Notes For All Chapters English Beehive Class 9
Introduction
- We often think of some people as strange or other countries as foreign.
- We see others as different from “us” – they may be from another country or speak a different language.
- The poet reminds us that in many ways, all people are the same because we are all human.
- The poem teaches that no men are strange and no countries are foreign.
The Poem: No Men Are Foreign
- Poet: James Kirkup
Stanza 1
- Remember, no men are strange, no countries foreign.
- Beneath all uniforms, a single body breathes like ours.
- The land our brothers walk upon is earth like this, in which we all shall lie.
Explanation in Easy English:
- The poet says we should remember that no people are odd or different, and no lands are truly foreign.
- Under different clothes (like uniforms), everyone has the same body that breathes air just like us.
- The ground that others walk on is the same earth as ours, and one day, we all will be buried in it.
Stanza 2
- They, too, aware of sun and air and water.
- Are fed by peaceful harvests, by war’s long winter starv’d.
- Their hands are ours, and in their lines we read a labour not different from our own.
Explanation in Easy English:
- Other people also know and use the sun, air, and water just like us.
- They get food from good crops in peace times, but suffer hunger like a long winter during wars.
- Their hands are like ours, and the lines on their palms show the same kind of hard work as we do.
Stanza 3
- Remember they have eyes like ours that wake or sleep, and strength that can be won by love.
- In every land is common life that all can recognise and understand.
Explanation in Easy English:
- We should remember that others have eyes like ours – they wake up and sleep too.
- They have strength that can be gained through love.
- Everywhere in the world, life is the same, and everyone can see and understand this shared human life.
Stanza 4
- Let us remember, whenever we are told to hate our brothers, it is ourselves that we shall dispossess, betray, condemn.
- Remember, we who take arms against each other.
Explanation in Easy English:
- We must remember that if someone tells us to hate our fellow humans (brothers), we are actually harming ourselves – we lose our own things, betray ourselves, and judge ourselves badly.
- When we fight or use weapons against others, we hurt everyone, including us.
Stanza 5
- It is the human earth that we defile.
- Our hells of fire and dust outrage the innocence of air that is everywhere our own.
- Remember, no men are foreign, and no countries strange.
Explanation in Easy English:
- By fighting, we make the earth dirty and polluted – it’s our shared human world.
- The fires and dust from wars (like hell) destroy the pure and clean air, which belongs to all of us everywhere.
- The poet ends by repeating: Remember, no people are foreign, and no countries are strange.
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