Class 9 Poem 6 No Men Are Foreign Fan Extra Question

Class 9 Poem 6 No Men Are Foreign Extra Question

Question What should we remember about men?

Answer: We should remember that no men are strange.

Question What should we remember about countries?

Answer: We should remember that no countries are foreign.

Question Where do we all walk upon?

Answer: We all walk on the same earth.

Question Where shall we all lie in the end?

Answer: In the end, we all shall lie on the earth.

Question What are all men fed by?

Answer: All men are fed by peaceful harvests.

Question . What do you mean by peaceful harvest?

Answer: By peaceful harvests, we mean the crops grown during the period of peace.

Question . What do you mean ‘wars’ long winter?

Answer: It means the painful days of the war when we are kept indoors.

Question . What are we doing to the human earth?

Answer: We are polluting the earth.

Question . Why should we not hate others?

Answer: We should not hate others because they all are our brothers.

Question . What do you mean by ‘hells of fire and dust’?

Answer: ‘Hells of fire and dust’ means the wars that cause a lot of destruction.

Question . “Beneath all uniforms…” What uniforms do you think the poet is speaking about?

Answer: The poet is speaking about the dresses or uniforms that armies of different countries wear. Though these ‘uniforms’ are absolutely different in appearance the bodies under them are the same. The poet tries to convey that the differences among the people of different countries are superficial. Essentially, all human beings are the same.

Question . Whom does the poet refer to as ‘our brothers’ and why?

Answer: The poet refers to the people living in other countries as ‘our brothers’. He says so because the superficial dissimilarities of complexion, language, dress, culture and nationality do not, and must not, segregate us as human beings. Human wants, human needs, human hopes, human emotions are the same anywhere in the world.

Question . How does the poet suggest (in the first stanza) that all people on earth are the same?

Answer: In the first stanza, the poet suggests that no human being is strange or different. Beneath the superficial surface of our bodies, we all have similar hearts, minds and souls. We all breathe and live in a similar manner. The earth is our common asset and one day we all shall die and be buried in the same way.

Question . What does the poet mean when he says, ‘in which we all shall lie’?

Answer: The poet means that we all shall lie under the same earth. Here ‘lie’ means to be buried after death. This is to highlight that all of us have to meet the same fate, sooner or later, hence there is no point in hating each other.

Question . In stanza 1, find five ways in which we are alike. Pick out the words phrases suggesting these similarities.

Answer: Following are the five phrases that suggest that we are all alike.

(1) No men are strange

(2) No countries foreign 

(3) a single body breathes like ours

(4) the land our brothers walk upon is earth like this

(5) in which we all shall lie

Question . Why does the poet call harvests ‘peaceful’ and war as ‘winter’?

Answer: Harvests are called ‘peaceful’ because they bring abundance and prosperity and they thrive in peaceful times only. War, on the other hand, is like the severe and harsh ‘winter’ that ruins the crops and starves people. It is only the peaceful times that bring harmony and contentment. War destroys everything and forces people to face hunger, poverty, disease and death.

Question . How many common features can you find in stanza 2? Pick out the words.

Answer: The common features listed in stanza 2 are:

Like us, the people in other countries too enjoy

(i) sun (ii) air (iii) water (iv) peaceful harvests

Like us, they too hate starvation caused by long drawn wars

Like us, they too work hard for their livelihood by using their hands.

Question . ‘They have eyes like ours’. What similarity does the poet find in the eyes of people all over the world?

Answer: The poet finds that eyes of men all over the world have similar sights and scenes to see and experience the phenomena of waking up and sleeping in a similar way. Hence, the so-called strange and foreign people to have eyes just like us. Even though the colour and shape of their eyes are different from ours, they bring us identical experiences and perform a similar function.

Question . “…whenever we are told to hate our brothers….” When do you think this happens and why?

Answer: Whenever their own importance or existence is in danger, politicians and religious leaders make us believe that our existence and our interests are in danger and provoke us to hate our fellow human beings. This happens when we allow our reason to be swayed by our fears and hatred.

Question  In one of the stanzas, the poet finds similarity in human hands. What is it?

