WHAT MAKES ME HAPPY

STANZA 1:-
1. Name the poet and the poem.
Ans: The poem is ‘What Makes Me Happy’ and the poet
is anonymous.
2. What does the poet do when he wants to fall
asleep? Give another example of what people
tend to do in order to fall asleep?
Ans: The poet lies in bed and counts sheep when he
wants to fall asleep. Counting sheep is a common
method people use to help themselves relax and drift off
to sleep.
Reverse counting numbers is another common practice
to help fall asleep.
3. How does the poet feel about going to sleep?
Ans: The poet feels really happy, ‘safe and snug’ when
he lies in his bed, tucked up in his rug like a small little
bug. This shows the feeling of comfort, relaxation and
safety that the speaker feels about going to sleep.
4. Pick out the figures of speech from stanza 1.
Ans: There are two figures of speech in stanza 1. First,
there is an alliteration in the phrase ‘safe and snug’,
where the consonant sound ‘S’ has been repeated. Next,
there is a simile in the line, ‘wrapped up like a bug in a
rug’ where the poet directly compares his feeling of
happiness and comfort wrapped in his blanket with a
little ‘bug in a rug’.
 5. What overall feeling has been created in this
stanza?
Ans: An overall feeling of comfort, relaxation, safety and
snugness has been communicated through this stanza.
6. Why do you think the poet opens this poem
with the mention of sleep-time among other
things that make him happy?
Ans: The poet opens this poem with the mention of
sleep-time among other things that make him happy
perhaps because this is the time of the day when any of
us feels most relaxed. At the end of a day most of us
usually feel tired, stressed and sometimes in desperate
need of comfort. ‘Sleep’ is often an answer to all of
these needs. That is why sleep-time may have been
considered to be the first of the happy times that the
poet finds worth considering, among other things.

STANZA 2:-
7. When do you think is the poet happiest?
Ans: The poet seems to be happiest when he has some
free time to play. It is usually during the break time in
school or after school every day.
8. To what does the poet compare his happiness at
such times?
Ans: The poet compares the joy that he feels while
playing with a bee sucking nectar from flowers and
buzzing free.
 9. What figures of speech do we find mentioned in
this stanza?
Ans: First, we find a simile in the stanza where the poet
compares his joy at playtime with that of a bee sucking
nectar from flowers and buzzing free. So, the poet calls
himself, ‘As happy as a bee’.
Secondly, there is an example of hyperbole or deliberate
exaggeration to create poetic effect when the speaker
mentions that ‘a bee knee-deep in flowers’. It is normally
difficult to visualize what ‘knee-deep’ might mean for a
creature as tiny as a bee.
10. Why is this verse likely to appeal to children?
Ans: This verse talks about something that generally
appeals to all children. The speaker here says that he
most enjoys the time when he is free to play. This is
something that every child likes, irrespective of
his/her situation.

STANZA 3:-
11. Besides sleeping and playing what else does
the speaker enjoy doing?
Ans: The speaker enjoys curling up with his favourite
book in a cozy corner that he may find suggesting
that he truly enjoys reading and is an attentive
reader.
12. How do we know that ‘reading’ makes the
speaker extremely happy?
 Ans: The speaker says that he is really happy when he
can curl up with his book in ‘a little nook’. The happiness
he feels at this time is like a dream come true.
13. Explain the figure of speech used by the
speaker to bring out the feeling stated above.
Ans: The speaker says that he is really happy when
he can curl up with his book in ‘a little nook’. The
happiness he feels at this time is like a dream come
true. To express this feeling, he uses a simile and
compares his joy with that of a cat that has got the
cream. So, the figure of speech describing this
feeling is ‘I’m like the cat that got the cream’.
14. How do we get to understand from this
stanza that the speaker in this poem does not
simply enjoy reading but is an attentive reader?
Ans: The speaker says that he enjoys curling up with
his book which shows he enjoys reading but he also
mentions doing this in ‘a little nook’. This suggests
that he is an attentive reader who enjoys reading in
peace and quiet without being disturbed.
STANZA 4:-
15. Towards the end of the poem, what does the
speaker say he enjoys doing?
Ans: The speaker says, towards the end of the
poem, that he enjoys going out for a stroll or
something to eat. He also says that simply spending
quality time with his family makes him very happy
too.
 16. What do we get to understand about the
speaker from the things he says that makes him
happy in the last verse?
Ans: The things that the speaker says makes him
happy, in the last verse, show that he is a family
loving person who values the time spent with family,
a lot. It also shows that the speaker takes pleasure
in simple things and simple joys of life and does not
expect big or material things to make him happy.
People like him know how to enjoy life truly.
17. What clues are there in the poem that the
speaker is a child? (Same as book question 5)
Ans: The speaker’s comparing himself to a bug in a
rug, saying that he enjoys playing and being happy
to curl up with his book in a little nook, show that he
is a child.
18. Why does the speaker compare himself to a
bee and a cat?
Ans: The speaker compares himself to a bee and
a cat to express the extent of his joy. His joy while
playing during his free time is comparable to the
joy that the bees feel when they are knee-deep
in flowers, sucking nectar. Similarly, the joy he
feels while curling up with his book, in a corner, is
comparable to the pleasure the cat feels when it
gets to lick the cream.
19. Which animals does the speaker compare
himself to? (Same as book question 4)
 Ans: The speaker compares himself to a bug, a
bee, and a cat, in the poem.
20. Which word has been repeated in every
stanza of the poem and why? What is the tone
of the poem?
Ans: The word repeated in every stanza of the
poem is, ‘happy’. This word has been repeated
because it is the most important word in the
poem as the theme of the poem is what makes
the speaker happy.
The tone of the poem is cheerful and full of
positivity.