[EXILE HOUSE – Annotation Questions and Answers
Poet: Tenzin Tsundue
Class XI English Literature | Unit 2 – Voices of Liberation
The following annotation questions cover the entire poem Exile House. Each question carries 4 scores, following the Kerala Higher Secondary examination pattern.
Extract 1 – Hope of Returning Home
“Our tiled roof dripped and the four walls threatened to fall apart but we were to go home soon.”
(a) Identify the poem and the poet. (2)
(b) Why did the family believe that the poor condition of the house would not matter for long? (2)
Answers:
(a) The poem is Exile House, written by Tenzin Tsundue.
(b) The family believed that they would soon return to their homeland, Tibet. Therefore, they considered their stay in the house temporary.
Extract 2 – Life in Exile
“We grew papayas in front of our house chillies in our garden and changmas for our fences,”
(a) Name any two plants grown by the family. (1)
(b) What are changmas? (1)
(c) What does the growing of plants suggest about the family's life in exile? (2)
Answers:
(a) Papayas and chillies.
(b) Changmas are willow trees.
(c) The growing of plants suggests that the family has begun settling into its new surroundings. Although the family hopes to return to Tibet, life continues in exile.
Extract 3 – Everyday Life
“then pumpkins rolled down the cowshed thatch calves trotted out of the manger.”
(a) What grew over the cowshed? (1)
(b) What does the word “manger” mean? (1)
(c) What picture of life is presented in these lines? (2)
Answers:
(a) Pumpkin creepers grew over the cowshed.
(b) A manger is a container or trough from which animals eat.
(c) These lines present a lively picture of rural life. The growing pumpkins and moving calves show that the family has established an ordinary domestic life in exile.
Extract 4 – The Passage of Time
“Grass on the roof, beans sprouted and climbed the vines, money plants crept in through the window,”
(a) Mention any two plants described in these lines. (1)
(b) Identify the figure of speech in “money plants crept in through the window”. (1)
(c) How does the growth of plants suggest the passage of time? (2)
Answers:
(a) Grass and money plants. (Any two)
(b) Personification.
(c) The plants have gradually spread over and into the house. Their growth suggests that the family has been living in exile for many years.
Extract 5 – A House with Roots
“money plants crept in through the window, our house seems to have grown roots.”
(a) Identify the figure of speech in “our house seems to have grown roots”. (1)
(b) What do the “roots” symbolise? (1)
(c) Explain the significance of the expression “our house seems to have grown roots”. (2)
Answers:
(a) Metaphor.
(b) The roots symbolise permanent settlement and attachment to a place.
(c) The family initially believed that its stay in exile would be temporary. However, many years have passed, and the house has become a permanent dwelling. The expression also reveals the family's unfulfilled hope of returning to Tibet.
Extract 6 – Fear of Losing Identity
“The fences have grown into a jungle now how can I tell my children where we came from?”
(a) What have the fences grown into? (1)
(b) Identify the poetic device used in the final two lines. (1)
(c) Why does the poet worry about telling his children where they came from? (2)
Answers:
(a) The fences have grown into a jungle.
(b) Rhetorical question.
(c) The poet fears that children growing up in exile may lose their connection with Tibet. He worries that the younger generation may forget its ancestral homeland, history and cultural identity.
Extract 7 – The Experience of Exile
“Our tiled roof dripped and the four walls threatened to fall apart but we were to go home soon.”
(a) What does the condition of the house suggest? (2)
(b) What feeling is expressed in the final line? (2)
Answers:
(a) The leaking roof and weak walls suggest that the house is a temporary and poorly maintained shelter. They also reflect the uncertainty of the family's life in exile.
(b) The final line expresses hope and longing. The family strongly believes that it will soon return to its homeland.
Extract 8 – Central Theme
“The fences have grown into a jungle now how can I tell my children where we came from?”
(a) What does the overgrown jungle suggest? (2)
(b) What central concern of the poem is expressed in these lines? (2)
Answers:
(a) The overgrown jungle suggests that many years have passed and the family's stay in exile has become prolonged.
(b) The lines express the poet's fear of losing cultural identity. He worries that future generations may forget their homeland and ancestral roots.]