CBSE Class 12 English Extract-Based Questions: Half-yearly exams are around the corner, and students might be looking for some important extract-based questions to prepare for their English exam. Don’t worry, as we have got you covered. In this article, we have provided important extract-based questions from the class 12 English book to help them with their exam preparation.
CBSE Class 12 English Extract-Based Questions- Poetry
Students can check the extract-based questions from the poetry sections to score well in the exam and get a proper understanding of how these questions are to be attempted.
1. My Mother at Sixty-Six – Kamala Das
Extract:
“…her face ashen like that
of a corpse and realised with pain
that she was as old as she looked…”
Questions & Answers:
1. What has the mother’s face been compared to?
Answer: It has been compared to a corpse.
2. What is the pain the poet feels?
Answer: She feels the pain of her mother’s old age and approaching death.
3. Identify the poetic device in “ashen like that of a corpse.”
Answer: Simile.
3. Keeping Quiet – Pablo Neruda
Extract:
“Now we will count to twelve and we will all keep still.
For once on the face of the Earth
let’s not speak in any language…”
Questions & Answers:
1. What does the poet want all of us to do?
Answer: He wants everyone to keep silent and still for a few moments.
wants everyone to keep silent and still for a few moments.
2. What will keeping still help us achieve?
Answer: It will bring peace, self-reflection, and a sense of unity among humans.
3. Why does he ask us not to speak in any language?
Answer: To avoid barriers and misunderstandings created by languages.
4. A Thing of Beauty – John Keats
Extract:
“A thing of beauty is a joy forever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness…”
Questions & Answers:
1. How is a thing of beauty a “joy forever”?
Answer: Because its charm never fades, and it continues to give joy.
2. What happens to its loveliness over time?
Answer: Its loveliness increases.
3. Name the poetic device in “A Joy Forever.”
Answer: Metaphor.
5. A Roadside Stand – Robert Frost
Extract:
“The little old house was out with a little new shed
In front at the edge of the road where the traffic sped…”
Questions & Answers:
What is being described here?
Answer: A roadside stand set up by poor farmers.
Why was the shed built?
Answer: To sell goods and earn money from passing travellers.
What contrast is shown in the extract?
Answer: Between the poor villagers’ shed and the fast-moving, prosperous city traffic.
6. Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers – Adrienne Rich
Extract:
“Aunt Jennifer’s fingers fluttering through her wool
Find even the ivory needle hard to pull…”
Questions & Answers:
1. Why are Aunt Jennifer’s fingers fluttering?
Answer: Due to weakness and fear caused by the burden of marital oppression.
2. What is she creating with wool?
Answer: She is knitting a tapestry with tigers on it.
3. What does the “ivory needle” symbolise?
Answer: It symbolises the weight of her struggles and hardships.
Other Related Links
CBSE Class 12 English Syllabus 2025-26
CBSE Class 10 English Half Yearly Sample Paper 2025 with Solutions
CBSE Class 12 English Elective Topper Answer Sheet
CBSE Class 12 English Core Topper Answer Sheet
NCERT Class 12 English Solutions for Every Chapter
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