Childhood Class 11 English Important Questions

Please refer to Childhood Class 11 English Important Questions with solutions provided below. These questions and answers have been provided for Class 11 English based on the latest syllabus and examination guidelines issued by CBSE, NCERT, and KVS. Students should learn these problem solutions as it will help them to gain more marks in examinations. We have provided Important Questions for Class 11 English for all chapters in your book. These Board exam questions have been designed by expert teachers of Standard 11.

Class 11 English Important Questions Childhood

Short Answer Type Questions :

Question. What did the poet notice about independent thinking? How important was this discovery?
Answer: The poet discovered that he was different from others and could think independently. He could have his own opinions without getting influenced by anyone else.
This discovery was very important to him as it revealed to him his abilities for independent thinking and decision taking.

Question. How did the poet conclude that Hell and Heaven were imaginary places?
Answer: The poet concluded that Hell and Heaven were imaginary places because Geography books contain names of places, but there was no mention of places like Hell or Heaven in
these books.

Question. How does the poem expose man and present him in true colours?
Answer: According to the poet, childhood symbolises innocence, purity, softness and love. As a child grows up, these qualities start receding. Man adheres to lying, shrewdness, cunningness and hypocrisy. Adults preach about truth and honesty but themselves practise hatred and lying. The simplicity and honesty of childhood evaporates the moment man crosses the threshold of innocent childhood.

Question. What do you think are the most poetic lines? Why?
Answer: The most poetic lines in the poem are 
“Where did my childhood go?
It went to some forgotten place,
That’s hidden in an infant’s face,”
These poignant lines explain beautifully what most adults feel.
These lines take us back to the innocent world of an infant where the poet thinks his childhood seems to be lying hidden.
Naturally, the pure and unadulterated childhood will never come back to us, though we can find it in an infant’s face.

Question. According to Markus Natten, when does the child become an adult?
Answer: Becoming an adult is a complex process which is associated with physical, mental and social development. A child becomes an adult when he is able to live his own life and takes care of his responsibilities individually. He also develops his own thought process, using which he can form his own beliefs and opinions.

Question. The poet has discussed two stages of life —childhood and adulthood. How do we differentiate one from another?
Answer: Childhood has been considered by the poet as a blissful period in one’s life, where a child trusts everyone.
Adulthood is marked by rational and creative thoughts, ability to perceive and differentiate and learn new things. In this stage of life one also learns to be double faced and crafty.

Question. What is the poet trying to convey when he says that childhood is hidden in an infant’s face?
Answer: The poet says an infant is really innocent as he trusts everyone and does not try to fool others. The poet brings out this fact by contrasting it with the behaviour of adults, who become manipulative and are hypocrites. As a person develops rational thoughts, his childlike innocence fades away.

Question. What according to the poem is involved in the process of growing up?
Answer: According to this poem, the process of growing up involves many stages. Attainment of mental maturity can be seen as an indication of growing up.
When a person becomes logical, rational and is able to maintain individual thoughts, he is assumed to be grown up.
A grown up can discriminate between reality and fantasy and between reality and hypocrisy.

Question. Bring out the hypocrisy that the adults exhibit with regard to love.
Answer: As the poet grew up, he could make out the double standards of the adults. He realised that though adults preached of love and talked of love, their behaviour was totally different and full of manipulation. They were all hypocrites who behaved differently from the way they talked.

Question. What is the poet’s feeling towards his childhood?
Answer: The poet regards childhood as a period of innocence. A child sincerely feels that he is free from all evils and that there is really a Hell and a Heaven. A child knows no hypocrisy.
There is no difference between his thoughts and actions. In short, childhood is a state of innocence and purity of heart.

Long Answer Type Questions :

Question. Write an article about childhood and the process of growing up in reference to the poem ‘Childhood.’
Answer: Childhood
by Manav Singh
When I was a child, the world seemed to be a place of joy and happiness to me. There was nothing worth worrying about. Whenever I cried, somebody consoled me. When I did not like to sit alone, I was always in somebody’s arms.
My mother always looked after me. These are my most cherished memories and I believe that looking at a child playing and enjoying childhood makes me somewhat nostalgic.
Childhood is free from all cares. There are no duties or responsibilities on the shoulders of a child. A child only eats, drinks, sleeps and plays. Thus, a child lives in the bliss of ignorance and innocence. As we grow in age, worries about studies, choice of profession, shouldering responsibilities, etc., keep haunting us. Tensions, stress and worries become a part of adult life and the individual forgets to live a carefree life.

Question. Is independent thinking a step towards adulthood?
If yes, then how? Explain with reference to the poem ‘Childhood’.
Answer: Yes, independent thinking is a step towards adulthood. As a child, one is not able to make one’s own decisions and one’s thinking is always influenced and directed by adults. A child is so innocent that it is not able to distinguish between truth and imagination.
As a child’s thinking is influenced by others, it has no individuality. Moreover, it is prone to manipulations which lead to fickle-mindedness. Independent thinking makes us what we are. It shapes our personality and we are known among people through what our mind thinks and what decisions we take.
If we want to stay away from evil people who try to influence our thoughts for their selfish purposes, then only independent thinking can help us. We cannot claim to be an individual if we cannot take decisions ourselves.

