Soft Storm is a popular poem written by Abhi Subedi which expresses the situational kindness of the human being. “Soft Storm,” by Subedi, is the feeling that is developed with a touch of compassion in the speaker, which contemplates over the absurdities of tumultuous times.
In this article, we’ve listed all the question answers as well as the summary of Soft Storm Exercise as part of the class 12 English curriculum. Here is the table of contents:
- Soft Storm Exercise: All Question and Answers For Class 12 English
- Soft Storm Exercise: Reference To The Context For Class 12 English
- Soft Storm Exercise: Reference Beyond The Text For Class 12 English
- Soft Storm Summary For Class 12 English
Soft Storm Exercise: All Question and Answers For Class 12 English
Listed below are all the questions and answers for the Soft Storm exercise for Class 12 English.
a. When does the speaker grow soft? Enlist the occasions when he grows soft.
The speaker grows soft on various occasions. Following are some of the occasions when he grows soft:
- After he hears the tumult and crashes into the mysterious stillness.
- When the moon sang of lampposts and gutters in this seamless city
- When the moon skids down on the walls speaking the language of posters, politics, rituals, and reasons.
- When homeless children in Thamel cried with hunger
- When he sees a man being beaten mercilessly without any reason in hard times.
- When he saw a blood-stained shirt and so on.
b. What do you understand by ‘this seamless city’?
We mean a city with no gaps when we say “this seamless city.” A city in which everything moves or is swapped in commerce without any entrances. This seamless city might also represent Kathmandu, a city with a lot of problems. Illegal activities, pollution, poor people’s sufferings, so-called rituals and justifications, worthless posters, political gossip, and so on can all be found here.
c. Describe the poor children portrayed in the poem.
➜ Under the bat-bearing trees of Kesharmahal in Thamel, poor homeless and parentless youngsters cry out in hunger and poverty. They are deprived of their constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights.
d. What do you understand by ‘the unwedded gardens of history’?
The poet often displays his or her deep sympathy for the chaotic and nostalgic culture that exists in the many Kathmandu suburbs and symbolically depicts the historical unwedded gardens. The Kathmandu valley’s cultural authority has been continuously wrapped without being decorated as a wedding or a bride. Flowers cultivated on the productive grounds of these gardens have been removed and destroyed. Their conflict is not concentrated, but since they are fragmented and fractured, the unmarried women suffer. The strange gestures dance to monstrous and demonic rhythms. The disorderly rural valley without any independent authority is referred to as the “unmarried garden.”
e. Why was the forlorn child wailing?
The forlorn child was wailing to find his mother in the corridors of violent history.
f. What do you understand by ‘soft storm’?
By ‘soft storm’ we understand the inner turbulent feelings of the speaker in an environment of chaotic society and chaos. Storm simply means bad weather but to associate soft with it means turbulent times which the poet sees in contemporary society.
g. Why does the speaker call our time ‘mad time’?
Because our time in current society is not under the control of the constitution or the law of the nation, the speaker calls it “mad time.” Corruption, favoritism, sociopolitical unfairness among the people, and environmental degradation are all prevalent in society, according to him.
h. What does the speaker want to do in “hard times”?
In “hard time”, the speaker wants to end his soft storm in one’s little sky and on his feet. He wants it to melt like a rainbow and he wants to turn his aggressive thought into a creative beautiful natural dance. He wants to turn it into an atmosphere of love and flow in the waves of someone on his lake so that someone becomes generous.
Soft Storm Exercise: Reference To The Context For Class 12 English
Listed below are the answers to the ‘Reference to the context’ part of the Soft Storm exercise.
a. The poet uses the word ‘soft’ with the words like ‘storm’ and ‘gale’, which generally refer to disorder and violence. What effect does the poet achieve through the use of such anomalous expressions?
By anomalous expressions, we mean those sentences which are well-formed syntactically but are meaningless from the point of view of meanings. The most famous examples in poetry are ‘soft storms’ and ‘tenderness rose like a gale’ is normal or expected but contradictory. Through this, the poet achieves psychological, social, political, and environmental influences. He combines two contrasting ideas to express his inner experiences which he feels in contemporary oppressed society.
b. What is the speaker’s attitude towards the time he describes in the poem?
