NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Chapter 8 - Blood

1. What makes the depiction of a crumbling village house so authentic in the poem? Is this a common feature of most village houses in the context of rapid urbanisation? Is the poet speaking from actual experience? 

Ans: The Poet Kamala Das has beautifully selected the words and pattern of the poem, which connects the readers from mind & heart. This poem gives information about a little girl's heart and shows how this fast-moving world casts her into a grown-up lady. Kamala Das, in her writings, shares her own experience, which connects the readers, and this in context with the poem shows the authenticity of old falling apart village house. To compete with this rapid moving urbanization and modernization are required & it's a common feature of most village houses. The presence of old houses shows the Heritage and rich culture of India, which has emotional affection to the people. Still, to compete with this world, change is essential.

2. What aspects of Indian society and history get highlighted in the poem? 

Ans: Aspects of Indian society & history highlighted in this poem are: - It shows that two women can understand each other and get attached emotionally at the personal level; maybe that's why Kamala Das could share her feelings with her grandmother much. The great-grandmother of Kamala Das had a very royal and cheerful life before the death of his better half. Still, after that, sudden loneliness took all her happiness & converted her better life into a pathetic one. This shows the situation of women in our society after losing their partners for life. People are used to sticking to their heritage. As the house of the 300-year-old Poet, he has an infinite connection to his great-grandmother.

3. Does the poem bring out the contrast between tradition and modernity? Illustrate your answer with examples from the poem. 

Ans: Yes, Poet beautifully brings out a contrast between tradition and modernity. Tradition refers to the cultural values, beliefs & activities that are passed on from one generation to the other. And modernity refers to applying the new rules of the world to our own life. It is fresh and modern people who refuse native thinking. In the poem, the Poet tells how her great grandmother is attached to her husband and dies with her husband; lines from the poem show are - "God is her only feast; worldly pleasures become mere condiments to her afterwards." This shows that traditional women were so attached to their life partners. Their world revolves around one & only one person, which is impossible in this modern world as people now believe in move on policy & not living their whole life in sadness & sorrow. The feeling of belongingness toward non-living things such as a house is depicted in the poem. Ancestral 300 years old house shared a beautiful relationship with the grandmother. The poem also tells how the Poet's great-grandmother had pride over her blood, which she carries to her grave.

4. While the poet respected her grandmother’s sentiments of royal grandeur, we can also see that she revolts against it. Identify the lines which bring this out.

Ans: Kamala Das is a woman full of respect, cultural values, beliefs, love & peace. Her grandmother taught her to love, forgive and devote her own life to the service of others & think very less of her own. She could empathize with the struggles of every woman, and it can be easily seen in her work. Poet could feel the presence of her grandmother, so she promises herself to save the royal inherited Heritage 300-year-old house for her grandmother. But in reality, she realizes that it is not possible because the old house was breaking down, white ants were climbing, and rats were running fearlessly here & there. Then she asks for forgiveness as she was not capable of renovating the house. She felt guilty for not completing her promise to her grandmother and flung it into death's pyre. But still, she is proud of her old royal blood even though she is not powerful enough to protect or restore the old house that her great grandmother loved. His great-grandmother liked it. The line "I have left again... Arabian Seaport". Although she respected her grandmother and promised her to go to another city, she still showed this.

5. Which lines reveal the poet’s criticism of class distinctions? 

Ans: "A blood thin and clear and fine While in the veins of the always poor And in the veins Of the new-rich men Flowed a blood thick as gruel And muddy as a ditch." The above lines reveal Poet's criticism of class distinctions as she states that the blood of the poor is clear, thin, and fine, which means that there exists selfless and genuine love among the poor section of the society. Still, in the royal section of the society, the real feeling of love is missing and mostly controlled by the profit and loss of money.

6. Is it ‘selfishness’ and ‘callousness’ that makes the poet break her childhood promise to her grandmother of renovating the house? Why does she do nothing about rebuilding the house? 

Ans: Poet could feel the presence of her grandmother, so she promises herself to save the royal inherited Heritage 300- year-old house for her grandmother. But in fact, he realized that it was impossible because the old house was collapsing, white ants were crawling, and rats were running without fear, and then he apologized because he could not renovate the house. Incompetence should not be confused with selfishness or coldness.