Answer: The poet feels that people of all countries have to work hard in a similar fashion to earn their livelihood. This is done by them with the help of their hands. It is the hands that do all the work in the world and it is the hands that are a source of all creativity\

Question . Who tells us ‘to hate our brothers’? Should we do as we are told at such times? What does the poet say?

Answer: The politically motivated and power-hungry people tell us to hate our brothers during wartime. The poet says that we should not get swayed by such provocation. If we do so, it would result in our own dispossession, betrayal and condemnation.

Question . How does man pollute this earth by going to war?

Answer: Man pollutes the earth by causing death and destruction and by spreading hatred and enmity through wars. The war also causes irreparable damage to the earth’s environment by polluting it with dust, debris and smoke caused by war weapons.

Question . What does the poet say about ‘hating our brothers’?

Answer: The poet strongly condemns ‘hating our brothers’. He feels that when we indulge in such negativity, we actually harm ourselves. We deprive ourselves of the love of our brothers and earn condemnation for such depravity.

Question . Why does the poet say that people of the world should live in peace and not go to war?

Answer: The poet advocates living in peace because peace brings progress, prosperity and cheer in this world. He advises mankind to shun wars because wars bring death, exploitation, want, poverty and starvation. They also defile the earth and pollute the very air we all breathe.

Question . How does the poet propose to win over other countries?

Answer: The poet proposes to win over other countries through the divine force of love. It is a universal fact that this world responds positively to love and kindness. So the poet plans to use it to end all hatred and war and create peaceful heaven on earth.

Question . Who, according to you, is the speaker in this poem?

Answer: The speaker in this poem is the poet himself who stands for the goodness of the human heart that propagates love, peace and universal brotherhood. He is a champion of love, peace and joy.

Question . In four stanzas out of five, the poet uses the word “Remember”. Why do you think he has repeated this word so many times?

Answer: By repeating the word ‘remember’, the poet wishes us never to forget that our ideas, emotions and experiences are similar to that of the people we conventionally think of as ‘strange’ or ‘foreign’. He wants to emphasise that all human beings are identical in nature and phases of human life are the same anywhere in the world.

Question . Mention any two ways in which people living in other countries are similar to us.

Answer: All people in the world have eyes similar to ours. They too experience the phenomena of sleeping and waking up like us. The emotion of love too is experienced and responded to in a similar manner by all the people. Everyone’s physical strength can be countered with the power of love.

Question . What is the central idea of the poem?

Answer: The central idea of the poem is that all human beings are similar and equal. Hence, we should love one another and live in peace and harmony. Universal brotherhood and harmonious co-existence will not only unite us but will also save our mother earth from getting polluted and damaged.

Question . Why do countries engage in wars and to what effect?

Answer: Vested interests of the power-hungry people instigate the common man to hate fellow-beings living in different parts of the world. This narrow approach leads to wars and results in bloodshed and irreparable loss of innocent lives.

Question . How does the title sums up the theme of the poem “No Men are Foreign”?

Answer: Right through the poem, the poet talks about the concept of universal brotherhood and peaceful co-existence, without any place for any kind of prejudice. He emphasises the fact that all human beings are inherently the same and divisions based on nation, caste, colour, creed or religion are baseless. James Kirkup, the poet, has beautifully conveyed these ideas through the title of the poem “No Men Are Foreign”.

Question . “No Men are Foreign” is an anti-war poem. Comment.

Ans: “No Men Are Foreign” is a peace poem which propagates the idea of human brotherhood and peaceful co-existence by annihilating all war and hatred. War harms both the suppressed and the suppressor. It brings about death, destruction, deprivation’ starvation and pollution. Hence, wars should be shunned forever.

Question . (i) “Beneath all uniforms…” What uniforms do you think the poet is speaking about?

(ii) How does the poet suggest that all people on earth are the same?

Answer: (i) The poet thinks about the various dresses that people of various countries wear but beneath these dresses, the human body is the same.

(ii) The poet says that nobody is different and unique. No country is foreign. A single body breathes beneath all uniforms. Moreover, the land is the same everywhere.

Question . How does the poet suggest that all people on earth are the same?

