Unseen poem for class 12 is the most important part to score higher marks in your exam. .Reading the unseen poem for class 12 in English will help you to write better answers in your exam and improve your reading skill.

Students who are planning to score higher marks in class 12 English poem should practice the English poem for class 12 before attending the CBSE board exam. 

It is compulsory to solve the unseen poem for class 12 because you need to score higher marks in your exam.

To improve your skills, we have provided you with the unseen poem for class 12 with answers. We have 6 unseen poem for class 12 given below.

While Solving the poem, you will see some unseen poem for class 12 with MCQs also present in them. It is provided to make yourself an expert by solving them and score good marks in your exam. You can also practice unseen poems for class 12 in Hindi.

Remember don’t start with writing the answer when you did not see an unseen poem for class 12.

Guidelines to attempts the Unseen Poem for class 12

1-First of all, read the poem quickly and answer the question at the end of poem.

2-Underline the word which you find related to given question.

3-There is also another method you can start first by solving questions without reading the poem which does not give you any clue especially in English poem for class 12. It just becomes easier to underline those word which you have seen in question.

4-While writing the answer, do not try to give a general answer, be sure sometimes students write the general description just to obtain 2 or 3 marks so avoid it.

5-Write your answer short and use simple sentences unless required to do.

6-Do not stick to one question because you are wasting your time and don’t use the unmeaningful word when meaningful give you good marks.

7-Try to use your own word as much as you can.it means you must summarise and explain in detail and don’t try to take whole sentences from the passage.

8-While writing the answer to a factual question( i.e, the question that involves words like what, when, how, and why,)do not write the information which is not given in that poem so, while answering this question you may start your answer with ‘This is because of a similar phrase.

9-While writing the vocabulary question, decide the grammatical form of the word. Your answer should have a similar grammatical form. 

Unseen Poem for class 12 with answers

1. Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow:

My Mother at Sixty- six
Kamala Das
The poem examines the theme of advancing age and the fear of losing a dear one and of separation from her. It is written in blank verse.
As the poet is driving away from her parents‘ home to go to the Cochin airport she becomes aware of how her mother has aged and is pained at the thought of losing her mother. The mother is dozing in the car and she looks almost like a corpse. To forget her unhappy thoughts, the poet looks outside the car and she sees trees which appear to sprint and young children who are playing excitedly. These are representative of energy and youth and are a direct contrast to her aging mother. The mother‘s pale face resembles a winter‘s moon. The familiar childhood fear and her insecurity of being separated from her mother resurface. Yet when she leaves her at the airport, she summons a smile and bids her a cheerful goodbye, ‖See you soon, Amma‖, masking her inner turmoil and also as if to reassure her mother as well as herself.
Kamala Das has used many figures of speech to express her feelings
Personification/Metaphor: the trees are described as ―sprinting‖, like young children Metaphor: the children are ―spilling out‖ like the gushing waters of a stream.
Similes: her face like that of a corpse; as a late winter‘s moon -which effectively describes her mother‘s pale and wan face, lie that of a lifeless person or the hazy moon in winter.

Questions.
Read the extract and answer the questions that follow:
a) I saw my mother,
beside me
doze, open mouthed, her face
ashen like that of a corpse and realised with pain
i) Where was the poet headed?
ii) Who was sitting beside her?
iii) What does the poet compare her mother‘s face to and why?

b)I looked again at her, wan, pale
as a late winter‟s moon and felt that old
familiar ache, that childhood fear.
i) Who do ‗I‘ and ‗her‘ refer to?
ii) Where are they both going?
iii) What does the ‗familiar ache‘ refer to?
iv)How does she part from her mother?

II. Answer in 30 – 40 words:
a) Why do you think the narrator looks out of the window?
b) What makes the poet smile at her mother at the airport?
c) Why was the mother‘s face compared to a winter moon?
d) Why does the poet mention ―the merry children‖ and ―sprinting trees‖?
e) How does the poet behave at the airport and why?
f) What is the kind of pain and ache that the poet feels?
g) ‗Smile and smile and smile‘ is a poetic device. Identify it and explain the significance.
h) Why does the poetess look at „young trees „and „merry children‟?

● To distract her mind from unhappy thoughts of her mother‘s old age.
● To look at the freshness of life

2. Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow:

An Elementary School Classroom in a Slum
Stephen Spender
The poem concentrates on the theme of social injustice and class inequalities. The plight of impoverished and deprived children of a school in a slum area is described here. Their classroom is shabby; the pictures on the wall depict the wonderful world outside which is out of reach for the children. The children are condemned to a dismal life as they are caught in a web of poverty and exposed to the indifference of the society around them. It is inhuman to show them glimpses of a better world, confusing them, tempting them to give in to deception and using unfair means to achieve what that world promises.
The poet concludes with the hope that someone who is in a position to help them, (governor, inspector, visitor) will take on the moral responsibility of giving these children meaningful education and leading them from their narrow alleys and bleak worlds to the wonderful world of letters. If that is not done, then these classrooms will be the cemetery of their dreams.
All education, without opportunity is meaningless and so it is important to let them grow unrestricted and liberated and creative, lead them to write ―history theirs whose language is the sun.‖ Only the educated can transform the world.
The poem is written in a simple and lucid manner and the poet has done away with regular rhyme to denote social disorder, confusion and chaos. The poem is replete with imagery and symbols which help in conveying the message in an effective manner.

Some of the Figures of Speech used in the poem:
Alliteration: Far far from, break o break
Metaphors:
a) paper seeming boy with rat‘s eyes – thin boy, with hungry/furtive eyes
a) Of squirrel‘s game – free, liberated, happy life
b) Sour cream walls- coloured; like that of sour cream, grimy, shabby
c) Future painted with a fog- gloomy, a future without hope
d) Lead sky- dark and unpromising
e) History is theirs whose language is the sun- grow unrestrained, life as bright and cheerful as the sun.
f) From fog to endless night-the present situation of the children which is without joy or hope compared to fog and their bleak future is compared to an endless night suggesting death
g) Slag heap-refers to the miserable and unhygienic living conditions of these children.

Similes:
a) Like rootless weeds- comparison between the waif like children and weeds.
b) Like bottle bits on stone- lives shattered like bottles and pieces strewn around.
c) Lives like catacombs- suffocating lives, unaired and grave like
d) As big as doom- life / slum like a terrible disaster

Symbolism:
a) Weighed down head
b) Endless night
c) Language is the sun
d) Mended glass
Transferred Epithet: Gnarled disease
Questions:

I. Read the extracts and answers the questions that follow:
a)Far far from gusty waves, these children‟s faces
Like rootless weeds, the hair torn around their pallor:
The tall girl with her weighed-down head. The paper
Seeming boy, with rat‟s eyes.
i) What kind of room are the children sitting in?
ii) Why does the poet refer to the children as ―rootless weeds‖?
iii) Explain: weighed down head
iv) Identify the figure of speech in the phrase ―the paper seeming boy with rat‘s eye‖ and explain
in your own words.

b) Unless, governor, inspector, visitor
This map becomes their window and these windows
That shut upon their lives like catacombs,
Break O break open till they break the town
i)What do the windows and map symbolize?
ii) Who do the governor, inspector, visitor refer to?
iii) What role should they play?
iv)Explain the reference to ‗catacombs‘.

c) Surely Shakespeare is wicked, the map a bad example,
With ships and sun and love tempting them to steal-
For lives that slyly turn in their cramped holes
From fog to endless night?
i)Why is Shakespeare ―wicked‖?
ii)Which map is a better example for these children?
iii)Explain: ―from fog to endless night‖
iv)What is the mood of the poet?

II. Answer the following in 30-40 words:
a). What does the poet wish for the children of the slums?
b). What do the “green fields” and “gold sands” in the poem refer to?

3. Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow:

Keeping Quiet
Pablo Neruda
This is an anti-war poem and the poet feels that the need of the hour is introspection and meditation and a higher level of existence. Only this will save the world from self-destruction. He appeals to the people to slow down the pace of their lives. This period of life will benefit mankind immensely. Wars lead to total destruction and hollow victories with no survivors. Stopping all activities and sharing of silence is the only hope for a peaceful world. However, total inactivity is not what the poet advocates and neither does he think death is the answer. He advises the people to let earth be our teacher. Just as, when earth may look dead, life goes on under the surface, preserving seeds to sprout later etc. in the same way, from our silence will come true knowledge and the meaning of life. We should make a conscious and resolute effort to calm the mind, stop all activity and do some quiet introspection. Then we can hope for mutual understanding among human beings, and harmony among the people of the world.
Theme: Only by keeping quiet and stopping all destructive activities can we find peace and tranquility. Silence creates a unique moment when all differences are removed and a feeling of brotherhood prevails. It provides an opportunity for introspection and better understanding of self.

Figures of speech used:
Symbolism:
a) fishermen in the cold sea would not harm whales- symbolizing man‘s
indiscriminate exploitation of nature for his vested interests.
b) Man gathering salt would look at his hurt hands- stands for self- destruction
c) put on clean clothes- start life afresh, a peaceful life

Questions:
I. Read the extracts and answer the questions that follow:

a) Those who prepare green wars,
Wars with gas, wars with fire, victory with no survivors
Would put on clean clothes
And walk about with their brothers
In the shade, doing nothing
i)Who are ‘ those ‘ in line 1 ?
ii)What are green wars?
iii)Explain:’ victory with no survivors’.
iv)Which figure of speech has been used in the above stanza?
Value points:
i) Over ambitious/eccentric people involved in waging wars to gain dominance
ii) War against environment
iii)None may survive to celebrate victory
iv)Symbolism – clean clothes /their brothers

b) It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines,
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness
i)What does the poet refer to as the ―exotic moment‖?
ii)What does the word ―engines‖ signify?
iii)What is the present condition of the world that forces the poet to make this request?
iv) What does he refer to it as ‗sudden strangeness‘?

c). If we were not so single minded
about keeping our lives moving,
and for once do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with death.
i). Who does ―we‖ refer to?
ii). What is the cause of the sadness?
iii). What is man ―single minded‖ about?
iv) What does the poet recommend?

d) Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.
This one time upon the earth,
let‟s not speak any language,
let‟s stop for one second,
and not move our arms so much
i)Why does the poet want us to count to twelve?
ii)What does the poet ask us to do?
iii)What is the significance of ‗twelve‘?
iv)Why does the poet want us not to use our language and our arms?

II. Answer the following in 30-40 words:
a) What will counting up to twelve and keeping still help us to achieve?
b) What is the ‗exotic moment‘ the poet is referring to?
c) What symbol of nature does the poet use to make us understand the lesson?
d) Why is Pablo Neruda against ‗total inactivity‘?
e) Who do the ‗fishermen‘ and ‗man gathering salt‘ refer to?

f) What importance does the poet give to The Earth, when he says that it can teach us an essential meaning of life?
Ans. The poet says that when during winter everything seems dead on the surface of the earth, there pulsates and throbs life underneath which is just waiting to come out in spring. It means that the earth should be seen and understood in the right perspective. When we stop all physical activity, it appears as if we are doing nothing but that is the time we are able to introspect.

g)What is the sadness referred to in the poem?
The sadness Pablo Neruda refers to in his poem, ‗Keeping Quiet‘, is that of never being able to understand ourselves that we are causing our own destruction. It arises out of our mad rush to achieve everything materialistic in nature.

4. Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow:

Thing of Beauty
John Keats
In this poem, the Romantic poet, John Keats speaks about the power of beautiful things, which have the ability of giving pleasure time and time again. A thing of beauty is an everlasting source of happiness. It makes a lasting impression on the mind and can never be forgotten. Human life is full of malice and disappointments, of gloomy and dull days; but a thing of beauty removes the pain and lifts our spirits .The beauty of nature inspires us to aspire for better lives like our magnificent heroic forefathers. The poet says that even thoughts regarding grand legacies of the mighty dead and the tales we have heard or have read about, can all be counted among the things of beauty. Nature‘s bounty is like an endless fountain of heavenly drink (elixir), which rejuvenates and refreshes us.

Figures of speech:
Metaphor:
i) morrow are wreathing a flower band‘- pleasant memories are compared to a garland of flowers that bind us to the earth and give us joy despite all the unhappiness around us/ we need to stay connected to nature like the flowers in a wreath.
ii) ―Some shape of beauty moves away the pall‖- pall or funeral cover. Some beautiful thing (of nature) lifts our depression/grief like a funeral cover is lifted. Nature has a healing effect and it alleviates our pain and suffering.
iii) ―an endless fountain of immortal drink‖- Nature‘s bounty being compared to a heavenly fountain which is continuous and joy.

Alliteration:
i) noble natures
ii) cooling covert

Questions:
Read the extracts and answer the questions that follow:

1. A thing of beauty is a joy forever
   Its loveliness increases. It will never
   Pass in to nothingness; but will keep
   A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
   Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
   a) What is a bower?
   b) How can we overcome sorrows and sufferings?
   c) What are the effects of beautiful things on a man‘s spirit?
   d) What is the theme of the poem?

2. Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
   A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
   Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
   Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
   Of all the unhealthy and o‟er darkened ways
   Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all
   Some shape of beauty moves
   away the pall
   From our dark spirits.
   a) Explain ―flowery band‖.
   b) What are ―unhealthy and o’er darkened ways”?
   c) Explain the figure of speech in ―moves away the pall..‖
   d) What lifts our spirits?
3. ……………………………… yes, in spite of all,
   Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
   From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon,
   Trees old, and young, sprouting a shady boon
   For simple sheep; and such are daffodils
   With the green world they live in; and clear rills
   That for themselves a cooling covert make
   „Gainst the hot season;
   i.What does the word ‗all‘ in line 1 stand for?
   ii.What sprouts a shady boon for sheep and how?
   iii .Mention some of the things from the world of Nature that move away the pall from our dark spirits.
   iv.What do streams do?

Answer the following in 30-40 words:
a)What makes humans unhappy and how do they find a release from this state?
b)What is the ―endless fountain‖ a reference to? What are its effects?
c)What makes human beings love life despite trouble and suffering?
d)Why is grandeur associated with the mighty dead?

e) List the things of beauty mentioned in the poem.
Every little or big thing of nature is a thing of beauty and a source of pleasure. The sun, the moon, trees old and young and daffodil flowers are all things of beauty. So are small streams with clear water, mass of ferns and the blooming musk-roses. They are constant sources of joy and pleasure.

f) List the things that cause suffering and pain.
There are many things that cause human suffering and pain. The biggest source of suffering is our malice and disappointment. The lack of noble qualities is another. Our unhealthy and evil ways also give birth to so many troubles and sufferings. They depress our spirits. They are like a pall of sadness over our lives.

g) What does the line, ‘Therefore are we wreathing a flowery band to bind us to earth’, suggest to you?
John Keats is a sensuous poet. He is firmly attached to the endless beauty of the earth. The link of man with nature is constant and unbroken. The things of beauty are like wreaths of beautiful flowers. We seem to wreathe a flowery band that keeps us attached to the beauties of this earth.

5. Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow:

A Roadside Stand
By Robert Frost
The poet presents the lives of rural people who have put up a roadside stand to sell their products.
As they wait in vain for the passing cars to buy their products, we see the lack of sympathy for the rural people.

Read the extracts and answer the questions that follow:
1) The polished traffic passed with a mind ahead
Or, if ever aside a moment, then out of sorts
At having the landscape marred with the artless paint
Of signs with S turned wrong and N turned wrong…
i)What do you mean by ‘polished traffic?
ii) Explain, ‘passed with a mind ahead.’
iii) What are the usual complaints made by the city men when they stop at the roadside stand?
iv) How senseless do the rich men’s complaints sound to the poor people?

2) Offered for sale are wild berries in wooden quarts
Or crook necked golden squash with silver warts,
Or beauty rest in a mountain scene…
i) What articles are ‗offered for sale‘ at the stand?
ii) What qualities of the ‗offered articles‘ make them unfit for sale?
iii) What does ‗beauty rest in a mountain scene‘ mean?

3) The hurt to the scenery wouldn‟t be my complaint
So much as the trusting sorrow of what is unsaid:

i) Why is the poet‟s complaint different from that of the rich city men?
The rich city men have their hollow complaints that come out of their failure to understand the basic struggles of the poor. They complain about the damage to the scenery caused by the stand. But the poet can see the poverty and suffering of the people in the stand.

ii)What do you mean by the trusting sorrow of the poor people?
The poor people are instinctively sensitive and expectant to the promises of the rich and the mighty. They believe their hollow promises and wait for their realization. But finally their hopes give way to the miserable realization that the promises made by the rich are not meant to be fulfilled.

iii) What do you understand when the poet says that the trusting sorrow of the poor people is „unsaid?‟
The poor people place their trust in the fake promises of the rich people and the ruling parties and consequently become sorrowful. The poet complains that this sorrow of the poor people has not been taken seriously by the concerned authorities, media and the public.

4) It is in the news that all these pitiful kin
Are to be bought out and mercifully gathered in
To live in villages, next to the theater and the store,
Where they won’t have to think for themselves anymore,
While greedy good-doers, beneficent beasts of prey,
Swarm over their lives enforcing benefits
That are calculated to soothe them out of their wits,
And by teaching them how to sleep they sleep all day,
Destroy their sleeping at night the ancient way.

i. What has been provided to the rural people?
ii. Why have these facilities been provided?
iii. Name the poetic device in ‗greedy good-doers, beneficent beasts of prey’.
iv. What is implied by ‗teaching them how to sleep they sleep all day’?

5) Sometimes I feel myself I can hardly bear
The thought of so much childish longing in vain,
The sadness that lurks near the open window there,
That waits all day in almost open prayer
For the squeal of brakes, the sound of a stopping car,
Of all the thousand selfish cars that pass,
Just one to inquire what a farmer’s prices are.
And one did stop, but only to plow up grass
In using the yard to back and turn around;

And another to ask the way to where it was bound;
i. What is the childish longing?
ii. Why is the longing in vain?
iii. What does the poet pray for?
iv. Why did the four cars pause?

Answer in 30-40 words:

1. Why were the rural people angry with the people in cars driving past?
2. What is the poet‘s feelings about the roadside stand?
3. Do the Government agencies help the rural people?Give reasons.
4. Why was the roadside stand put up?

6. Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow:

Aunt Jennifer‟s Tigers
Adrienne Rich
The poem addresses the constraints of married life experienced by a woman in a male-dominated world. It is about gender struggle that is reflected in the way she creates an alternative world for herself, in her tapestry work.
In the beginning we see the fantasy world, which Aunt Jennifer wishes to be in. The tigers that she embroiders are fearless, chivalrous and full of life and colour. They are in direct contrast to the timid and meek aunt. Perhaps in embroidering these ferocious beasts, aunt is able to express her secret longing for a life of freedom and confidence.
But Aunt Jennifer‘s reality is quite different. Her nervous fingers are unable to even hold the ivory needle or bear the weight of the oppressive marriage she is caught in (by the ―weight of uncle‘s wedding band‖).
The third stanza is a prediction of the future. Even death is not a liberator for Aunt because when she dies, she will still remain terrified, defeated. She even loses her identity and is only ‗aunt‘ at the end. The irony is that the tigers she created will forever remain immortal and fearless, blatantly proclaiming their freedom.

a) Metaphor:
Topaz denizens-unafraid of their environment, as contrasted with Aunt‘s ringed fingerssurrounded by obstacles, oppressed by marriage

b) Alliteration:
Prancing, proud
Fingers fluttering

c) Synecdoche: terrified hands- aunt is frightened of uncle and so she is perpetually in a nervous and fearful state of mind, which is revealed by her trembling fingers.

d) Symbolism in the poem:
Adrienne Rich has employed the use of symbolism to a convey the state of an oppressed and downtrodden woman in a patriarchal/male-dominated society:

a) tigers symbolize aunt‘s unfulfilled wishes and yearning to be free and to be able to live her life as she wishes; free spirit b) topaz- striking presence; denizens: symbolic of an uninhibited, fearless and confident life, dark picture of the uncle.
c) needlework/embroidery/tapestry work: reveals aunt‘s passive outlook on life, unable to take on anything more exciting or active. Also symbolic of her creativity.
d) the massive weight of uncle‟s wedding band: the trials and tribulations of her married life, trapped in a timid and suppressed life due to social and cultural expectations. She finds it difficult to express her repressed feelings even through needlework.
e) aunt- all women oppressed by the patriarchal society

Read the extracts an answer the questions that follow:

1. Aunt Jennifer‟s fingers fluttering through her wool
   Find even the ivory needle hard to pull
   The massive weight of uncle‟s wedding band
   Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer‟s hand
   i) Why is it so hard for Aunt Jennifer to pull the ivory needle?
   ii) Which poetic device has been used in line 1?
   iii) What is ‘uncle‘s wedding band‘?
   iv)Why does the poet use ‗ massive weight‘ and ‗sits heavily‘ for uncle’s ring?
2. When aunt is dead her terrified hands will lie
   Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.
   The tigers in the panel that she made
   Will go on prancing and unafraid
   i) What figure of speech has been used in ―terrified hands‖?
   ii) What is the significance of “ringed with ordeals”?
   It refers to Aunt Jennifer‘s wedding band and also refers to the trials and tribulations of married life and a patriarchal society that she is surrounded by
   iii)What is the symbolic meaning of the last two lines?
   iv) Why is she referred to as just ‗Áunt‘?
3. Aunt Jennifer‟s tigers prance across a screen,
   Bright topaz denizens of a world of green.
   They do not fear the men beneath the tree;
   They pace in sleek chivalric certainty.
   i)What is the significance of ―sleek chivalric certainty‖?
   ii)How do you think the tigers are different from Aunt Jennifer?
   iii) What is the ‗screen‘ being referred to?
   iv) Which ‗denizens‘ are being referred to?

Answer in 30-40 words:
i) What is the theme of the poem?
ii) Give examples from the poem that suggest that Aunt Jennifer found her marriage a terrifying state.
iii)What role do the tigers play to highlight the character traits of Aunt Jennifer?
iv) What does Aunt Jennifer‘s ring stand for?
v) What happens to Aunt Jennifer‘s tigers when she is no more?
vi) What impression do you get of Uncle from the various images used in the poem?

vii) Describe Aunt Jennifer‟s tigers. How are they different from her?
Aunt Jennifer‘s embroidered tigers prance across a green screen. They are fearless. They are not afraid of the men beneath the tree. They move elegantly with pride and confidence which is opposite to Aunt Jennifer‘s character who is meek and timid because the burden of a patriarchal society lies heavily on her.

viii) How would you describe the relationship between Aunt Jennifer and “Uncle”?
ix) This poem was written over 60 years ago. Do you think that a poet would write a similar poem today? Have the issues like equality for women changed since the 1950s?

So, first, solve the above-unseen poem for class 12 and compare your answer with their original answer in this way you can boost your performance. Now, You can easily obtain higher marks in the unseen poem for class 12.

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