ବୋର୍ଡ ଅଫ୍ ସେକେଣ୍ଡାରୀ ଏଜୁକେସନ୍ (BSE Odisha) — ସମ୍ପୂର୍ଣ୍ଣ ଅଧ୍ୟାୟ ମାଷ୍ଟର ନୋଟ୍ସ
ଶ୍ରେଣୀ: Class 9 | ବିଷୟ: English
ଅଧ୍ୟାୟ: Class 9 English - Chapter 09: No Men Are Foreign
୧. ଅଧ୍ୟାୟର ସାରାଂଶ ଓ ମାଇଣ୍ଡ ମ୍ୟାପ୍ (Mind Map & Conceptual Architecture)
"No Men Are Foreign" by James Kirkup is a powerful peace poem that advocates for universal brotherhood, global unity, and the elimination of national boundaries. The poet dismantles the artificial divisions created by humans—such as borders, languages, cultures, and military uniforms—and establishes that all human beings share the same biological, emotional, and ecological existence.
Conceptual Architecture (Mind Map):
୧.୧. Physical and Biological Unity:
୧.୨. Shared Natural Resources:
୧.୩. Common Human Experience:
୧.୪. The Destructive Nature of War:
୨. ମୁଖ୍ୟ ବିଷୟବସ୍ତୁ, ସିଦ୍ଧାନ୍ତ ଓ ଗାଣିତିକ ସୂତ୍ରାବଳୀ (Comprehensive Theory & Analysis)
୨.୧. Stanza-by-Stanza Deep Analysis
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୨.୨. Notes and Glossary (ଶବ୍ଦାର୍ଥ ଓ ଟିପ୍ପଣୀ)
୩. ପାଠ୍ୟପୁସ୍ତକ ଅଭ୍ୟାସ ପ୍ରଶ୍ନାବଳୀର ୧୦୦% ସମ୍ପୂର୍ଣ୍ଣ ସମାଧାନ (100% Complete Solved Exercises)
E. Let's understand the poem:
(a) Read the poem silently and answer the following questions.
Q1. What is this poem about?
Answer: This poem is about the essential unity of mankind and the concept of universal brotherhood. It conveys the message that all human beings are equal, share the same earth, and that national boundaries and wars are artificial and destructive.
Q2. What should we remember?
Answer: We should remember that no men are strange, no countries are foreign, and that we are all brothers sharing the same earth.
Q3. What do you mean by ‘uniform’ as mentioned by the poet?
Answer: In this poem, 'uniform' refers to the different military dresses worn by soldiers of various countries, as well as the diverse traditional attires and outward appearances of people from different cultures.
Q4. Why are the uniforms different?
Answer: The uniforms are different because of geographical boundaries, cultural diversities, and political divisions among different nations.
Q5. What is there beneath all uniforms?
Answer: Beneath all uniforms, there is a single, identical human body that breathes in the exact same way.
Q6. Do all the people on the earth breathe the same way?
Answer: Yes, all people on the earth breathe the same way, using their lungs to inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, showing our biological equality.
Q7. Who does “our brothers” stand for?
Answer: "Our brothers" stands for the people who live in other countries, irrespective of their nationality, race, or religion.
Q8. How do they walk? Do we walk like them?
Answer: They walk on the same earth using their legs, just as we do. Yes, we walk exactly like them.
Q9. What does the phrase “in which” stand for? (fourth line, first stanza)
Answer: The phrase "in which" stands for the earth or the land upon which we all walk and live.
Q10. Where are people buried when they die? Is it common everywhere?
Answer: People are buried in the earth when they die. Yes, this is common everywhere, as all human bodies eventually return to the soil of the same earth.
Q11. All people in the world are our brothers and sisters. How should we treat them?
Answer: We should treat them with love, respect, kindness, and empathy, recognizing them as our equals and members of our global family.
Q12. Who does “They” refer to in the first line of the second stanza?
Answer: "They" refers to the people of other countries whom we often consider foreigners or strangers.
Q13. What do we get from the sun? Do people in other countries get it?
Answer: We get light, warmth, and energy from the sun. Yes, people in all other countries get the exact same sunlight.
Q14. How is air essential to us? Is it essential for the people in other countries?
Answer: Air is essential to us because we need oxygen to breathe and stay alive. Yes, it is equally essential for the survival of people in other countries.
