The Castle (Poem)
Unit 1 – Poem
The Castle
Edwin Muir
Warm Up
a) What thoughts come to your mind when you think about a castle? Add your ideas to the list.
moat, huge buildings, soldiers, weapons
| Name | Location |
| Fort St. George | Chennai |
| Gingee Fort | ____ |
| Golconda Fort | ____ |
| Red Fort | ____ |
b) Have you ever visited a fort or a castle?
c) Fill in the following empty boxes.
The Castle
All through that summer at ease we lay,
And daily from the turret wall
We watched the mowers in the hay
And the enemy half a mile away—
They seemed no threat to us at all.
For what, we thought, had we to fear
With our arms and provender, load on load,
Our towering battlements, tier on tier,
And friendly allies drawing near
On every leafy summer road.
Our gates were strong, our walls were thick,
So smooth and high, no man could win
A foothold there, no clever trick
Could take us dead or quick,
Only a bird could have got in.
What could they offer us for bait?
Our captain was brave and we were true…
There was a little private gate,
A little wicked wicket gate.
The wizened warder let them through.
Oh then our maze of tunneled stone
Grew thin and treacherous as air.
The cause was lost without a groan,
The famous citadel overthrown,
And all its secret galleries bare.
How can this shameful tale be told?
I will maintain until my death
We could do nothing, being sold:
Our only enemy was gold,
And we had no arms to fight it with.
About The Author
Edwin Muir (1887-1959) was a renowned Scottish poet, novelist, translator and critic. He was remembered for his vivid poetry. He began writing poetry at a relatively old age, and over the course of several years worked out an individual, philosophical style for which he gained recognition later in his life. First Poems and Chorus of the Newly Dead contain Muir’s initial attempts. Muir’s later collections include Variations on a Time Theme, The Narrow Place, The Voyage and Other Poems, The Labyrinth, and One Foot in Eden.
Glossary
- bait – something intended to entice someone to do something
- wicked – evil or morally wrong
- wicket gate – a small gate
- wizened – an aged or old guard
- warder – guard
- maze – a winding, intricate, confusing path
- treacherous – disloyal
- groan – lament, cry
- citadel – a safe and strong fort
- overthrown – conquered, defeated
- maintain – believe
- turret wall – a small tower on top of a castle
- mowers – people who trim grass and level the lawns
- provender – food
- towering – tall towers with battlements openings to shoot the enemies
- tier – one above the other
- friendly allies – helpful or supporting nations or armed forces
- advantageous – favourable
- foothold – position
- quick – alive
Understanding the Poem
1. Based on your understanding of the poem, answer the following questions in one or two sentences each.
a) Who is the narrator in the poem?
b) How long had the soldiers been in the castle?
c) Why were the soldiers in the castle fearless?
d) Where were the enemies?
e) Why does the narrator say that the enemy was no threat at all?
f) Did the soldiers fight with the enemies face to face?
g) Who had let the enemies in?
h) How did the enemies enter the castle?
i) Why were the secret galleries bare?
j) What was the ‘shameful act’?
k) Why didn’t the narrator want to tell the tale to anybody?
l) Why did the narrator feel helpless?
m) Who was the real enemy?
2. Read the poem again and complete the summary using the words given in box.
Words: lamented, shameful, wicked, guard, bait, let, gold, weapon, citadel, weak, disloyalty, helpless, enemy
‘The Castle’ by Edwin Muir is a moving poem on the (1) fall (2) of a well-guarded castle. The soldiers of the castle were totally stress-free and relaxed. They were (3) confident of their castle’s physical strength. Through the turrets they were able to watch the mowers and no enemy was found up to the distance of (4) half-a-mile and so they seemed no threat to the castle. They had (5) plenty of weapons to protect them and a large quantity of (6) ration in stock to take care of the well-being of the soldiers inside the castle. The soldiers stood one above the other on the towering battlements (7) watching to shoot the enemy at sight. They believed that the castle was absolutely safe because their captain was (8) brave and the soldiers were loyal.
