Important Questions for CBSE Class 11 English Woven Stories Chapter 1 - The Lament

Very Short Answer Questions   (1 Mark)                                                                             

Word – Meaning from the Given Chapter. 

(i) Twirling – Spinning Around Quickly

(ii) Snowdrift – A Mound of Snow Driven Together by Snow

(iii) Sleigh – Sledding Down the Horses

(iv) Hurled – Throwing With a Great Force 

1. Fill in the Blanks-

(i) Iona Moves His _____as If He Was Trying to Keep His _________.

Ans: Elbows, Equilibrium

(ii) it Is at Last Decided That the ________shall Stand as He Is the _________.

Ans: Humpback, Smallest

2. True – False.

(i) Iona and His Little Horse Have Not Moved from Their Place for a Short While.

Ans: False

(ii) Iona Shifts About on His Seat as If He Was on the Needles.

Ans: True

(iii) Iona Looked Around at the Cab Driver and Moved His Lips.

Ans: False

(iv) Once More He is Alone and Again Surrounded by Silence.

Ans: True

3. What Was the Colour of the Horse? How Did it Move?

Ans: The colour of the horse was white. He had wooden looking legs. He made an undecided move.

4. Who Was the Son of Iona?

Ans: Iona’s son was Barin and who had died a week ago.

Short Answer Questions   (2 Marks)                                                                              

1. Describe the Evening Mist and Surroundings of the Street.

Ans: The evening mist falls on the town replacing the white lights of the lamps with brighter rays. The hubbub of the street gets louder and louder.

2. Why Is it Said That It’s Better to Talk to Women?

Ans: For women, it is easier to understand the listener and even two words are enough to make them sob. Men are not like that and therefore it is said that it is better to talk to women rather than talking to men.

3. What Was Iona Willing to Tell Everyone?

Ans: Iona loses his son after being in the hospital for three days. He had a heartbreak and wanted to share this story with everyone.

4. Why Was the Officer Angry With the Cab Driver?

Ans: The cab driver had a slow driving speed and he did not know where to go. He had a habit of going in the wrong direction. This made the officer very angry.

5. Describe the Journey of Iona from His Son’s Death to His Funeral.

Ans: Iona suffers a lot when his son has a very high fever. His son dies and he has to rush to the hospital to collect his son's clothes, followed by a funeral at last.

Short Answer Questions   (3 Marks)                                                                              

1. What Happened to Iona’s Son? How Did He Die?

Ans: Iona’s son Barin suffered from a very high fever and so he was admitted to the hospital. He stayed in the hospital for three days and then he died. Iona dashed to the hospital to get her dead son’s clothes.

2. What Did the Coachman and the Passer-By Do?

Ans: The officer gets sworn at by a coachman from a private carriage and a passer-by runs across the road. His shoulder also gets rubbed against the horse’s nose. He then looks at the horse furiously and cleans the snow from his sleeve.

3. What Were the Surroundings and Environment Near the Stove?

Ans: Iona sits beside a large dirty stove. The surrounding air is suffocating and thick. Around the stove, on the floor and on the benches, it was hot. There were people around who were snoring along with the presence of sleepers.

4. How Did the Young Man and Old Man React to Iona?

Ans: Iona wanted to observe the effect that his words have on the young and old men. The young man hides his face and gets back to sleep. The old man sighs and scratches his head after hearing Iona’s words. The old man wants to talk while the young man wants to drink.

5. What Was the Role of the Horse for Iona?

Ans: Iona’s horse plays a very good role of being his friend when he is all alone. He is a companion to Iona as he stays by him through every condition and listens to his master’s sorrowful story and acts as a good listener.

Long Answer Questions   (5 Marks)                                                       

1. Describe in Detail the Three Young Men.

Ans: The young men come along the footpath, quarrelling and squeaking galoshes. One of the three men is short and humpbacked while the other two are tall and lanky. They seem to be ill-mannered and abusive. They use bad language amongst themselves. The three men try to get onto the seat all at once. They start abusing and wrangling each other and after the argument, they decide that humpback would stand as he is the smallest.

2. What Was Iona Looking for in the Crowd?

Ans: Iona feels alone and surrounded by silence when he reaches his destination. His grief returns to him and tries to capture his heart very forcefully. He gets anxious and tries to look through the crowd which was passing from either side. He looks for someone in the crowd who would listen to him but the crowd rushes past him without even noticing him or his problems. Nobody could see it because it was so deeply hidden.

3. What Was the Most Painful Thing for Iona?

Ans: Iona had not been able to talk or speak properly with anyone even one week after his son’s death. He had negative thoughts as his son fell ill, the words that he said before he died, then his death followed by the funeral and then the final journey to the hospital to collect his dead son’s clothes. He could not dare to think about his son when he was alone. Iona was able to speak about his son but he could not picture his son because to picture him, gave Iona an unbearable pain. 

4. How Did the Hall Porter React to Iona?

Ans: Iona decides to talk to the hall porter as soon as he sees him with some sacking. He initiates the conversation by asking about the first time. Iona has a short conversation with him and after that, he moves on a few steps, tries to double himself up and abandons his grief. He feels that it is useless to ask people for help. The porter straightens himself in less than five minutes, holds up his head like he has felt a sharp pain and gives a tug at the reins. He’s not able to bear it for a longer time.

5. What Did Iona Understand at the End?

Ans: Iona has suffered a lot of pain while his son was ill, then when he died and his funeral, his words before he died and the last days that he had at the hospital. His daughter stays in the village. He understands that it would have been better for him to have talked to women instead of men. He realises that even two words are enough for women to sob which is not the same with men. He also thinks about his horse who was there with him throughout everything and his horse is his true companion for a lifetime.