Welcome students to an amazing analysis of the poem titled “The Shed”. We have presented these solutions in a simple and interesting manner to ensure that you appreciate the essence of the poem. Feel free to go through them in detail.
Find Solutions to NCERT Class 7 English Honeycomb Unit 3 Poem “The Shed” here
Working with the Poem
1. Answer the following questions:
(i) Who is the speaker in the poem?
Answer:
The speaker in the poem is a child.
(ii) Is she/he afraid or curious, or both?
Answer:
The child is both fearful and curious. He is curious to enter the shed, but at the same time, he gets a creepy feeling that someone is staring at him from inside the shed.
(iii) What is she/he planning to do soon?
Answer:
He is planning to open the door and walk into the shed someday soon.
(iv) “But not just yet…” suggests doubt, fear, hesitation, laziness or something else. Choose the word which seems right to you. Tell others why you chose it.
Answer:
I think “But not just yet…” indicates hesitation on the part of the speaker. The speaker is a small child whose brother has told him stories of ghosts lurking in the shed ready to chop off his head. The child says he knows there aren’t any ghosts in the shed, or anyone staring at him or making strange noises. But his rational mind is sometimes taken over by uneasiness because of all the superstitious stories about ghosts that he has heard. So, he needs a little more time to gain the confidence to walk into the shed.
2. Is there a room in your house or a house in your neighbourhood/locality where you would rather not go alone and never at night? If there is such a place and a story to go with it, let others hear all about it.
Answer:
Yes, there is an old kitchen in my grandmother’s house in Assam which is situated at a little distance from the main house beside a pond. It was used for cooking strictly vegetarian food by my grandmother. But since she is bedridden now, it is not used for cooking any more. But there are jars of delicious pickles, tamarind, jaggery and ghee lined up on shelves along the wall. During the day, my cousins and I go in and help ourselves to the pickles, but we dare not venture into the old kitchen after sunset. My aunts told us stories of a figure dressed in white which glides across the pond and reaches into the kitchen for some pickles on dark nights when the moon does not shine. They said that a young girl had drowned in the pond and her spirit still hovers around. Although I know that the ghost story was made up by my aunts to frighten us, I still get a creepy sensation at the nape of my neck when I go near that kitchen after sunset. So, I stay away from it.
Extra Questions for NCERT Class 7 English Honeycomb Unit 3 Poem “The Shed”
A. Multiple Choice type Questions
Choose the correct option:
1. The hinges of the door creak at night because they are ___________.
(i) squeaky
(ii) rusty
(iii) broken
(iv) none of the above
2. Where is the window of the shed?
(i) in the front
(ii) at the back of the shed
(iii) at the side of the shed
(iv) None of the above
3. What does the speaker think as he passes the shed?
(i) that someone is staring at him
(ii) that someone is waving at him
(iii) that someone is mocking him
(iv) all of the above
4. What does the speaker’s brother say is hiding beneath the floorboards of the shed?
(i) moles
(ii) rats
(iii) snakes
(iv) a ghost
5.Who uses the shed?
(i) the speaker
(ii) the speaker’s brother
(iii) the ghost
(iv) none of the above
Answer:
1. (ii) rusty
2. (iii) at the side of the shed
3. (i) that someone is staring at him
4. (iv) a ghost
5. (ii) the speaker’s brother
B. Fill in the blanks with suitable words from the box to complete the following sentences:
| glass | ghosts | dusty | shed | creak |
| cracked | side | lies | hinges | den |
1. There’s a ______old window around at the ________.
2. The window has three _______ panes of _______.
3. The _____ are rusty and _________ in the wind.
4. My brother says there are ____in the_______.
5. My brother _______to keep the shed for his ______.
Answer:
1. There’s a dusty old window around at the side.
2. The window has three cracked panes of glass.
3. The hinges are rusty and creak in the wind.
4. My brother says there are ghosts in the shed.
5. My brother lies to keep the shed for his den.
C. Match the words in column A with those in column B
| A | B |
| garden | head |
| glass | when |
| shed | listen |
| den | inside |
| side | pass |
Answer:
| A | B |
| garden | listen |
| glass | pass |
| shed | head |
| den | when |
| side | inside |
D. State whether the following statements are TRUE or FALSE:
1. All the glass panes of the window are cracked.
2. The speaker feels as if there is someone staring at him through the window each time he passes by.
3.When he is in bed the speaker thinks that he will open the shed door one day.
4. The speaker is afraid of the ghost in the shed.
5. The child in the poem is curious.
Answer:
1. False – only three glass panes are cracked
2. True
3. True
4.False – The speaker knows that there isn’t really a ghost in the shed. He knows that his brother tells him lies to keep the shed as his exclusive den.
5. True
E. Very Short Answer Type Questions:
1. Where was the shed?
Answer:
The shed was at the bottom of the speaker’s garden.
2. What does the spider’s web hanging across the door suggest?
Answer:
The spider’s web hanging across the door suggests that the door had not been opened for a long time.
3. Why are the hinges rusty and creaky?
Answer:
The door had not been opened for a long time, so the hinges had rusted and creaked when the wind blew hard.
4. How did the speaker feel each time he passed the shed?
Answer:
Each time the speaker passed the shed, he felt as if someone was staring at him.
