10th English unit 5 poem The Secret of the Machines

10th  English

Unit 5 Poem

The Secret of the Machines

10th  English unit 5 poem The Secret of the Machines

Tamilnadu Samacheer Kalvi 10th English Solutions Poem 5 The Secret of the Machines
10th English Guide The Secret of the Machines Textbook Questions and Answers

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A. Answer the following briefly.

1. Who does ‘we’ refer to in first stanza? a) Human beings, b) Machines
Answer:
(b) Machines
10th English Guide Poem 5 The Secret of the Machines

2. Who are the speakers and listeners of this poem?
Answer:
The machines are the speakers. The readers are the listeners.

3.  What metals are obtained from ores and mines? Iron ore
Answer:
Iron, Copper, Nickel, Lead, Tin, Aluminium, Gold and Chromium are some of the metals that are obtained from ores and mines.

4. Mention a few machines which are hammered to design?
Answer:
The wheel, axle, pulley, wedge, screw, lever etc are hammered to design.

Kalvi sri 10th English Guide Poem 5 The Secret of the Machines

5. Mention the names of a few machines that run on water, coal or oil?
Answer:
Generator, steam engine, turbine of power plants etc., run on water, coal or oil.

6. Mention a few machines used for pulling, pushing, lifting, driving, printing, ploughing, reading, and writing etc?
Answer:
Pompey, crane, winch, printer, tiller machine, computer, telephone etc.

7. Are machines humble to accept the evolution of human brain? Why?
Answer:
Yes, Machines are humble. They know that they are nothing more than the creation of human brain.

Kalvi 10th English Guide Poem 5 The Secret of the Machines

8. What feelings are evoked in us by the machines in this poem?
Answer:
Love, pity and forgiveness are the feelings evoked in us by the machines.

9. ‘And a thousandth of an inch to give us play;
Which of the following do the machines want to prove from this line?
(a) Once Machines are fed with fuel, they take a very long time to start.
(b) Once Machines are fed with fuel, they start quickly.
Answer:
(a) Once Machines are fed with fuel, they start quickly.

Kalvi sri 10th English Guide Poem 5 The Secret of the Machines

10. And now, if you will set us to our task, We will serve you four and twenty hours a day!
(a) Who does the pronoun ‘you’ refer to here?
(b) Whose task is referred to as ‘our task’ here?
(c) Open conditional clause is used in the given line. Why ¡s the future tense ‘will set’ and ‘will serve’ used both in the ‘If clause’ and ¡n the ‘main clause?’
(d) Do the machines serve us twenty four hours a day?
(e) Rewrite the given lines with the ending ‘365 days a year.’
Answer:
(a) The pronoun ‘you’ refer to the people
(b) The work of the machines is reffered as ‘our task’ here.
(c) The future tense is used in both the clauses because the people do not make use of the machines properly and maintain them correctly. So the poet stresses that if they are set to their work properly, they will work perfectly.
(d) Yes, the machines serve us twenty four hours a day
(e) And now, if you will set us to our task, we will serve you, 365 days a year.
Poetic Appreciation:

1. “We were taken from the ore bed and the mine
We were melted in the furnace and the pit
We were cast and wrought and hammered to design
We were cut and filled and tooled and gauged to fit”
(a) Where are the ore-metals obtained from?
(b) Where are the metals melted?
(c) Who is the speaker here?
(d) How are the machine designed?
(e) Who does ‘We’ refer to?
(f) Find out the rhyming words ¡n the above lines?
(g) What is the rhyme scheme of the above lines?
(h) What is the figure of speech employed in the above lines?
(i) What is the alliteration word in the 4th line?
Answers:
(a) The metals are obtained from the ore-bed and the time
(b) The metals are melted in the blast furnaces
(c) The machine is the speaker here
(d) The machine are designed by casting and hammering
(e) We refer to machines
(f) Rhyming words: mine – design; pit – fit;
(g) abab
(h) Anaphora
(i) filled – fit

Samacheer Kalvi 10th English Guide Poem 5 The Secret of the Machines

2. “Some water, coal and oil is all we ask
And a thousanth of an inch to give us play
And now, if you will set us to our task
We will serve you four and twenty hours a day?”
(a) What do the machines need to run?
(b) What does the mean “thousandth of an inch to give us play”?
(c) Who will set the task? (or) Who allots the tasks to the machines?
(d) Who will serve us twenty four hours?
(e) Find out the rhyming words in the above lines?
(f) What is the rhyme scheme of the above lines?
(g) What is the figure of speech employed in the last line? / First line
Answers:
(a) The machines need water, coal and oil to run.
(b) A very small place is enough for machines to operate.
(c) Human beings will set the task.
(d) The machine will serve us twenty four hours.
(e) ask – task; play – day;
(f) abab
(g) Hyperbole / Anaphora

Samacheer Kalvi 10th English Guide Poem 5 The Secret of the Machines

3. “We can pull and haul and push and lift and drive
We can print and plough and weave and heat and light
We can run and race and swim and fly and dive
We can see and hear and count and read and write”
(a) What kind of works can machines do?
(b) What are the rhyming words in the above lines?
(c) What is the rhyme scheme of the above lines?
(d) What ¡s the figure of speech employed in the third line? and first line?
Answers:
(a) Machines can pull, haul, push, drive, print, plough and weave.
(b) drive – dive; light – write;
(c) abab
(d) Personification / Oxymoron
Samacheer Kalvi 10th English Guide Poem 5 The Secret of the Machines

