Geography Lesson Poem Chapter 2, Class 8 English Notes

Class 8 English Chapter 2 Poem
The Geography Lesson Notes

Text Book	NCERT
Class	Class 8
Subject	English
Book Name	Honeydew
Chapter Name	Geography Lesson Chapter 2
Category	Class 8 English

Summary of Geography Lesson Poem

In the first stanza of this poem the poet describes his city. He tells us how it appears from the window of an aeroplane. It is clear that the city developed just as it was necessary for the people. So what looked haphazard on ground looked inevitable from the sky. Now the plane rises to a height of ten thousand feet. The poet can see the logic of geography. He can see why the cities in the country have grown along the rivers. The valleys are populated for the same reason. It is land and water together that attracts the people. When the plane rises still higher – six miles up, the earth looks round. From that height it is clear that the earth has more sea than land. However, one question remains unanswered. It is difficult to understand why people hate and kill one another. Thus it is easy to understand the logic of geography from a height. However, it is very difficult to understand why humans hate one another, this remains a mystery. 

 

Stanza 1

When the jet prang into the sky,
it was clear why the city
had developed the way it had,
seeing it scaled six inches to the mile.

When the jet rose fast into the sky, the poet saw below him. He could understand why the city had grown into haphazard way. He saw the city look small. A mile of the ground looked as small as six inches.

 

Stanza 2

There seemed an inevitability
about what on ground had looked haphazard,
unplanned and without style
When the jet sprang into the sky. 

The jet went up into the sky. Looking below, one could see the inevitable way in which the city had developed. It certainly had a logic. On the earth it seemed ugly and without a method.

 

Stanza 3

When the jet reached ten thousand feet,
it was clear why the country
had cities where the rivers ran
and why the valleys were populated. 

 

The jet plane went higher upto ten thousand feet in the sky. Looking below at the country, one could clearly see why the cities in the country had developed along the rivers. It was natural because people need water. In the same way from that height the poet could see why people had settled in valleys.

Stanza 4

The logic of geography
that land and water attracted man
was clearly delineated
When the jet reached ten thousand feet.

From the height of ten thousand feet in the jet plane the poet observed the country. He understood the contentions of geography. It was that people settled where land and water were easily available. This lesson seemed clearly written.

Stanza 5

When the jet rose six miles high,
it was clear the earth was round
and that it had more sea than land.
But it was difficult to understand.

The poet’s jet plane went higher into the sky. It rose six miles up the ground. Now the earth seemed round as he had learnt in geography. It was also shown that water covers the better part of the earth. So sea had an area larger than the land. However, there was something which he could not understand.

 

Stanza 6

That the men on the earth found
causes to hate each other,
to build walls across cities and to kill.
From that height, it was not clear why.

From high in the sky, the poet understood logic of geography. However, he could not understand the logic of human hatred for each other. He could not understand why they have decided to live separately. Why are there walls across the cities? Why do people want to kill each other? It was one puzzle which the poet could not answer from that height.

Word Meanings