Important Questions for CBSE Class 11 English Woven Poem Chapter 4 - Telephone Conversation

Very Short Answer Questions: 1 Mark

1. Who were the people having the telephone conversation? 

Ans: An African Negro and a white landlady were conversing on the phone.

2. How was the voice and silence? 

Ans: The landlady's voice was lipsticked and muffled transmission of pressured good breeding.

3. What was in red colour? 

Ans: The red booth, red pillar box, and red double tiered omnibus were the only objects that were red in colour.

4. What do you mean by clinical assent? 

Ans: It refers to the poet's concerned voice, which is based on his vivid and actual observation after a lot of thoughts have passed through his mind.

5. What is a Brunette? 

Ans: In this poetry, it alludes to black or dark hair. It truly refers to black hair, as well as dark or olive skin.

Short Answer Questions 2 marks 

6. Word – Meaning from the given chapter

i. Breeding 

Ans: The act of animals mating and producing offspring.

ii. Foully 

Ans: In a heinous and deplorable manner

iii. Rancid 

Ans: Having a disagreeable odour or flavour, which is usually caused by chemical change or decomposition

iv. Squeaking 

Ans: scream or create a high-pitched sound

7. Give opposites of the given terms from the chapter

i. Warned 

Ans: Discourage

ii. Surrender 

Ans: Resist

iii. Accent 

Ans:  Mask

iv. Rearing 

Ans: Abandon

8. What is a raven black? 

Ans: It's a figurative expression to represent the intensity of the colour black. It's a term for persons with dark skin.

9. What is peroxide blonde? 

Ans: Rather than a natural light and fair complexion, it refers to harsh or unnaturally bleached palms and soles of feet.

10. What the friction caused? 

Ans: As he indicated, the friction has resulted in his body parts having a dark hue or a black colour. He had peroxide blonde hands and feet.

Short answer questions 3 marks 

11. Give the synonyms of the words from the given chapter

i. Reasonable 

Ans: Sensible

ii. Confession 

Ans: Revelation

iii. Simplification 

Ans: Adaptation

iv. Fancy 

Ans: Lavish

v. Friction 

Ans: Abrasion

vi. Pleaded 

Ans: Impersistent

12. What is spectroscopic flight of fancy? 

Ans: When she had to concede the reality that she knew less than the person on the other end of the phone line, her diffused flow of ideas and her fancies and fantasies of black males acquired wings and attained a new level of interpretations.

13. What is the theme of the poem? 

Ans: Racism is the central theme of the poem. In the poem, the lady behaved in a prejudiced manner toward the dark man. The poet has expressed regret for something he was born with and has produced a feeling of poetic irony by implying that people have racist views about others.

14. What is highlighted in this poem? 

Ans: In this poetry, the author has used colour to emphasise his point. The only difference between the landlady and the dark man was their skin colour; she was fair and white, while he was dark and black. The poet was a dark-skinned man, but skin colour does not imply social position.

15. What was ‘hide and seek’ in the poem? 

Ans: Hide and seek is used in the poem to explain the taboo against dark-skinned people. People who claimed to be fair-skinned or white were thought to be more intellectual, learned, and superior than those who claimed to be dark-skinned or white. 

Long Answer Questions             5 marks 

16. Why there was silence between the conversations? 

Ans: There was no complete stillness, but there were brief pauses between the lady's and the man's chats. The lady's hesitancy was the main cause of such long periods of silence. She was hesitant to speak with the man since he was dark-skinned, and she felt inferior when conversing with him, realising her lack of knowledge in comparison to the man who was elite regardless of his skin colour.

17. What is the poem all about? 

Ans: The poem is about the depiction of facts that people have regarding the skin colour of other people in their heads. It is an unstated fact that one's status or class is determined by one's skin colour. It implies that civilization is based on people's behaviour and mannerism rather than their skin colour. Color should not be used as a criterion for any professional or personal decision.

18. What is the intention of the poet? 

Ans: The poet's goal is evident, yet he's also satirical. In order to make his point against racism, the poet uses comedy and sarcasm. He wants people to understand that colour is merely a matter of visibility and has nothing to do with a person's uniqueness or behaviour. Because the poet is dark-skinned, he understands how people regard dark-skinned people as inferior and low-status individuals, which he wishes to change.

19. Justify the title of the poem. 

Ans: The poet has given his poem a very apt title. It refers to a phone conversation in which the lady, who is white, and the poet, who is dark or black, plainly demonstrated the shallow prejudice that was displayed by their dialogue. The telephone represents the distance between the two ends of the line and the fact that they cannot meet at a location.

20. How this poem makes a powerful impact? 

Ans: The poet has a significant impact on the poem's theme. It contains dialogues, comedy, and sarcasm, all of which are both beneficial and extremely anti-social. It calls into question a culture that distinguishes between black and white people and considers them lesser or superior. The truth is that we are all the same and belong to the same humanity class.