4. “But remember, please, the law by which we live
We are not built to comprehend a lie
We can neither love nor pity nor forgive
if you make a slip in handling us you die!”
(a) What does the machine ask us to remember?
(b) Do machines purposefully harm us?
(c) What is the result of mishandling machine?
(d) What are the rhyming words given ¡n the above lines?
(e) What is the rhyme scheme of the above lines?
(f) What is the figure of speech employed in the third line?
Answers:
(a) They are operated according to the law.
(b) No, Machines have no feelings, so they never purposefully harm us.
(c) Mishandling machines causes death.
(d) live-forgive; lie-die;
(e) abab
(f) Personification
Samacheer Kalvi 10th English Guide Poem 5 The Secret of the Machines

5. “Though our smoke may hide the heavens from your eyes
It will vanish and the stars will shine again
Because,for all our power and weight and size
We are nothing more than children of your brain”
(a) Who is the speaker of these lines?
(b) Whom does ‘Children’ refer to?
(c) What do machines give out when they run?
(d) Mention the major themes of the poem?
(e) What are the rhyming words given in the above lines?
(f) What ¡s the rhyme scheme of the above lines?
(g) What is the figure of speech employed in the 1st line?
(h) What ¡s the figure of speech employed in the last line?
Answers:
(a) The machines are the speakers.
(b) Children refer to the machines.
(c) When they run machines give out smoke.
(d) Significance of machines, Advance of Technology.
(e) eyes-size; again-brain.
(f) abab.
(g) Metaphor.
(h) Personification.

(OR)

Write the outline of the poem “The secret of the Machines”, (or)
What feelings are evoked in us by the machines in the poem, “The secret of the machines”.

(OR)

Introduction:
The poem “The secret of machines” deal with the problems of model technology. The poet informs about how the machines are produced.
Tools of Machines:
Machines are made from different kinds of metals. Metals are found in the earth in the form of ores. Ores are taken from the ore-bed and the mines. They were melted in the furnace and the pit. They were hammered to design. They are made into tools of perfection in appearance and quality.
Need of Machines:
Machines run by water, coal and oil. A very small place is enough for machines to operate. They are ready to serve us all around a day. But it did not get tired.
Uses of Machines:
Machines are used to pull; to drag without effort; to push; to life and to drive. Machines are used to print in papers, to plough the fields; to weave cloths; to heat water and oil. They are used in running, racing, swimming and flying. Machines are able to see, hear, count, read and write.
Feelings of Machines:
Machines run on certain rules. They can neither love nor pity. We should handle it carefully. It’s smoke may hide the sky from our eyes. But the stars will shine again. Machines are powerful. They have no feelings. They are the children of human brain.
Conclusion:
The machines explain how they serve the humanity and state that they are our creation. Machines cannot create, they just transform things.

(OR)

Lesson: The secret of machines
Poet: Rudyard kipling
Theme: Importance of machines
Machines are made from different kinds of metals. The ores of metals are taken from the ore-bed and mines. They were melted in the furnace and the pit.
They were hammered to design. Machines run by water, coal and oil. They can pull, haul, push, lift, plough, heat, run, swim, fly, see, hear, count, read and write. They don’t lie. They can neither love nor pity. We should handle it carefully. Its smoke may hide the sky from our eyes. But the stars will shine again. Machines are powerful. They are the children of human brain.

(OR)

Machines are made from ores.
Man made machines to do work.
They need water, coal and oil.
But they work all around a day.
Machines are powerful and mighty.
They obey human commands.
They run on certain rules.
They have no feelings like love or pity.
They are our creations.
They are the children of human beings.
Samacheer Kalvi 10th English Guide Poem 5 The Secret of the Machines

B. Write your favourite stanza from the poem and find the rhyming scheme.
Some water coal and oil ¡s all we ask
And a thousandth of an inch to give us play.
And now, if you will set us to our task
We will serve you four and twenty hours a day!
Answer:
The rhyming words are “ask, task and play, day.
Hence, the rhyme scheme is a b a b
C. Read the poem and find the lines for the following poetic devices or write your own example.
(I) Personification:
We can pull and haul and push and lift and drive.
Here the human attributes are given to the machines.

(II) Alliteration:
(a) We can print and plough and weave and heat and light.
Here the alliterated words are ‘print, plough’.
(b) We can run and race and swim and fly and dive
The alliterated words are ‘run, race’
(c) But remember, please, the law by which we live the words “Law, live; which, we” are alliterated.
(d) We can neither love nor pity nor forgive.
The alliterated words in this line are: “neither,nor”
(III) Assonance:
Some water, coal and oil is all we ask.
The words ‘all, ask’ are in assonance.
(IV) Hyperbole:
We will serve you four and twenty hours a day!
The figure of speech used here is hyperbole.
The Secret of the Machines Summary of the poem

Samacheer Kalvi 10th English Guide Poem Chapter 5 The Secret of the Machines img 1
The poem ‘The secret of machines’ describes about a machine’s life. It describes about the innocent manner of the machines. The machines are made by cutting, filing, etc and they work for four and twenty hours a day. The machines ask humans to remember that they work by the law of physics. If they are not cared properly the results will be fatal. The machines tells us that they are not build to comprehend a lie. At last the machines agree that they are not only the children of human brain.
Glossary:
furnace (n) – an enclosed structure in which material is heated to very high temperatures
wrought (adj) – beaten out of shape by hammering
gauge (n) – an instrument that measures perfection in appearance and quality
thousandth (adv) – a fraction of thousand
haul (y) – pull or drag with effort or force
comprehend (v) – grasp, understand
vanish(v) – disappear suddenly and completely