5. Why does the speaker want to peep through the window?
Answer:
The speaker wants to find out if there is really someone staring at him through the dusty old window.
6. Who told the speaker about the ghost?
Answer:
The speaker’s brother told him about a ghost waiting in the shed.
7. Where did he say the ghost hid?
Answer:
The speaker’s brother told him that the ghost hid under the rotten floorboards of the shed.
8. What did he say the ghost would do if the speaker dared to enter the shed?
Answer:
He told the speaker that the ghost would jump out and chop off his head.
9. Why did the brother try to frighten the speaker?
Answer:
The speaker’s brother tried to frighten him because he wanted to enjoy the privacy afforded by the den all by himself.
10. Did the speaker believe in ghosts?
Answer:
No, the speaker did not believe in ghosts. He was a rational child who realised his brother was deliberately trying to frighten him away from the shed for his own benefit.
11. Why does a spider abandon his web?
Answer:
A spider abandons his web if it does not trap enough food.
F. Short Answer Type Questions:
1. What is a shed?
Answer:
A shed is a simple-roofed, light structure built for storage. It is used for storing garden equipment, to shelter animals or even as a workshop. It is usually at some distance from the main house.
2. Describe the shed in the poem.
Answer:
The shed at the bottom of the speaker’s garden was old, and in a state of disrepair. A spider’s web hung right across the door indicating that the shed had not been used recently. The door hinges had become rusty from disuse and creaked when the wind blew hard. There was a dusty window at the side of the shed which had three cracked glass panes. The floorboards were rotten and needed to be replaced. It was obviously an abandoned shed which had outlived its usefulness.
3. What did the speaker’s brother tell him about the shed to scare him away? Did the speaker believe his brother’s stories?
Answer:
The speaker’s older brother told him that a ghost lived inside the shed hidden under the rotten floorboards. It would jump out and chop off his head if he ever dared to venture inside. Despite the warnings, the curious speaker wanted to go peep and into the shed.
The speaker did not believe his brother. He knew very well that there really wasn’t a ghost. He saw right through his brother’s selfish motive to have exclusive use of the shed for his den.
5. What is the significance of the words:
“And the spider has been gone from his web since I don’t know when”
Answer:
The speaker first mentioned the spider’s web hanging across the door of the shed indicating that the door had not been opened for a long time so the web was undisturbed. The presence of the spider web lent a sinister aura to the shed suggesting the presence of ghosts. In the last stanza the speaker expressed a sense of relief that the spider had abandoned its web since long.
The spider had moved on to another place taking with it the eerie atmosphere that troubled the child. The child was no longer afraid of the shed.
G. Long answer Type Questions
1. Describe the child’s feelings about the shed. Do they change over the course of the poem?
Answer:
The child’s natural curiosity was piqued by the dusty old abandoned shed at the bottom of the garden. It had a sinister aura about it and the spider’s web hanging across the door made him uneasy because it suggested the presence of ghosts. The child lay in bed at night listening to the weird noises of the old shed door creaking as the wind blew hard, and thought of opening that door one day.
The dusty old window with three cracked glass panes also intrigued the child and each time he passed the shed he felt a creepy sensation as if someone was staring at him through the hazy glass. The child was both fearful and curious so he resolved to peep through the window one day.
The speaker’s brother tried to scare him away from the shed by telling him about a ghost lying in wait for him under the rotten floorboards. It would jump out and chop off his head if he ever dared to set foot inside the shed.
But the child was not so naïve, he saw through his brother’s selfish motive to have exclusive use of the shed for his den.
He also realised that there is no one inside the shed staring at him or making strange noises. The creepy spider had abandoned its web and moved on long back taking with it the eerie atmosphere that troubled the child. The child was no longer afraid of the shed. He resolved to go in there one day soon, though not just yet.
We see the child change from an apprehensive and diffident boy to a rational one who has managed to overcome his fears. He just needs a little more time to build the confidence to walk in to the shed.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on NCERT Solutions for Class 7 English Honeycomb Unit 3 Poem “The Shed”
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The shed at the bottom of the speaker’s garden was old, and in a state of disrepair. A spider’s web hung right across the door indicating that the shed had not been used recently. The door hinges had become rusty from disuse and creaked when the wind blew hard. There was a dusty window at the side of the shed which had three cracked glass panes. The floorboards were rotten and needed to be replaced. It was obviously an abandoned shed which had outlived its usefulness.
No, the speaker did not believe in ghosts. He was a rational child who realised his brother was deliberately trying to frighten him away from the shed for his own benefit.
Yes, certainly. Our team of competent English teachers have carefully anticipated all the queries you may have about the poem and crafted these excellent solutions which draw your attention to every detail in the poem and also to the intrinsic meaning of the poem. We suggest that at first you read the poem closely and look up the meanings of unfamiliar terms. Then read the solutions taking in all the details. Do not memorise because the key to learning lies in understanding the text.
Our English experts have painstakingly provided many extra questions which are similar to exam questions and are designed to give you sufficient practice.
Go through the solutions before the exam and practice writing out some answers within a specified time period. This is an important step which should not be skipped because practice not only makes perfect, but also boosts your self-confidence. You will be well-equipped to take on any challenge that your examiner may pose! Good luck!
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