NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English (Kaleidoscope Poetry) Chapter 8 Blood

Ans : The poet Kamala Das weaves the poem beautifully with deeply connective words. The poem connects its readers with itself. The poem is about a little girl and her heart, the poem tells how the world around her transforms her into a butterfly and separates her from the cocoon. Kamala Das is considered as a great confessional poet. She believes in sharing her own experiences through her poems that connect the reader to her more.
Modernization is the unsaid demand of today's civilization. The villages are filled with old constructions that portray old heritage along with its sentiments are attached. But to survive in today's world one has to accept urbanization as the need of the hour. 

Ans : Kamala Das is a great confessional poet of the age. She knows the technique of depicting society, history and female position. This poem purely highlights the feminine point of view and the different stages a female faces in her life. Kamala Das has again and again depicted through her writings that one woman can understand unsaid words of another woman. The great grandmother of Kamala Das who once was decorated with jewels - sandals (for perfume) - oils -elephant rides symbolic of marriage to a prince and her youthful days are suddenly lost after the death of her husband.  The status of a woman is reduced after her husband's soul departs. Their 300-year-old house has got eternal connect with the great grandmother. 

Ans : There is a stark contrast between tradition and modernity. Tradition refers to the age-old culture that is being transferred to us through our ancestors. Modernity refers to contemporary behavior.
In the poem, the poet tells how her great grandmother is attached to her husband and dies with her husband, lines from the poem which shows are - “God is her only feast; worldly pleasures become mere condiments to her afterward.” This shows that women in ancient times were deeply connected to their better halves and believed their life to end after their death. The connection of the 300-year-old house with grandmother is very pure and old. 

Ans : Poet’s grandmother was her inspiration, she was the one taught her love and give substance to live. She taught her to serve those who were less fortunate than herself. She understood and empathized with the silent struggle which every woman went through. Poet could feel the connection her grandmother had with the 300-year-old house, she made a firm promise to herself that no matter what she would save this ancestral home. Soon reality hits her and she realizes that it is impossible for her to save the decaying property which was of great importance to her grandmother, as earning money is not easy in this time she decides to sell the property as it would benefit her, but at the same time she feels guilty for not keeping her promise. 

Ans : A blood thin and clear and fine
While in the veins of the always poor
And in the veins
Of the new-rich men
Flowed a blood thick as gruel
And muddy as a ditch.
Here the distinction is made rich and poor. The poet says that the blood of the rich is more clear and filled with a genuine love for others without selfish motives. But on the other hand, the blood in the rich is filled with self-ruling motives.