Chapter: THE PRAYER | JKBOSE Class 10th English Notes

The speaker in the prayer yearns for Almighty’s blessings. His Lord is his only hope and he implores Him to lead him to the path of truth. His wishes to shun the state of ignorance and longs for “Nectar of Knowledge”. He invokes his Lord to cure him of all ailments. He wishes his Lord to be kind to him each moment and always keep him contended. Weakness, laziness and doubt should never hinder him. He prays to his Lord to supply his heart with hope and eagerness to gain more and more knowledge. He requests his Almighty that he should never be fooled by any ensnaring word play. Rather his words must have such influence that can bring dead to life. He wants that his songs should inculcate feeling of love and peace among people and hatred should not find any place in their lives. He says that he is brought to life just like early tender spring flowers, he pleads to his Lord to render him with the strength of tolerating the turbulences of life. The poet 10th English compares his yearning for blessings with the yearing of dew that eagerly avails for the first flash of sunlight. He pleads to his Lord to make him an early riser like morning flowers so that he may be alert to his first call. He says that although he looks like a human being but infact lacks the essence of humanity. He asks his Lord not to put him to test for he is afraid that he cannot get over the same. He is scared that his failure might shame his human form. He feels aloof from the people around him and, therefore, he is called “Mehjoor”. It does not bother him if these immortals abandon him, he longs for the nourishing care and guidance of the only immortal, that is Almighty Allah. ****************** 

Textual Questions PRAYER 

Ans 1. The poet implores the Lord to lead him to the path of truth. The poet compares the truth with the path that is of utmost importance. The path that teaches the lesson of human values. 

Ans 2. The poet prays for various blessings such as:- 

a) He prays to God to lead him to the way of truth. 

b) To pour him the nectar of knowledge. 

c) To cure him of ills and pains. 

d) Let him never feel in want. 

e) Save him from sloth, infirmity and doubt. 

f) To surcharge his heart with passion, enthusiasm and hope. 

g) To let him chant inspiring songs which can infuse life into the dead and not the sleep inducing tales. 

h) To infuse humanity in his human from and 

i) Not to abandon him even if the poet will be deserted by people. 

Ans 3. The poet has the desire to chant songs that can inculcate life into the dead and will inspire people to come under the same umbrage of love. He wants to sing those songs which can eradicate the bitterness and hatred from the hearts of the people. 

Ans. 4. Do Q No 4 on your own 

Ans 5. In this verse of the poem, the poet shows his humble submission before his Lord. He knows that if his Lord will put him to trials, he is sure to collapse which will show his lack of humanity. Hence, he prays to his lord to spare him from all the trials and bless him with the virtue of living his life in the righteous demeanor of being a human. 

Ans 6. See poetic devices of the poem. 

Prayer Poetic Devices: 

1. ALLEGORY: An allegory is a story, poem are a play in which characters and events represent qualities or ideas such as patience, truth, purity, sin, politics, virtue, vice etc. When the poet prays to God, the quality of truth, purity, patience and virtue can be perspicuously decoded by the reader. The objective of its use is to teach a moral lesson. 

2. METAPHOR: The metaphors used in the poem are: 

a. Nectar of knowledge 

b. The way of truth 

c. Dwell in ignorance 

d. You are my hope and trust 

e. You brought me to bloom 

i. ‘Nectar of Knowledge’: The poet makes nectar and knowledge uniform. As nectar is a sweet liquid produced by flowers, comparably one feels pleasure and sweetness by acquiring knowledge. 

ii. ‘Dwell in ignorance’: Here ignorance has been compared to place which means living life without knowledge and understanding. The poet tries to say that one’s life becomes meaningless if one places oneself at a place which is knowledge deficient. 

iii. ‘The way of truth’: The poet compares truth with the path that is of utmost importance. The path that teaches the lesson of human values. 

iv. ‘You are my hope and trust’: It is quite comprehensive from the verse itself that the poet refers to god as his hope and trust. 

v. ‘You brought me to bloom’: The poet compares himself to a flower which is brought to this would to bloom and flourish in its righteous demeanor bringing smile to its onlookers. 

3. HYMN: Hymn is a song of praise or worship. A hymn is written purely keeping on devotion into consideration. This poem is patently a hymn as the poem is structurally and emotionally devoted to God. 

4. ANTITHESIS: Antithesis, which literally means ‘opposite’ is a *  rhetorical device in which two opposite ideas are put together in a sentence to achieve a contrasting effect. The verse “In form I am a man, in substance far from humanity” is the perfect example of antithesis where the poet says that in form he is a man, who is expected to be humane, but, indeed is far from humanity.  * It is a figure of Speech in the form of question that is asked to make a point rather than to elicit an answer. 

5. REPETITION: Apart from the phrase ‘Let me’, the words ‘let; me, I, form, you, etc have been repeatedly used in the poem. 

6. HYPERBATON OR INVERSION: It refers to the reversal of the syntactically correct order of subjects, verbs, and objects in a sentence. For example. a. In form I am a man, in substance for from humanity. b. Forsaken by men am I, and so they call me Mehjoor. 

7. ANAPHORA: It is one of the types of repetition. It is the repetition of a word at the beginning of two or more than two successive verses in a poem. For example The word ‘let’ has been repeated thrice in the beginning of three successive verses. 

8. SIMILE : The poet has used the following similes in the poem: a. Like dew, how long shall I wait for the first flash of the sun. In this verse, the poet has compared himself to dew. 

9. IMAGERY: 

i. Visual: The poet successfully draws the visuals of flowers, breeze, first flash of the sun, first stroke of the dawn, and summer in readers mind through the beautiful verses of the poem. 

ii. Organic: Organic imagery has been used throughout the poem. The poet expresses his emotions and shares his feelings with God in the form of ‘prayers’. 

iii. Auditory: Chanting of tales which can infuse life into dead is the perfect example of an auditory imagery, for example: “Let me not ever chant the sleep-inducing tales; “Let me sing the songs which infuse life into the dead”. 

10. FREE VERSE: If is a free verse poem having no rhyme scheme.