Extract Based Questions :

1. Read the extract to attempt the questions that follow.
‘‘When did my childhood go?
Was it the time I realised that adults were not
All they seemed to be,
They talked of love and preached of love,
But did not act so lovingly,
Was that the day!’’
(i) Do you think that the poet is appreciative of the adults?
(ii) Explain ‘They talked of love and preached of love, but did not act so lovingly’.
(iii) What had happened with the poet in the given lines?
(iv) The poet is continuously asking questions and answering it himself. What does this show?
(v) What can be said about the feelings of the poet as per the extract?
Answer: (i) I do not think that the poet is appreciative of the adults as he finds his trust on them to be breaking.
(ii) The given lines highlight the hypocrisy of adults. They tell us to be loving and caring but were themselves not very loving and caring.
(iii) In the given lines, the poet depicts how he had grown up. One of the stages of growing up for him was to realize that adults were pretentious.
(iv) The poet’s act of continuously asking questions and answering it himself shows that the poet feels that the journey from childhood to adulthood is set in stages.
(v) As per the extract, one can ascertain that the poet is nostalgic about his childhood.

2. Read the extract to attempt the questions that follow.
‘‘When did my childhood go?
Was it when I found my mind was really mine, To use whichever way I choose, Producing thoughts that were not those of other people But my own and mine alone Was that the day!
Where did my childhood go?
It went to some forgotten place,
That is hidden in an infant’s face,
That’s all I know.’’
(i) Why is the poet eager to know the lost place of his childhood?
(ii) Which quality is achieved by the poet in the given extract?
(iii) Explain ‘Producing thoughts that were not those of other people but my own and mine alone’.
(iv) The poet says that his childhood has gone to a forgotten place. Comment.
(v) Do you think the poet will be able to see his childhood?
Answer: (i) The poet is eager to know about his childhood because he cherishes childhood the most and once again wishes to lead the innocent life of a child.
(ii) In the given extract, the poet has achieved ‘individuality.’ He now can form his own opinions and ideas.
(iii) The given lines point out that once a child gains individuality, his trust and blind belief on adults break.
Now, the child can form his own perspective and ideas that are unique.
(iv) The poet, in saying that his childhood has gone to a forgotten place, points out that once childhood is lost it will never be seen again. The loss of childhood is a permanent loss.
(v) I don’t think that the poet will be able to see his childhood as it is lost to him now. However, he can see the childhood innocence in an infant’s face.

Extract Based MCQs :

1. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow. 
‘‘When did my childhood go?
Was it the day I ceased to be eleven,
Was it the time I realised that Hell and Heaven,
Could not be found in Geography,
And therefore could not be,
Was that the day!’’

Question. What shatters the poet’s illusion about the world?
(a) When he is unable to find hell and heaven in geography book
(b) When his geography book is torn
(c) When he turns twelve
(d) When he talks to his teacher

Question. What is the cause of the poet’s worry?
(a) Loss of purity and innocence
(b) Increase in age
(c) Breaking of trust
(d) Loss of fantasy

Question. Which literary device has the poet used in the given lines?
(a) Refrain
(b) Alliteration
(c) Anaphora
(d) All of these

Question. Why is the age of eleven so important to the poet?
(a) Because he can now differentiate between fact and fiction
(b) Because he now know about his parents
(c) Because he can now get a new bike
(d) Because he can now get new gifts

Question. What quality has the poet acquired as mentioned in the extract?
(a) Individuality
(b) Rationality
(c) Patience
(d) Imagination

2. Read the extract to attempt the questions that follow.
‘‘When did my childhood go?
Was it when I found my mind was really mine, To use whichever way I choose, Producing thoughts that were not those of other people But my own, and mine alone Was that the day!’’

Question. Select the statements that justify why the poet is eager to know the lost place of his childhood.
I. The poet cherishes childhood the most.
II. The poet is eager to find pieces of his childhood again.
III. The poet wants to tell his friends about his childhood.
IV. The poet wants to find the innocence he lost.
(a) All statements are correct
(b) I and III are correct
(c) Only II is correct
(d) I, II and IV are correct.

Question. Through the given lines, which characteristic of childhood is highlighted?
(a) Blind belief
(b) Innocence
(c) Lack of rationality
(d) All of these

Question. What does the poet feel when he utters these lines?
(a) Anxiety
(b) Dejection
(c) Regret
(d) Disdain

Question. Explain ‘my mind was really mine’.
(a) The poet was afraid of himself
(b) The poet was completely in control of himself
(c) The poet felt strong yet indecisive
(d) The poet felt confused by his environment

Question. What is meant by: “producing thoughts that were not those of other people’s”?
(a) The poet gains confidence in individuality
(b) The poet gains resilience in tough times
(c) The poet takes on new challenges without a care in the world
(d) The poet is still learning to express himself