Class 10 English First Flight Poem 4 How To Tell Wild Animals NCERT Solutions

NCERT Solutions Class 10 English First Flight Chapter Poem 5 How to Tell Wild Animals by Carolyn Wells helps you understand the poem’s humorous approach to describing dangerous wild animals. The poem uses vivid imagery, irony, and simple rhyming patterns to make identification of animals both entertaining and memorable. These Class 10 NCERT Solutions explain the meaning, themes, and poetic devices in a clear way, helping you revise effectively and develop better interpretation and answer-writing skills for exams.

Class 10 How to tell Wild Animals Question Answers

How to Tell Wild Animals questions and answers help you to understand the poem’s key ideas, descriptions, and humorous language. By studying these solutions, learners can easily identify different wild animals and their traits.

This is useful for Class 10 English exam preparation, improving comprehension and answer-writing skills. Also, make sure to prepare how to tell wild animals extra questions and answers​ for a better score. 

Question 1: Does ‘dyin’ really rhyme with ‘lion’? Can you say it in such a way that it does?

Answer:
No, ‘dyin’ does not naturally rhyme with ‘lion’. However, if we pronounce ‘lion’ as ‘lying’, it would then rhyme with ‘dyin’.

Question 2: How does the poet suggest that you identify the lion and the tiger? When can you do so, according to him?

Answer:
The poet explains that a large, tawny animal roaming the eastern jungles and roaring is an Asian Lion. On the other hand, a striped, yellow-coated creature moving freely is a Bengal Tiger. Lions usually roar loudly during an attack, whereas tigers strike silently.

Question 3: Do you think the words ‘lept’ and ‘lep’ in the third stanza are spelt correctly? Why does the poet spell them like this?

Answer:
The words are deliberately spelled unusually. The correct forms are ‘leapt’ and ‘leap’. The poet changes the spelling to maintain the poem’s rhythm and add humour, emphasizing the word ‘leopard’ in each line.

Question 4: Do you know what a ‘bearhug’ is? It’s a friendly and strong hug — such as bears are thought to give, as they attack you! Again, hyenas are thought to laugh, and crocodiles to weep (‘crocodile tears’) as they swallow their victims. Are there similar expressions and popular ideas about wild animals in your own language(s)?

Answer:
A ‘bearhug’ is a tight embrace that a bear might give while attacking. Similarly, hyenas are associated with laughter, and crocodiles with crying. These expressions are figurative; the animals don’t literally act this way, but such ideas exist in popular culture and folklore.

Question 5: Look at the line “A novice might nonplus”. How would you write this ‘correctly’? Why is the poet’s ‘incorrect’ line better in the poem?

Answer:
The correct form would be “A novice might be nonplussed.” The poet’s version keeps the rhyme with ‘thus’ and preserves the poem’s playful rhythm, making it more suitable than the grammatically correct line.

Question 6: Can you find other examples of poets taking liberties with language, either in English or in your own language(s)? Can you find examples of humorous poems in your own language(s)?

Answer:
Yes, poets often use ‘poetic license’ to adjust language for rhyme or rhythm. For example, in Ogden Nash’s Tale of Custard the Dragon, words like ‘realio’ and ‘trulio’ replace ‘really’ and ‘truly’ to create a fun, rhythmic effect:

Belinda lived in a little white house,
With a little black kitten and a little grey mouse,
And a little yellow dog and a little red wagon,
And a realio, trulio, little pet dragon.

Question 7: Much of the humour in the poem arises from the way language is used, although the ideas are funny as well. If there are particular lines in the poem that you especially like, share these with the class, speaking briefly about what it is about the ideas or the language that you like or find funny.

Answer:
The poet’s simple, humorous language makes the poem enjoyable. Lines like “A noble wild beast greets you” are funny because it’s amusing to imagine a tiger greeting someone politely. Another humorous line, “He’ll only lep and lep again,” uses the playful spelling of ‘lep’ to maintain the rhyme and create a comic effect while emphasizing the leopard’s movements.

How to Tell Wild Animals Poetic Devices​

The poem “How to Tell Wild Animals” by Rudyard Kipling uses several poetic devices to make it engaging and humorous:

1. Rhyme: The poet uses end rhymes like dyin and lion to create a rhythmic flow.

2. Alliteration: Repetition of consonant sounds, e.g., “leap and lep,” adds musicality to the lines.

3. Humour: Exaggeration and playful descriptions of animals create comic effects.

4. Repetition: Words and sounds are repeated to maintain rhythm and emphasize the characteristics of animals.

5. Imagery: Vivid descriptions help readers visualize the animals and their behavior.

6. Poetic License: The poet intentionally alters spelling and grammar to maintain rhyme, rhythm, and humour.