Even by a trick no one but the birds could enter. The enemy could not use a (9) bait for their entry inside the castle. But there was a wicket gate guarded by a (10) wicked (11) guard. He (12) let the enemies inside the famous citadel that had been known for its secret gallery and intricate path. The strong castle became (13) weak and thin because of the greedy disloyal warder. The (14) citadel was captured by the enemies for (15) gold. The narrator (16) lamented over the (17) shameful story of the useless warder and also decided not to disclose this (18) shameful story to anyone. He was (19) helpless and wondered how he would keep this truth to himself. He regretted not finding any (20) weapon to fight with the enemy called ‘gold’.
3. Read the poem and answer the following in a short paragraph of 8–10 sentences each.
a) How safe was the castle? How was it conquered?
b) Bring out the contrasting picture of the castle as depicted in stanzas 3 and 5.
c) Human greed led to the mighty fall of the citadel. Explain.
4. Read the given lines and answer the questions that follow in a line or two.
a) All through the summer at ease we lay,
And daily from the turret wall
We watched the mowers in the hay
i. Who does ‘we’ refer to?
ii. How did the soldiers spend the summer days?
iii. What could they watch from the turret wall?
b) Our gates were strong, our walls were thick,
So smooth and high, no man could win.
i. How safe was the castle?
ii. What was the firm belief of the soldiers?
c) A foothold there, no clever trick
Could take us dead or quick,
Only a bird could have got in.
i. What was challenging?
ii. Which aspect of the castle’s strength is conveyed by the above line?
d) Oh then our maze of tunneled stone
Grew thin and treacherous as air.
The castle was lost without a groan,
The famous citadel overthrown,
i. Bring out the contrast in the first two lines.
ii. What is the rhyme scheme of the given stanza?
e) We could do nothing, being sold.
i. Why couldn’t they do anything?
ii. Why did they feel helpless?
5. Explain the following with reference to the context in about 20–30 words each.
a) Our gates were strong, our walls were thick,
b) Our captain was brave and we were true…
c) They seemed no threat to us at all.
d) How can this shameful tale be told?
e) I will maintain until my death
f) Our only enemy was gold,
6. Read the poem and complete the table with suitable rhyming words.
| lay | hay |
| wall | all |
| fear | tier |
| load | road |
| thick | trick |
| win | in |
| true | through |
| stone | groan |
| air | bare |
| told | gold |
| death | breath |
7. Underline the alliterated words in the following lines.
a) With our arms and provender, load on load.
b) A little wicked wicket gate.
c) The wizened warder let them through.
8. Identify the figure of speech used in the following lines.
a) A little wicked wicket gate. – Alliteration
b) Oh then our maze of tunneled stone – Metaphor
c) Grew thin and treacherous as air. – Simile
d) How can this shameful tale be told? – Rhetorical question
e) Our only enemy was gold, – Personification / Allegory
9. Can you call ‘The Castle’ an allegorical poem? Discuss.
Allegory: An allegory is a complete narrative that involves characters and events that stand for an abstract idea or event. In other words, a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.
Listening
Some phrases have been left out in the poem below. Fill in the missing phrases on listening to the reading or the audio played by the teacher. You may listen again, if required.
The Soldier – Rupert Brooke
If I should die, think only this of me,
That there’s some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam;
A body of England’s, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.
Parallel Reading
It Takes Courage – Anonymous
It takes strength to be firm, it takes courage to be gentle.
It takes strength to conquer, it takes courage to surrender.
It takes strength to be certain, it takes courage to have doubt.
It takes strength to fit in, it takes courage to stand out.
It takes strength to feel a friend’s pain, it takes courage to feel your own pain.
It takes strength to endure abuse, it takes courage to stop it.
It takes strength to stand alone, it takes courage to lean on another.
It takes strength to love, it takes courage to be loved.
It takes strength to survive, it takes courage to live.