Answer: The poet suggests that all people on earth are the same. They breathe, eat and walk in the same way. They all use the same light of the sun, air and water. They all love peace and hate war and have similar eyes. The poet says:

No men are foreign and no countries strange;

we all have a common entity of being humans.

Question . When do we defile the earth?

Answer: When we take up arms against each other, we defile the earth. Wars cause enormous suffering without yielding any result.

Question . How do all human beings live and suffer the same on the earth?

Answer: The poet says that all live and suffer the same. The human body is the same everywhere. All live under the same sun, use the same air and water. All prosper when there is peace. All starve when there is war. War destroys everyone equally.

Question . How do we defile and outrage the ‘human earth’ that is ours?

Answer: Hate breeds hatred. Narrow ideas pollute and defile this earth which belongs to all mankind. ‘Hells of fire and dust’ are our own creations. They pollute and outrage the ‘innocence of air that is our own’. We should remember that the mother earth belongs to all lands and all people.

Question . Explain: ‘Are fed by peaceful harvests’.

Answer: It means the fact that humanity or the world progresses only in peaceful conditions. It is only in the time of harmony and satisfaction that brings prosperity for all.

Question What is the air full of? How is it polluted?

Answer: The air is full of innocence. It is polluted by wars and hatred and it also controls the innocent minds of people. Thus, wars and hatred are not good for us.

Question . What will happen if we hate our brothers?

Answer: Hatred is our biggest enemy in the world. If we hate our brothers it means we deprive ourselves of what we are. It means our self-betrayal and self-condemnation only.

Question . A great persons tell us to live cordially and as brothers. But we people tend to fight over trivial issues. Why don’t we live with others harmoniously? What makes us fight and hurt others?

Answer: It is true that many people have been telling us to live harmoniously since long. We never follow their message. We also know that our greed to get more wealth and power cannot give us a peaceful life. But some deep-rooted evils in our society make us draw a distinction between people. We know that all customs and conventions have been made by people. God has made all people equal. But we make differences between people for our selfish motives. We start to hate even our family members due to our ego to be more powerful. By doing so, we, at last, harm ourselves. We become objects of hatred for society. In society, people dislike selfish people.

So before going to hurt other’s feeling, first of all, we should think whether doing such act with others is justified by other people or society. We should learn to live with others as brothers. We should learn to tolerate, forgive and compromise. Only in this way, our life would be happy and peaceful.

Question How are we responsible for war? Explain with reference to the poem No Men are Foreign’.

Answer: Everyone is responsible for the war. If we start hating our brothers, we will become the cause of tension. And the tension is converted into war one day. So nobody should hate and despise anyone. Our biased and impolite behaviour toward fellow human beings becomes the cause of unnecessary wars.

Question The land our brothers walk upon. Is earth like this, in which we all shall lie!’ What does the poet mean to say the above lines? Explain.

Answer: The poet means to say in these lines that it is the same land on which we walk and after our death, we would be buried in the same earth. Through these lines, the poet tells us that we do all our activities on the same land. We get food from this land. We make our houses on this land and we get many other things from the same land, then why do we say to some people to be `others’?. No one is other. We live in the same house or universe as a family. Then why do we create discrimination against some people? Why do we fight with our brothers? It is all because of our greed to get more wealth and power. We want to have more wealth and power than others. In the pursuit to fulfill this desire, we fight with others and hurt them. The poet also tells us that one day all of us have to die. Nothing would remain ours. We will have to leave all the things on the same earth. At last, we all will be buried in the same earth.

Question How are we alike? Explain in context with the poem.

Answer: We all are alike. We have the same body structure. All of us need the same air to breathe, the same sun to get sunlight and warmth and the same water for many purposes. Our daily routine is also almost the same. We get up in the morning, take a bath, have breakfast and go to work or school. All of us long for love. We all sleep at night and wake up in the morning.

When our needs and feelings are the same, then we should treat all people equally.

We should not look down upon anybody on the basis of his/her colour, caste, region or gender. We should treat everyone as our brother and sister.

Unfortunately, some self-centered people fight with others and try to hurt them. They think that others have harmed them. We should not think that other people are ‘others’. They are also our brothers. If they make any mistakes, we should forgive them or compromise with them.

Question  What do you mean by peaceful harvest?