The speaker has a less optimistic view of time since he observes no particular job being done by humans at particular times. Since he observes several weird occurrences all around him, he believes that the time is misaligned. He is having problems because society is out of control and in complete turmoil. The speaker of the poem thus has a bad opinion of the time.
c. What is the speaker like? Is he a rebel? Why? Why not?
The speaker looks like a rebel. He seemed to be really upset about how chaotic his city is. He observes strange events taking on around him. As he observes the world around him, he begins to consider what it means to be a rebel. He appears to be utterly unsatisfied and verbally vents his rage. The phrases in the poem reveal his rebellious attitude. He appears to be in opposition to all of these strange things that are occurring around him. Here, his rebellious spirit is seen to be subdued and gentle rather than in its extreme form.
d. Explain the stanza below in your own words:
I became soft
when I saw
a blood-stained shirt
speaking in the earth’s ears
with bruised human lips
in the far corner
under the moon
of history and dreams
playing hide and seek
in open museums
of human times.
These lines have been taken from Abhi Subedi’s poem “Soft Storm”. Here, in the fourth stanza of the poem, the speaker is expressing his feelings which he has experienced in his city during the nighttime.
Here we find the use of different imageries by the speaker which makes him feel so bad about his place and people in complete disorder. The speaker expresses his uneasy feelings when he sees a person in a miserable condition during the night. The speaker experiences softness when he sees a person in pain with a blood-stained shirt.
The person is lying on the ground under the moon. The man with his bruised lips tries to call out for help but the land of history and dreams under the moon and its people seem quite indifferent towards the victim. The play of hiding and seek is seen among people where there is no place for humanity. The open museum of human time refers to the lawless time when people are quite indifferent and self-centered.
Soft Storm Exercise: Reference Beyond The Text For Class 12 English
Listed below are the answers to the ‘Reference Beyond The Text’ part of the Soft Storm exercise.
a. Write an essay, highlighting your dissatisfaction towards social, cultural, economic, and political issues prevailing in Nepal at present.
➜ Social, Cultural, Economic and Political issues prevailing in Nepal
I’m dissatisfied with many aspects of today’s society, including gender inequality, discrimination against women, the trafficking of girls, violence against women, and more.
I oppose this multiparty democratic system that is not founded on the rule of law and human rights and is simply referred to in the constitution as “independence,” “freedom,” and “fairness.” Those in charge of the country’s politics are essentially engaging in dirty politics, disregarding the people’s constitutional rights.
Nepotism and favoritism are rampant, and the whole system is riddled with them. A quarter of Nepal’s population is still living below the poverty level despite UN forecasts that poverty is decreasing. There are disparities in Values and Customs.
Favoritism and nepotism are widespread, and the entire system is infested with them. Despite UN projections that poverty is declining, a quarter of Nepal’s population remains impoverished. Differences in Values and Customs exist.
Because of the country’s economic and social difficulties, social shame, and limited access to education, a huge portion of Nepal’s population is unable to participate in public events and achieve social and cultural equality.
This country’s social system is something with which I strongly disagree. Dalits, the most disadvantaged group in the caste system, are particularly affected by the lack of economic possibilities and restrictions they face as a result of their status.
b. Suppose you are a rebel, who wants to change the society by eliminating malpractices and anomalies prevailing in the society. Draft a speech outlining your vision for change.
Respected gentlemen and ladies, as well as my dear friends, today we’ve come together to speak out against societal malpractices and anomalies that are impeding our country’s prosperity. In today’s culture, common social malpractices or social ills include alcoholism, racism, and child abuse. Other societal difficulties in Nepal include caste, child labor, child marriage, illiteracy, gender disparity, superstitions, religious disagreements, and so on. The vast majority of individuals in society reject social ills.
Our forefathers divided individuals into occupational categories, such as Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Sudras. Sudras are the most downtrodden ethnic group. People from the other three castes are not permitted to approach them and are not even permitted to enter the temples. These were the bad outcomes. The second concern is child labor and child marriage. A youngster without education is like a bird without wings.