7. What do you understand of the conflict in the poet’s conscience?

Ans: Poet observes the nature and thought of her fantasies in the sand as she plays with her brother. Along with these beautiful moments, she also comes to experience her concern, fear, and the pain of her great old grandmother for their ancestral house, which is in a dreadful condition. The conflict between the satisfying fantasies of a child and the bitter realities that money-making is not easy & led to the defeat of her promise made to her great grandmother that she will keep the house as it is. These are the conflicts that show things, and situations should be dealt with the reality. We should always accept the bitter truth of life while moving forward in it.

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Kaliedoscope Poetry Chapter 8 Blood

NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English – Free PDF Download

English Class 12 NCERT Solutions Chapter 8 poetry can be downloaded for free from Vedantu’s website and is available in the PDF format. These solutions are well-structured and have been carefully solved after a lot of research. Class 12 English NCERT Solutions Kaleidoscope CH 8 helps to bridge the gap in understanding that students may have when they read the poem. If there is something in the chapter that the student may not have understood, this explanation helps to clear the doubt and lets them tackle any question in the chapter with ease.

Chapter 8 – Blood

Blood is a poem written by Kamala Das, which is set in the beautiful town of Malabar in Kerala. The poet depicts the aristocracy of the yesteryears. The poem opens up a window into the heart of a little girl and how the world has moulded her. She had been a naïve cocoon, but the world has turned her into a butterfly.

The poem is set in the 1940s. Kamala is an inquisitive child, and she observes nature. She tries to draw her fantasies with the sand, and she plays with her brother on the sand. A lover of nature Kamala enjoys the serenity in nature when she stays at her great grandmothers’ place. It is here that she starts to come face to face with the fear, anxiety and agony of her great grandmother who is 86 years old. The great grandmother is anxious about her ancestral house that is perishing. The fantasies of the little child and realities of the great grandmother which are bitter are what lets the poet bring out her creativity in the poem. The poet clearly states various situations where the reader can see many conflicts in experiences.

The poem takes the readers to the rich past that the great grandmother lives. She owned elephants, jewel boxes and sandal oil, all of which were symbolic of the youthful and extravagant lives that she lived. She got married to a prince. However, within a year of her marriage, she lost her husband. The woman who lives with her grandmother thus dies along with the death of the husband. However, the great grandmother is full of pride, and she carries it even to her grave.

The little girl Kamala when she visits her great grandmothers’ home sees all the miseries of her great grandmother. She then promises her that she will do her best to save this house which is 300 years old. However, reality strikes her, and she learns that it is not easy to make money. She sees the old house crumbling down. There are white ants that walk fearlessly in the old house. Kamala asked her grandmother to forgive her as she finds herself incapable of protecting the house. These are the thoughts that follow her all through her life. She thus gets impacted by these childhood experiences. Kamala feels guilty that she had plucked her grandma’s soul and had flung it into her grave. Kamala is also a powerful lady who takes pride in her royal blood. The only problem is that she finds it impossible to fulfil the promise that she had given to her great grandmother of renovating her home.

In the poem Blood, the little girl Kamala could empathize with the struggles that her great grandmother went through in her life. She becomes a part of the loneliness and sorrows of her great grandmother. It was her great grandmother who taught her how to love, to devote and to forgive.

The poet has been able to design the wordings carefully and very poetically. Her words connect the readers from the inside as well as outside. The poet gives readers a peek into the heart of a little girl and how she changes from a naive cocoon into a butterfly. The poet has shared her own experiences in the writings, which in turn let the readers connect with her feelings. In the poem, the house lets the readers view its authenticity.

Exercise - Responding to The Poem

There are 7 questions in this section where students get deep into the verses of the poem and understand its true meaning. They can appreciate Indian society as a whole. All these questions are thoughtful and something that needs to be answered based on what analogy students have drawn when they read the poem.

Exercise - Language Study

This is a single question with 4 subsections where students need to comment on how they have observed the changes in the poetic expression.

Key Features of NCERT Solutions For Class 12 English Chapter 8

Subject matter experts at Vedantu have created these solutions. They have taken care to explain the concepts in great detail, which helps students in their exam preparation. The solution helps to solve students’ doubts in a precise way.

• NCERT Class 12 English Chapter 8 Blood solutions are well explained, giving examples wherever necessary so that students can relate to it.

• The downloadable solutions are handy and let students refer to them just before they are about to enter the examination hall.

• NCERT Solutions Class 12 English Kaleidoscope Chapter 8 helps to strengthen the concepts which in turn helps them to score well in the exam.