Answer By peaceful harvests, we mean the crops grown during the period of peace.

Question  What do you mean by ‘hells of fire and dust’?

Answer ‘Hells of fire and dust’ means the wars that cause a lot of destruction.

Question What is the air full of? How is it polluted?

Answer The air is full of innocence. It is polluted by wars and hatred and it also controls the innocent minds of people. Thus, wars and hatred are not good for us.

Question How does the poet prove that there are no foreign countries?

Answer Everyone shares the same sun, earth and air. They have the same body structure and its functioning elements. So there should be no biased attitude towards anyone.

Question How are all the people of the world brothers?

Answer All human beings are similar in structure as we are all flesh and blood. We walk on the same land as long as we are alive and will be buried in the same earth when we die. We also use the same sun, air and water.

Question How can we be one people though we belong to different nations?

Answer Even if we belong to different nations, we can be one people because we all have the same body and we live and die on the same planet. All of us enjoy the same sun, air and water.

Question “…whenever we are told to hate our brothers….” When do you think this happens and why?

Answer Whenever their own importance or existence is in danger, politicians and religious leaders make us believe that our existence and our interests are in danger and provoke us to hate our fellow human beings. This happens when we allow our reason to be swayed by our fears and hatred.

Question What are peaceful harvests? What do the peaceful harvests symbolise?

Answer Peaceful harvests are the bountiful crops grown during times of peace. They are said to be peaceful because they can be nurtured only during times of peace. They symbolise happiness and prosperity.

Question Who tells us ‘to hate our brothers’? Should we do as we are told at such times? What does the poet say?

Answer The politically motivated and power-hungry people tell us to hate our brothers during wartime. The poet says that we should not get swayed by such provocation. If we do so, it would result in our own dispossession, betrayal and condemnation.

Question What does the poet mean when he says “Remember, no men are strange, no countries foreign”?

Answer The poet is making an impassioned plea telling readers to give up extreme nationalism and perceived differences between people belonging to different nations. We are brothers because we inhabit the same planet, drink the same water and breathe the same air, but we feel different and behave like enemies at times. The poet wants us to give up our misplaced patriotism and live in universal brotherhood.

Question What does the poet say about ‘hating our brothers’?

Answer The poet strongly condemns ‘hating our brothers’. He feels that when we indulge in such negativity, we actually harm ourselves. We deprive ourselves of the love of our brothers and earn condemnation for such depravity.

Question What does the poet mean when he says “by war’s long winter starv’d”?

Answer If a war is raging in a country then that country faces the threat of starvation since all agricultural production comes to a halt. Just as there are no crops in winter, war renders a land barren. That is why there is a shortage of food in winters and in times of war, too, there is deprivation and famine. People starve to death. Thus, starvation is associated with war and with winter.

Question What message does the poet want to convey?

Answer The poet wants to say that there should be no discrimination or enmity between people on the basis otheir appearance religion or region. It is inhuman to hate one because of one’s different background. The poet wants that the people should love their fellow human beings as all men are brothers.

Question How does air remind us of our sharing the earth? How is air innocent?

Answer Although human beings have divided land, the air we breathe remains undivided. Air doesn’t belong to any country or territory, but moves freely across countries and is breathed by all men and women. Air is essentially clean so is it innocent. Human beings wage wars and raise dust and emit smoke, thereby polluting the air.

Question Who, according to you, is the speaker in this poem?

Answer The speaker in this poem is the poet himself who stands for the goodness of the human heart that propagates love, peace and universal brotherhood. He is a champion of love, peace and joy.

Question How do we defile the earth?

Answer We defile the earth by considering other human beings as our enemies, outsiders and foreigners; by dividing our earth into countries and by developing enmity against another group of people. We wage wars and the weapons of war pollute the air we breathe, by raising dust and smoke and by piling debris on earth.

Question What is the central idea of the poem?

Answer The central idea of the poem is that all human beings are similar and equal. Hence, we should love one another and live in peace and harmony. Universal brotherhood and harmonious co-existence will not only unite us but will also save our mother earth from getting polluted and damaged.

Question  What happens when we hate our brothers?