In today’s environment, your child would face several challenges if he or she did not receive a strong education. Every situation has an acceptable age. Make your children study till they are ready to work. Illiteracy is one of the socioeconomic difficulties. As educated folks, we must promote awareness among the uneducated.
To overcome these concerns, the government must operate more effectively. The first and most crucial step in addressing all of the issues should be to educate the people. Much work remains to be done to cleanse our society of the remnants of a range of societal evils. “The world is a hazardous place to live, not because of terrible individuals, but because of those who do nothing about it,” Albert Einstein said. This concludes my discussion. Thank you very much, and I wish you all the best in your efforts to rid society of these social ills as soon as possible.
Soft Storm Summary For Class 12 English
Here is the summary for Soft Storm for class 12 English.
Soft Storm is a popular poem written by Abhi Subedi which expresses the situational kindness of the human being. In this poem, the speaker is presented as a rebel in society against societal misleading. The speaker represented himself as supportive of the bad situation. The poem indirectly attacks male practices of Nepali society very minutely. The poem is a bit longer than other poems in this book. It is written in free verse. It has a beautiful blend of natural and social descriptions.
The poem describes an environmental disorder in Nepalese culture in the first stanza, using terms like tumult, eerie, and so on, before moving on to a more positive condition with the phrase “sky grew like crocuses, ” implying the blooming of Irish floral family plants over stones. These plants reach a height of five inches. When the moon is close to set, he speaks on posters and politics, as well as about a variety of social events. It refers to a group of people discussing social activities while they are in front of each other.
As the writer observes the tenderness of the rose from his rooftops, he softens by merging both nature and the social milieu. This simile is used by the author to combine two contrasting topics, such as the gentleness of a rose and the power of a strong wind, and to critique different social malpractices done by members of society. Then he depicts the moon singing and lightning with a continuous city, which some interpret as a city with an easy and friendly environment.
In the second line of his poem Soft Storm, he describes homeless and parentless youngsters in Thamel seeking for food and shelter. He attacks crooked government leaders who are solely concerned with themselves and their families, rather than with their poor citizens and orphans, via this. These future pillars are in danger and live in appalling conditions. The predominance of social problems in the country is one of the key reasons for all of this.
On the other side, when he returns from such a commotion (confusing area) where people were dancing with crazy steps, parties, and ceremonies in skyscrapers and enormous hotels, he remembers his old days when people were free to experience actual freedom.
In the third stanza, he softens again as he imagines a forlorn (depressed and lonely) child sobbing and searching for his mother here and there while wearing a transistor around his neck. The youngster is afraid. A man gets brutally assaulted in front of his family members for no apparent cause. It asserts that in the contemporary day, people are apathetic about one another and that domination reigns supreme. Because of these illegal actions, the speaker revolts against the system.
The poet portrays a man with blood-stained clothing and wounded human lips who is unable to speak because the mighty denizens of the night have muted his voice in the fourth verse. The game of hide-and-seek connects the landowners with the laborers.
In the fifth stanza, the speaker expresses his dissatisfaction with the words not listened to and not waiting for the storm for its Leela (play). The poet expresses positive feelings for the inhabitants in the sixth stanza by using grown-up Irish flowering plants over the stone, storms going to public places, and the sun shining with varied colors like a rainbow. Other metaphors, such as soft storm, silent pages, forlorn shirts, celebrations for the gods, and so on, are in a chaotic state since they are under the power of the nation’s disturbing rulers.
He recounts several causes of his soft heart in the seventh stanza of the soft storm, including treasured objects, contemporary men’s apathy and greed, criminal deeds, a disturbed and spoilt mother earth as a result of human crime, and the dreadful lives of other vulnerable species.
In the final sentence, the speaker emphasizes that he wants independence not just for himself, but also for all the animals of this homeland. He enjoys the gorgeous and calm sky and desires to dance freely, free of societal limitations, in a circle that goes round and round to the natural soothing symphony of gentle storms and melodious birds chirping.