The Children's Hour
by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow
Summary of The Children's Hour: -
At the beginning the poet says that it is the evening time and the night is ascending. Everyone stopped their day's work. He calls the time as the time of the children. He could hear the patters of the little feet of his children from the chamber above him.
He listens the soft and sound of his children as the door was open. The poet could see his little daughters descending the broad hall stair. Then he describes his little daughters. Alice is grave, Allegra as a laughing girl, and Edith with golden hair.
They were sometimes whispering and sometimes they were silent. The poet could understand that they were plotting and planning together to make him by surprise. They suddenly enters into the room of the poet through three different doors.
They encircled their father such a way so that he could not escape from their trap. They devoured the poet with kisses and entwined him with their arms. The poet compares himself with the Bishop of Bingen who had been eaten alive by the mice. The poet shows his fatherly affection and wanted to keep them confined in his heart till he dies.
Comprehension
1. State whether the following statements are true(T) or false(F).
a. The poem is set in the early morning hours. [F]
b. The poet's daughters are named Alice, Allegra and Edith. [T]
c. The children are quite afraid of their strict father. [F]
d. The father's heart is full of love and affection for his children. [T]
e. The poem paints a dark and gloomy picture of the family's life. [F]
2. "Till I think of the Bishop of Bingen
In his Mouse-Tower on the Rhine!"
a. What do the children do to make their father think of the Bishop of Bingen?
= The children almost devoured their father and interweaved him with their arms as the mice devoured the Bishop of Bingen alive.
b. What do you think happened to the Bishop of Bingen? Use clues from the poem to answer the question.
= According to the legend the Bishop of Bingen fled from his castle to get rid of the little mice and took shelter on a tower in an island by the Rhine. He thought that the mice could not reach to him swimming in the water. But the mice swam through the water, thousands drowned and yet many reached the tower.
The mice ate through the tower's doors and crawled up to the top floor, where they found the Bishop of Bingen and ate him alive. The poet mentioned the children as 'blue-eyed banditti' who 'scaled the wall'. He also wanted to keep them in the 'round-tower' of his heart till the walls shall 'crumble to ruin' and 'moulder in dust away'.
3. As they climb down the staircase, what are the children planning to do? How does the father know this?
= As they climb down the staircase, the children are plotting and planning together to take their father by surprise.
The father knows this by the merry eyes of his children.
4. Quote any two lines from the poem that reveals the father's deep love for his children.
= Two lines from the poem that reveals the father's deep love for his children are -
i) "But put you down into the dungeon/In the round-tower of my heart."
ii) "Till the walls shall crumble to ruin,/And moulder in dust away!"
5. Why do you think the poet refers to this time of the day as the 'children's hour'?
= The poet refers to this time of the day as the 'children's hour' as this is the time when both the children and the parents are at home after their day's work or study. This is the only time when they spend moments together in the evening.
6. Compare and contrast the behaviour of the two adults in the lesson that you have completed: the king in The Little Prince and the father in this poem. Who is more comfortable with children? Why do you think so?
= The king in The Little Prince, used to spend time lonely in his planet. He was surprised to see the little prince for the first time. He was kind of dominating to the little prince. In this chapter, we can see the affectionate and playful nature of the father from the beginning. He is all full of love and adore for his children and wants to hold them in his heart till he dies.
The king had affection evoked in his heart gradually as he spent sometime with the little prince. He wanted the little prince to stay with him. He even tempted to make him a Minister of Justice to make him agree to stay with him.
Here we can see the same kind of fatherly affection in the heart of the king. In this dimension of affection both the king of The Little Prince and the father of this poem are somehow the same.