Q15. Can we live without water? What about the people in other countries?
Answer: No, we cannot live without water. Similarly, people in other countries also cannot survive without water, as it is a basic necessity for all living beings.
Q16. What are the people in other countries aware of? Do we also realise it in the same way?
Answer: The people in other countries are aware of the sun, air, and water. Yes, we also realize and experience these natural elements in the exact same way.
Q17. Who are benefitted if there are peaceful harvests? How?
Answer: All people are benefitted by peaceful harvests. Peace ensures that agriculture thrives, providing abundant food and prosperity, which keeps everyone well-fed and happy.
Q18. Can there be peaceful harvests if there is a war? What happens to people when there is a war or after a war?
Answer: No, there cannot be peaceful harvests during a war. War brings destruction, disrupts farming, and leads to starvation, which the poet describes as being starved by "war's long winter."
Q19. What does “their hands are ours” mean?
Answer: "Their hands are ours" means that people in other countries have hands just like ours, which they use to work hard and earn their livelihood, showing that our struggles and efforts are identical.
Q20. Who do the words “they” and “ours” refer to in the first line of the third stanza?
Answer: "They" refers to the people of other nations, and "ours" refers to ourselves.
Q21. How can we win other people?
Answer: We can win other people through love, kindness, and understanding, rather than through force, hatred, or warfare.
Q22. What does common life mean? (birth, death, joyfulness, etc. Add more.)
Answer: Common life means the universal human experiences shared by everyone, such as birth, growth, joy, sorrow, labor, sleep, love, aging, and death.
Q23. Who tells us to hate our brothers?
Answer: Power-hungry politicians, selfish leaders, and instigators of war tell us to hate our brothers for their own political gains.
Q24. What does “to hate our brothers” mean? (stanza-4)
Answer: "To hate our brothers" means to harbor ill feelings, hostility, and enmity toward people of other nations, which ultimately leads to war and self-destruction.
Q25. How do we dispossess our brothers in other part of the world?
Answer: We dispossess our brothers by hating them, waging wars against them, depriving them of their peace, resources, and basic human rights.
Q26. What is “human earth”?
Answer: "Human earth" refers to the shared planet Earth that belongs to all of humanity, transcending political borders.
Q27. How do we defile the human earth?
Answer: We defile the human earth by engaging in wars, spreading hatred, using destructive weapons, and polluting the environment with the fire and dust of conflict.
Q28. To whom do we harm by going to war?
Answer: By going to war, we harm ourselves, our fellow human beings, and the entire planet.
Q29. What does “our hells of fire” mean?
Answer: "Our hells of fire" refers to the intense heat, smoke, destruction, and devastation caused by modern weapons, bombs, and warfare.
Q30. What do you mean by “Innocence of air?”
Answer: "Innocence of air" refers to the natural purity, freshness, and life-giving quality of the atmosphere, which is free from pollution and hatred until human conflicts ruin it.
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(b) Choose the right option.
1. A single body breathes beneath all _______________.
A. souls
B. bodies
C. uniforms
D. heads
Answer: C. uniforms
2. What are all people aware of ?
A. water
B. air
C. sun
D. all of the above
Answer: D. all of the above
3. What are we doing to the human earth according to the poet?
A. decorating
B. defiling
C. saving
D. recreating
Answer: B. defiling
4. How can strength be won?
A. By war
B. By love and kindness
C. By betraying
D. By taking arms against each other
Answer: B. By love and kindness
5. We should remember that __________________________.
A. no men are foreign
B. no men are strange
C. no men are our enemies
D. all of the above
Answer: D. all of the above (Note: While options A and B are directly from the text, the overall theme encompasses C as well, making D the most comprehensive choice).
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F. Let's appreciate the poem:
Q1. What message does the poet convey in the poem “No Men Are Foreign”?
Answer: The poet conveys a powerful message of peace, universal brotherhood, and global harmony. He emphasizes that all human beings are biologically and emotionally identical. He urges humanity to abandon hatred, national prejudices, and warfare, as we all share the same earth and depend on the same natural resources.
Q2. How do we defile the human earth? Apart from war, what other things do we do to defile the earth?
Answer: We defile the human earth through the violence, hatred, and destruction of war, which pollutes the air with fire and dust. Apart from war, we defile the earth through industrial pollution, deforestation, littering, exploitation of natural resources, and spreading social evils like discrimination based on caste, creed, and race.
