same way, and write them in their degrees ( positive, comparative and superlative) in the space below.

Now complete the table below by filling in the columns as shown in the examples.Two have been done for you.