Answer When we hate our brothers, we try to take away what they own, we betray our brothers and we criticise them. But when we hate our brothers, in effect we rob, cheat and condemn our own selves. We do not realise that in perpetuating hatred on our brothers, we are actually harming ourselves.

Question How does the poet bring out in the extract the idea that men are not strangers to one another?

Answer The poet specifies that just like us they wake and sleep and respond to love. Even if we look different on the exterior we all can recognise and understand the universal language of love and brotherhood.

Question  What does the poet mean by “In every land is common life that all can recognise and understand”?

Answer People who live in a different country are just like us. They too understand the concept and feeling of universal brotherhood. The implication is that if we extend a loving hand, they will recognise it and willingly join hands with us.

Question How can we win over the strength of our opponents?

Answer The strength of our opponents can be won over by love, instead of through brute force because everybody responds to love and appreciates the feeling of brotherhood.

Question What is meant by uniforms? What is there beneath all uniforms?

Answer The word “uniform” refers to the distinctive clothing worn by members of the same organization or body or by children attending certain schools. In this poem, the poet uses “uniforms” to mean both the uniforms worn by soldiers and the varied traditional dresses belonging to different cultures and civilisations of the world, or the different clothes that symbolise who the wearers are. Beneath all uniforms lies the same human body.

Question In the James Kirkup’s poem “No Men Are Foreign” explain the poet’s use of the word uniform.

Answer The literal meaning of “uniform” is a dress, costume or identification code that is similar to a group or organisation. The poet, here, uses the word “uniform” metaphorically to denote the universal brotherhood of man. On the other hand, uniforms are necessary especially during war in order to identify oneself as belonging to that country so as not to kill or harm its own people.

In the wearing of their country’s uniform, they contradict the meaning of the word since they are set apart and identified as different—the enemy. Thus, James Kirkup points out the irony in the word uniform. This contradiction is based on the uniformity of man, as the poet suggests that all men are uniform themselves in the sense that they are “aware of sun and air and water” and they share humanity, and different uniforms identifying the wearers as being different from each other.

Question A great persons tell us to live cordially and as brothers. But we people tend to fight over trivial issues. Why don’t we live with others harmoniously? What makes us fight and hurt others?

Answer It is true that many people have been telling us to live harmoniously since long. We never follow their message. We also know that our greed to get more wealth and power cannot give us a peaceful life. But some deep-rooted evils in our society make us draw a distinction between people. We know that all customs and conventions have been made by people. God has made all people equal. But we make differences between people for our selfish motives. We start to hate even our family members due to our ego to be more powerful. By doing so, we, at last, harm ourselves. We become objects of hatred for society. In society, people dislike selfish people.

So before going to hurt other’s feeling, first of all, we should think whether doing such act with others is justified by other people or society. We should learn to live with others as brothers. We should learn to tolerate, forgive and compromise. Only in this way, our life would be happy and peaceful.

Question How are we alike? Explain in context with the poem.

Answer We all are alike. We have the same body structure. All of us need the same air to breathe, the same sun to get sunlight and warmth and the same water for many purposes. Our daily routine is also almost the same. We get up in the morning, take a bath, have breakfast and go to work or school. All of us long for love. We all sleep at night and wake up in the morning.

When our needs and feelings are the same, then we should treat all people equally.

We should not look down upon anybody on the basis of his/her colour, caste, region or gender. We should treat everyone as our brother and sister.

Unfortunately, some self-centered people fight with others and try to hurt them. They think that others have harmed them. We should not think that other people are ‘others’. They are also our brothers. If they make any mistakes, we should forgive them or compromise with them.

All men are our brothers. No human beings are strange or unfamiliar. Underneath the external trappings of different cultures or civilisations or any colour of any soldier’s uniform belonging to any nation, all human beings are the same. All men walk upon the same earth and one day are laid to rest in their graves under the same earth. Each and every human being is nourished by the same sun, breathes the same air and drinks the same water to survive.

All human beings have eyes that wake or sleep. In every land, there is a common life. Love is paramount everywhere that wins the heart. When we hate others, fight with them, raise arms against them, it is ourselves that we shall dispossess, betray and condemn Thus, despite different living conditions, all human beings are one in spirit.