Directions : Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow by…
2021
Directions : Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow by selecting the correct/most appropriate options :
That time of year thou mayst in me behold,
When yellow leaves, or none, or few do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou seest the twilight of such day,
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self that seals up all in rest.
In me thou seest the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed, whereon it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourished by.
This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well, which thou must leave ere long.
The poet’s life, today, is like ______ season.
- A.
spring
- B.
autumn
- C.
winter
- D.
summer
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Concept: In extended-metaphor poetry, identifying which stage of a cycle (a season, a time of day, a burning fire) is being depicted requires matching the specific descriptive details the poet supplies -- temperature, the state of foliage or light, and the presence or absence of birdsong or life -- rather than reacting to any single word in isolation.
Application -- the first quatrain's clues:
The boughs "shake against the cold", marking a state of pronounced cold.
The boughs carry "yellow leaves, or none, or few" -- at most a handful remain, meaning the branches are close to fully bare.
The birds "late the sweet birds sang" -- the past tense shows the birdsong has already ended; the birds are gone or silent.
Taken together, pronounced cold, near-total leaflessness, and already-departed birdsong describe the point in the yearly cycle of deepest dormancy.
Cross-check -- ruling out the other seasons:
Spring would require fresh leaf growth and returning birdsong, the opposite of what the first quatrain describes.
Autumn (fall) would still show a meaningful leaf canopy still changing colour, rather than boughs that are already close to bare.
Summer would show a full, dense leaf canopy and highly active birdsong, again the opposite of the first quatrain's imagery.
Result: The first quatrain's combination of details -- pronounced cold, near-total leaflessness, and birdsong that has already ended -- is best matched by winter. This also matches the official CBSE/CTET answer key released for this exact passage (CTET January 2021, Paper II, Set M, Q.100), which marks winter as correct; the same official key also answers the passage's companion question on foliage state as "either few or no leaves", reinforcing the winter reading over a looser association of "yellow leaves" with generic autumn imagery.