Section II - Lines 9 to 16 — lesson. English Language CBSE, Class 6.

PUMPA - SMART LEARNING

எங்கள் ஆசிரியர்களுடன் 1-ஆன்-1 ஆலோசனை நேரத்தைப் பெறுங்கள். டாப்பர் ஆவதற்கு நாங்கள் பயிற்சி அளிப்போம்

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We hated one another.

The afternoon turned black.
Then suddenly my brother
Thumped me on the back,
And said, “Oh, come along!
We can’t go on all night —
I was in the wrong.”
So he was in the right.

Explanation:

The fight broke out between the siblings and quickly escalated into a serious quarrel, Eleanor continues the story saying that both brother and sister hated each other. The sibling love and all their moments of togetherness, sharing, caring, and love had been completely forgotten because of this heated exchange of words. In line \(10\), she goes on to say that the afternoon turned black. This can be taken in two ways. One, the fight between the siblings was so bad that it turned the afternoon, which is the brightest time of the day to darkness. Two, the siblings were so absorbed in their fight that they had not noticed the time passing as the afternoon became dusk. In the first explanation, it highlights the darkness in mood present in the minds of both the siblings and in the second explanation, it shows how a fight can make any person forget about the outside world and stay completely concentrated in being angry upon each other.

Suddenly all those moments of brotherly and sisterly love are lost (Image for illustrative purpose only)

There is a sudden shift in the dark mood of the poet, and her brother as in lines \(11\) and \(12\) her brother takes the first step towards both brother and sister becoming caring, friendly and loving siblings again by thumping Eleanor on the back. Her brother is unable to hold the grudge of anger anymore and simply tells her the truth that no matter what the disagreement between them, they cannot hold a grudge against each other all night. This shows that even though the fight seemed big and dangerous, it was only a short amount of time that they could be angry at each other because after all, they are brother and sister and cannot live without one another. These are the feelings of the brother in lines \(13\) and \(14\).

The best siblings are ones who set apart their differences and continue to love each other (Image for illustrative purpose only)

Finally, we can see that Eleanor also agrees with her brother to let the silly fight go. In the last two lines (\(15\) &\(16\)) she said that she was wrong to be angry with her brother and since her brother wants this fight to end and their relationship as brother and sister to continue, the brother first agrees that he was wrong and told Eleanor that she was right. The beauty of the last two lines is that in the last line (line \(16\)), she realizes that she had been equally wrong in thinking that she could keep on fighting with her brother. At this moment, the entire quarrel seems pointless and its result, whether the brother was right or the sister, didn't seem important anymore. Hence, she immediately drops the fight, and both brother and sister become friendly once again.

They were born into the same family after all! (Image for illustrative purpose only)

Meanings of difficult words:

No.	Word	Meaning
1	To be absorbed	Giving all of a person's attention to the matter.
2	Dusk	Another word for evening.
3	Thumping	A friendly pat, generally on the back.
4	Grudge	To hold anger against a person.

Hidden meanings: Sometimes, in a poem, the same set of lines can be seen in two different meanings. Both meanings would be correct and aptly fit into the lines that are written by the poet, in this poem looking at line no. \(10\).

Example:

'The afternoon turned black.'

The afternoon turning black is a sign that evening or dusk is coming, but what we can see is that it also talks about both Eleanor's and her brother's mindset about the fight. Black is generally a colour which is associated with bad feelings. Hence, it shows both the day turning into evening and the bad taste the fight had left on both the poet and her brother's minds.

Reference:

National Council of Educational Research and Training (2006). Honeysuckle. The Quarrel (pp. 39-40). Published at the Publication Division by the Secretary, National Council of Educational Research and Training, Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi.

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4. Section II - Lines 9 to 16

Theory: