Foreign lands by Robert Louis Stevenson

Foreign lands poem by Robert Louis Stevenson. This poem is included in the Class-4 English literature syllabus for most ICSE schools.

Foreign lands: Summary

This poem describes what a child sees as he climbs to the top of a tree. To a grown-up person the things he sees may seem ordinary, but the child finds them exciting and the child wishes to climb still higher.

In the First stanza, the child is climbing up a tree and looks around on foreign lands.

In the second stanza, the child sees the garden next door that is adorned with beautiful flowers and other pleasant places he had never seen before.

In the third stanza, the child climbs higher and sees a blue river and dusty roads on which people are walking.

In the fourth stanza, the child wishes that if he could go higher he would have loved to see where the river merges into the sea.

In the last stanza, the child continues imagining how the roads could lead to a fairyland where all children have lots of fun.

Question and Answers

Question: What does ‘foreign’ mean in the poem? a) not real. b) unfamiliar. c) far off.
Answer: unfamiliar

Question: What does the child see on climbing the cherry tree?
Answer. On climbing the cherry tree, the child sees things such as garden decorated with flowers, river pass, dusty road and people walking to town.

Question: Which lines suggest the river reflects the sky.
Answer: “I saw a dimpling river pass And be the sky’s blue looking-glass”

Question: What is a ‘grown-up’ river?
Answer: A grown up river is one which enters the sea.

Question: Why does the child poet wish for a ‘higher tree’?
Answer: On climbing the tree, the child gets more inquisitive, and wishes that the tree was higher so that he could further see where the river meets the sea and where the roads lead into fairy land.

Question: What kind of place does the child poet imagine in the last stanza?
Answer: In the last stanza, the child poet imagines a fairy land where the children are having fun, they dine at five and where all the toys come alive.

Question: Does the child poet lived a sheltered and protected life, with little freedom? Give reason(s) for your answer.
Answer: It seems that the child poet lived a sheltered and protected life, with little freedom because he climbed the tree to see several unfamiliar things and imagines a fairy land where he could live with more freedom.

Question: Children, in the poet’s time, used to climb trees and play in the open. In what ways do you think the activities of children today are different from those in the past?
Answer: Children today spend more time in front of gadgets and less time playing outside. The computer loving children of today are missing out on the various simple outdoor pleasures.

Question: The poet recalls the joys of his childhood in the poem. Share with the class what you enjoyed doing most when you were younger. Also, share what is it that you enjoy doing most today?
Answer: I enjoyed playing hide and seek with my father when I was younger. Now, I enjoy playing football and playing on my computer.

Question: Identify whether the comparisons in these lines are similes or metaphors.

• It is raining cats and dogs. – Metaphor
• Her eyes were fire in rage. – Metaphor
• She was a tigress on the battlefield. – Metaphor
• He behaved like a complete stranger. – Simile
• He is the apple of his mother’s eye. – Metaphor
• The fur was like silk-soft and smooth. – Simile
• They are as alike as two peas in a pod. – Simile
• The teacher showered him with praise. – Metaphor
• The answer to the problem is as clear as crystal. – Simile
• The room was a furnace on the hot summer day. – Metaphor

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