About the Author Glossary virtues – good qualities devotion – loyal commitment towards a particular activity repel – hate or detest cringing – behaving in an excessively humble or servile way adore – worship someone nourish – to help the growth and development of someone summit – the highest point of a hill or a mountain peak stoop – yield or submit, to descend from dignity competence – the ability to do something efficiently merit – the quality of being particularly good or worthy A. Based on your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions in a sentence or two each. . Which line is repeated in the poem?
What is the effect created by this repetition? . Who are the ‘deserving ones’? .
Which quality does the speaker wish to nourish? What is his mission? . Which path should we follow in life?
. What does ‘Everest’ in the title stand for? . What does ‘hillock’ refer to in the line ‘Every hillock has a summit to boast!’?
. Why does the speaker say ‘Everest is not the only peak’? . What does the ladder symbolize?
B. Read the given lines and answer the questions that follow. . Our nature it is that whatever we try We do with devotion deep and true.
a. Who does ‘we’ refer to? b. How should we carry out our duties?
. Defeat we repel, courage our fort; a. How do we react to defeat? b.
Which is considered as our stronghold? . We are proud of the position we hold; humble as we are a. What is the speaker proud of?
b. How is the speaker both humble and proud? c. Pick out the alliteration in these lines.
Prof. V.C. Kulandaiswamy ( – ) known as Kulothungan is an eminent technologist, a man of letters and an educationist known for his pioneering contributions in Hydrology, Literature and Education. He has authored six volumes of poems and seven of prose essays which earned him the Thiruvalluvar Award from the Government of Tamil Nadu in .
He won the Sahitya Akademi Award in for his book Vaazhum Valluvam. His works deal with themes that reflect the gamut of human progress and the all-pervasive human effort. -B-Poem-Everest is not the only - - :