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4.1 Please Listen!, When I ask you to listen to me and you start giving me advice, you have not done what I asked., When I ask you to listen to me and you begin to tell me why I shouldn’t feel that way, you are, trampling on my feelings., When I ask you to listen to me and you feel you have to do something to solve my problem,, you have failed me, strange as that may seem., Listen! All I ask is that you listen. Don’t talk or do - just hear me., Advice is cheap; 20 cents will get you both Dear Abby and Billy Graham in the same newspaper., And I can do for myself; I am not helpless. Maybe discouraged and faltering, but not helpless., When you do something for me that I can and need to do for myself, you contribute to my fear and inadequacy., But when you accept as a simple fact that I feel what I feel, no matter how irrational, then I can stop, trying to convince you, and get about this business of understanding what’s behind this irrational feeling., And when that’s clear, the answers are obvious and I don’t need advice., Irrational feelings make sense when we understand what’s behind them., Perhaps that’s why prayer works, sometimes, for some people- because God is mute, and he doesn’t give, advice or try to fix things., God just listens and lets you work it out for yourself., So please listen, and just hear me., And if you want to talk, wait a minute for your turn - and I will listen to you., - Author Unkonwn, , Meanings, irrational : illogical, without any reason or base, I. The poet uses a free, conversational style in his poem. It is also called Colloquial style., Pick out and write down such lines or expressions that support he above statement., Ans. a. You have not done what I asked., b. You are trampling on my feelings., c. All that I ask is that you listen., d. When you do something for me that I can and need to do for myself, you contribute to my fear and, inadequacy., e. But when you accept as a simple fact that I feel what I feel., f. then I can stop trying to convince you.

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II. Put the following expressions in a table of Dos and Don’ts as expressed by the poet. (Answers given, directly), Ans., Dos, Don’ts, 1. please listen, 1. give me advice, 2. just hear me, 2. tell me why, 3. accept my feelings as a simple fact, 3. solve my problem, 4. wait a minute, 4. contribute to my fear, , III. Write in your own words :1. What does the listener do when the poet asks him to just listen? Give 3 points., 2. Why does the poet remark that advice is cheap?, 3. Which two facts show that the poet is confident of overcoming his irrational feeling?, , IV. Answer the following question., 1. According to the poet, how does God help people, when they pray to him for help?, 2. Why should one learn to tackle ones problems by one’s own self?, 3. Why should seniors not over-protect or over-pamper juniors?, 4. Find out and write down some proverbs/axioms/ quotations that convey a message similar to “Self help is the, best help.’, 5. How old is the speaker in the poem?, 6. Who is he/she talking to?, 7. What must have happened before the speaker says all this?, , V. Your own response, 1. Write an informal letter from a teenager to his/her parent, expressing a few thoughts from the poem., (My dear ...../Dearest ......./Hi! ..... Are you surprised to see this letter? I wanted talk to you about this, but then I, thought I will be able to express myself better in a letter.... Love,/Yours lovingly/Yours ............), 2. Read aloud a couple of stanzas of the poem ‘Invictus’ and ‘Please Listen’. In what ways do they differ ? Think, and fill up the table with ‘Yes’ or ‘No’., Invictus, Please Listen, (1) Rhyming lines, (2) Steady rhythm, (3) Uniformity in length of lines, (4) Uniformity of number of lines, in each stanza, (5) Figurative language

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‘Invictus’ is an example of Traditional Poetry. ‘Please Listen’ is an example of Free, Verse., , Appreciation of Poem (Point wise), 1. Title: Please Listen!, 2. Poet: Unknown, 3. Theme/Central idea: The main theme of this poem is that we should listen when people tell us their problem rather, than give advice to them. The poet says that prayers works because God is silent and listens to us when we pray and then, lets us work things out ourselves., 4. Rhyme Scheme: The poem is in free verse. Hence there is no rhyme scheme., 5. Figure of Speech: Repetition. ‘When I ask you to listen to me’. This line has been repeated in the poem for emphasis., 6. Special Feature/Implied meaning, etc.: Implied meaning in this poem is that sometimes a silent person who listen to, our problems and helps us solve our problems is better than one who gives us advice., 7. Favourite lines: Perhaps that’s why prayer works, sometimes,, for some people-because God is mute,, and he doesn’t give advice or try, to fix things., 8. Why I like/don’t like the poem: I like the poem because it tells us on how to behave with people when they discuss, their problems with us., , Appreciation of Poem (Paragraph Format), The poem ‘Please Listen!’ is written by an unknown poet. The main theme of this poem is that we should listen when, people tell us their problems rather than give advice to them. The poet says that prayers work because God is silent and, listens to us when we pray and then lets us work things out for ourselves. The poem is in free verse and hence there is no, rhyme scheme. An example of figure of speech used is Repetition. The line ‘When I ask you to listen to me’ has been, repeated in the poem for emphasis. The implied meaning in this poem is that sometimes a silent person who listen to, our problems and helps us solve our problems is better than one who gives us advice. My favourite lines are ‘Perhaps, that’s why prayer works, sometimes, for some people-because God is mute, and he doesn’t give advice or try to fix, things’. I like the poem because it tells us on how to behave with people when they discuss their problems with us.