Q3. The poet uses the word “remember” four times in this poem. What does he want to convey?
Answer: The poet repeats the word "remember" to emphasize the importance of his message. He wants to constantly remind the readers of our shared humanity, urging us not to forget that divisions are artificial and that we must resist the manipulative narratives of hatred and division.
Q4. The poet repeats the line “Remember, no men are strange, no countries foreign” in the last line with some changes? What are those small changes? Do both the lines mean the same?
Answer: In the first line, the poet writes, "Remember, no men are strange, no countries foreign." In the last line, he writes, "Remember, no men are foreign, and no countries strange." The small change is the transposition of the words "foreign" and "strange." Yes, both lines carry the exact same core meaning, but the reversal in the final line serves as a poetic frame to reinforce the central theme.
Q5. How does the poet suggest that all people in the world are equal?
Answer: The poet suggests equality by pointing out that all humans breathe the same way, walk on the same earth, and are buried in the same soil. He notes that we all enjoy the same sun, air, and water, suffer during wars, work hard with our hands, sleep and wake similarly, and respond to love.
Q6. One of the greatest philosophers of the world, Socrates wrote the following sentence. “I am a citizen, not of Athens or Greece, but of the world.” Does this sentence match with the theme of the poem? How?
Answer: Yes, this sentence perfectly matches the theme of the poem. Socrates' quote reflects global citizenship and cosmopolitanism, rejecting narrow national identities. Similarly, James Kirkup’s poem advocates for a borderless world where all humanity is viewed as a single, unified family.
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G. Let's do the activities:
3. Let's match the stanzas with their themes.
Stanza 1 ─── different kinds of people -different uniforms –walk in the same way on the earth – lie in the earth when die
Stanza 2 ─── aware of sun , air and water- hands alike –work hard for livelihood
Stanza 3 ─── have eyes like ours –wake and sleep alike – be won by love and kindness- not by force
Stanza 4 ─── power –hungry leaders – motivate negatively – hate our brothers- go for a war – think brothers to be foreign
Stanza 5 ─── human earth-all countries , races and culture – war causes death and destruction – pollute the air and environment
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4. Let's write:
Write a paragraph for each stanza of the poem.
The first stanza of the poem introduces the core concept of universal brotherhood. The poet explains that despite the different uniforms worn by soldiers or the diverse attires of people across nations, we all share the exact same physical body. We walk upon the same earth during our lives, and when we die, we will all be buried in the same soil. Therefore, no human is strange and no country is foreign.
The second stanza highlights our shared ecological and economic realities. People of all nations are nurtured by the same natural elements: the sun, air, and water. During peaceful times, everyone enjoys abundant harvests, while during wars, everyone suffers from starvation and hardship. Furthermore, the hands of people in other lands are just like ours, and they perform the same kind of hard labor to earn their livelihood.
The third stanza focuses on our common biological and emotional traits. All humans have eyes that wake and sleep in the same manner. We all possess strength that can be won over through love and kindness rather than violence. In every country, there is a common pattern of life that is universally recognizable and understandable, proving that humanity is one.
The fourth stanza warns us against the dangers of political manipulation and hatred. Whenever we are instigated by selfish leaders to hate people of other nations, we must realize that we are only harming ourselves. By hating our brothers, we dispossess, betray, and condemn our own humanity. Taking up arms against others is an act of self-destruction.
The fifth stanza describes the environmental and spiritual damage caused by war. When we fight, we pollute and defile our shared human earth. The fire and dust from weapons ruin the purity and innocence of the air, which belongs to everyone. The poet concludes by reiterating that we must always remember that no men are foreign and no countries are strange.
୪. ବୋର୍ଡ ପରୀକ୍ଷା ମାଷ୍ଟ୍ରି ଟିପ୍ସ ଓ ସାଧାରଣ ଭୁଲ୍ (Board Exam Tips & Pitfalls)
୪.୧. Board Exam Mastery Tips:
୪.୨. Common Student Pitfalls:
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(ନୋଟ୍ସ ପ୍ରସ୍ତୁତି: ଉତ୍କଳ ସ୍କିଲ୍ ସେଣ୍ଟର - BSE Odisha 100% Full Textbook Master Edition)
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