For Anne Gregory Poem, Class 10, English, First Flight – Summary, Explanation, Word Meanings

For Anne Gregory Class 10 English First Flight Poem : For Anne Gregory Poem, Class 10, English, First Flight – Summary, Explanation, Word Meanings.

For Anne Gregory Class 10 English First Flight Poem

Detailed summary and explanation of “For Anne Gregory” Poem along with meanings for difficult words is provided here. Also, NCERT Question and Answers are also provided to help students understand this Poem and do well in their exams.

Introduction

The poem is in a form of dialogue between two people, Anne Gregory and another is identified as speaker. It could be anyone i.e. Anne’s lover or a friend or the poet himself. The poem is about perception of love by different people.

Summary

In this poem, a young man discusses why a person falls in love, i.e what determines it. According to them, a person is not loved for his basic nature but because of his/her physical feature, ie, outward physical appearance. It is not possible to love one for oneself. Only God can do so.

In this poem, the poet addresses young Gregory and tells her that her hair is of the same colour as honey and when it falls, the poet begins to think of her beauty being spell bound. Her hair is so beautiful that every man falls in love with her.

At this, Gregory gives response to the poet that man loves her only for her outward beauty while this outward appearance may change at any time. At this, the poet proclaims it a truth since time immemorial that man can not easily judge a woman other than her looks. He tells Anne that she can never be ugly inward or outward even if she wishes to be so.

Explanation

Never shall a young man
thrown into despair
By those great honey coloured
Ramparts at your ear
Love you for yourself alone
And not your yellow hair

Explanation: The speaker, addressing Anne Gregory, says that her beautiful honey-coloured hair can make any man fall in love with her. This love is not for Anne but for her beautiful external features. Her beautiful hair is compared to wall, symbolising outer beauty. This beauty can capture any man’s attention. But he may not be able to look beyond that into Anne’s character. So the speaker says that no one can love Anne, for what she is. One can love her only for her beautiful yellow hair and her physical beauty.

But I can get a hair-dye
And set such colour there,
Brown or black, or carrot,
That young men in despair
May love me for myself alone
And not my yellow hair

Explanation: In this stanza Anne replies to the speaker that she can change the colour of her beautiful hair and dye them in black, brown or carrot. She wants to tell the speaker that anyone falling in love with her must see the actual person behind the beauty. She thinks that young men, who fall in love with her, must love her for what she is and not for her yellow hair.

“I heard an old religious man
But yesternight declare
That only God, my dear,
Could love you for yourself alone
And not your yellow hair.”

Explanation: In the last stanza, the speaker replies to Anne about the importance of love for internal beauty not the external one. The speaker talks about an old religious man, who announced that he had found a text in which it is written that only God is capable of looking beyond external beauty. He means that humans do not have the insight and understanding to look into the soul of a person. They are swayed away by the glitter of outer beauty. Therefore, only God can love Anne only for herself and not for her beauty.

Difficult Word Meanings

Word	Meaning	Word	Meaning
despair	hopelessness	hair-dye	colour used for hair
ramparts	lock of hair around ear	yesternight	last night
declare	to announce

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 11 For Anne Gregory (poem)

Question 1. What does the young man mean by “great honey-coloued /Ramparts at your ear?” Why does he say that young men are “thrown into despair” by them?

Answer: The young man in the poem praises the great honey-colored hair of Anne. Anne’s hair have been called rampart, meaning a wall. It is called so because they act as a wall, as they prevent young men from looking beyond those yellow hair and into her soul. Her hair are so attractive that young men cannot look at anything else. Anne’s yellow hair are so pretty that young men hopelessly fall in love with her. She is so pretty that everyone wants her, which cannot happen; hence, they are thrown into despair.

Question 2. What colour is the young woman’s hair? What does she say she can change it td? Why would she want to do so?

Answer: Anne s hair are yellow, like the colour of honey. She says that she can change it to black, brown or carrot; she means that she can change it to any colour she wants. Anne says so to show that outer beauty is changeable and not permanent or real. She wants young men to look in her soul and love her for her inner beauty. In order to do so, she needs to show them the superficiality of her external beauty.

Question 3. Objects have qualities which make them desirable to others. Can you think of some objects (a car, a phone, a dress…) and say what qualities make one object more desirable than another? Imagine you were trying to sell an object: what qualities would you emphasise?

Answer: People desire objects because of their qualities that suit their need. The things we consume, goods we use such as a car, a phone, a dress etc. physical qualities matter the most. Before buying anything, it is always considered that the object is durable and looks pretty. If I were to sell a dress, I would select the one that is very appealing to the eye and comfortable for the body. Then I would emphasise on the durability of the dress so that the customer feels that he/she is spending his/her money at the right place and in the right thing.

Question 4. What about people? Do we love others because we like their qualities, whether physical or mental? Or is it possible to love someone “for themselves alone”? Are some people ‘more lovable’ than others? Discuss this question in pairs or in groups’, considering points like the following.

1. A parent or caregiver’s love for a newborn baby, for a mentally or physically challenged child, for a clever child or a prodigy
2. The public’s love for a film star, a sportsperson, a politician, or a social worker
3. Your love for a friend, or brother or sister
4. Your love for a pet, and the pet’s love for you.

Answer: The students should attempt on their own.

Question 5. You have perhaps concluded that people are not objects to be valued for their qualities or riches rather than for themselves. But elsewhere Yeats asks the question: How can we separate the dancer from the dance? Is it possible to separate ‘the person himself or herself’ from how the person looks, sounds, walks and so on? Think of how you or a friend or member of your family has changed over the years. Has your relationship also changed? In what way?

Answer: The students should attempt on their own.

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