Class 11 English 2024 Edition www.tntextbooks.in · Section 134

About the Author defy – to resist or to challenge bafflement – total confusion Scotland Yard – the headquarters of London Metropolitan Police Service Flying Squad – a police force ready to plunge into action levitation – the action of rising and floating in air fakir – a holy person who lives on alms and has the power to levitate ginger – a light brownish – ­orange colour fiend – demon feline – cat depravity – evil quality larder – cupboard for storing food rifle – ransack to steal Peke – a Pekinese dog Thomas Stearns Eliot ( – ) was an essayist, a critic, a playwright and a pioneering poet of the twentieth century. He attended Smith Academy in St. Louis and then Milton Academy in Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard University and then left for France and the Sorbonne to study philosophy. He returned to Harvard and deepened his knowledge by reading Indian philosophy and studying Sanskrit. He also finished his advanced degree at Harvard. Some of his popular poems include ‘The Wasteland’, ‘Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’, ‘Ash Wednesday’, ‘Four Quartets’, ‘Journey of the Magi’, ‘After Strange Gods’ and ‘Naming of Cats’. He won the Order of Merit and received the Nobel Prize for Literature in the year . stifle – to suppress someone from acting trellis – wooden bar used as a support for creepers Admiralty – a Government Department that administered the British Navy deceitfulness – cunningness suavity – confidence and sophistication alibi – a claim of evidence that one was elsewhere when a crime was committed Mungojerrie and Griddlebone – fictional characters specialised in petty thefts and mischief in T.S. Eliot’s book ‘Old Possom’s Book of Practical Cats’ Napoleon of Crime– the commanding leader of criminals A. Based on your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions in a sentence or two. i. What is Macavity’s nickname? ii. Why is the Flying Squad frustrated? Glossary -B-Poem-Macavity - The Mystery - - :