Queries Solved : 'Asleep In The Valley', 'The Poetry of Earth' Questions (Class XII WBCHSE Board) asked by Soumili

1. What is the attitude of poet Arthur Rimbaud in asleep in the valley about futility of war?2. Explain the poetry of earth by Keats as a romantic poem.

1. Throughout the poem,Rimbaud has described a very comforting scenario in which a soldier is sleeping in a lush,green valley where a slow stream flows and the silver in the shine of the leaves around leaves an air of serenity. His head rests in a bed of fern and his feet are among the flowers ; even the humming insects don't disturb his rest. But just when you are about to perceive the beauty in the description,the harshness of death is portrayed in the "two red holes" that denote bullet wounds.

 In  just a couple of lines,the poet describes how tragic the fate of war is. It claims all that we have and are capable of. It claims our humanity,conscience along with millions and millions of innocent lives. 

2. 'The Poetry of Earth' is all about the perpetuity of a flow that ties together the intertwined seasons,that come one after the other. As you delve deeper into the inner meaning of the poem, you will find that the poet has indeed portrayed a concept this serious with the help of little things linked to nature - soft sounds, a cricket's call, a grasshopper's rest and the timid grass.
The ultimate satiety is delivered in the essence of the theme and not at the directness of behavioural approach. This is where you begin realising that 'The Poetry of Earth' is indeed a romantic poem.