agonising c. manoeuvre d. accomplished e. Read the following poem carefully: Hard Is The Journey By Li Po Gold vessels of fine wines, thousands a gallon, Jade dishes of rare meats, costing more thousands, I lay my chopsticks down, no more can banquet, I draw my sword and stare wildly about me: Ice bars my way to cross the Yellow River, Snows from dark skies to climb the T'ai-hang mountains!
At peace I drop a hook into a brooklet, At once I'm in a boat but sailing sunward... (Hard is the journey, Hard is the journey, So many turnings, And now where am I?) So when a breeze breaks waves, bringing fair weather, I set a cloud for sails, cross the blue oceans! . gallon (n) – liquid measure of eight pints or .
litres . jade (n) – semi precious stone of dark green colour . chopsticks (n) – pair of thin sticks used to eat Chinese food . banquet (n) – elaborate formal dinner Glossary f.
Answer the following questions carefully. . What is the first stanza of the poem about? .
Why do you think the poet’s tone changes in the second stanza? . What obstacles create the tension in the poet? .
On what note does the poet end the poem? 12th Communicative English Book.indb Page g. Find a word from the poem which means the same as the following: a) unusual b) glare c) truce d) sunny h. On the basis of your understanding of the poem, fill in the blanks of the summary given below.
The poet begins by describing ………………… fine wine and ………… rare meats. When he says that he lays the ……………… down, he means to say that he cannot ……………. and ………… . Anymore because he has to …………….
on the ……………….. ahead of him. When he says he drops a hook into a …………….., it means that his journey has many ……………… and he is bewildered and ……………, but towards the end of the poem, the poet seems to take an …………….. approach.
He describes good weather