Complete Summary and Solutions for Time and Time Again – NCERT Class XII KALEIDOSCOPE English Elective, Chapter 7 – Poetry Summary, Explanation, Questions, Answers

Introduction to Poetry - Kaleidoscope

A poem is a composition in verse, usually characterised by concentrated and heightened language in which words are chosen for their sound and suggestive power as well as for their meaning, and using techniques such as rhythm and metre. To read and hear good poetry is to appreciate the subtleties of cadence and rhythm, the variety of pace and pattern and all that goes to make up the music of poetry.

Every poem that we read adds to, in some degree, our total conception of poetry.

Of the eight poets in this selection, four are from the classical tradition: Donne, Milton, Blake and Coleridge. The other four are closer to contemporary times: Yeats, A.K. Ramanujan, Emily Dickinson and Kamala Das.

Key Elements of Poetry

Language: Concentrated, heightened, sound-focused for evocative effect.
Techniques: Rhythm, metre, suggestive power to create musicality.
Appreciation: Cadence, pattern, and the 'music' that elevates emotion and intellect.
Traditions: Classical (e.g., Blake's visionary innocence/experience) vs. Contemporary (e.g., Ramanujan's cultural distillation).

Points to Ponder

How does Ramanujan's 'Time and Time Again' expand your 'total conception of poetry' through discordant clock rhythms and cultural feuds?
Compare Ramanujan's urban-cultural observations with classical timelessness: What unites them in poetic 'music'?

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Poet: A.K. Ramanujan (1929-1993)

A.K. Ramanujan is one of India’s finest English-language poets. He is best known for his pioneering translations of ancient Tamil poetry into modern English. At the time of his death he was professor of linguistics at the University of Chicago and was recognised as the world’s most profound scholar of South Indian languages and culture.

His interests included anthropology and folklore. These influenced his work as a craftsman of English. This poem represents the complex distillation of a lifetime of unusual thought and feeling.

Key Style: Cultural Distillation

Blends linguistics, anthropology; precise, layered imagery from folklore.
Unconventional rhythms mirroring life's discord, influenced by South Indian traditions.

Life Highlights

Born in Mysore; bilingual poet-translator, Chicago professor.
Translations: Tamil Sangam poetry; died at 64, leaving profound legacy.

Influence & Legacy

Bridge between Indian oral traditions and modern English verse; inspires postcolonial, hybrid poetics.

Ramanujan's Worldview

Ramanujan's lens fuses time's mechanical ticks with cultural pulses—clocks as feuding communities, distilling anthropology into verse that echoes perennial disharmony and fleeting alliances.

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The Poem: Full Text & Summary

Detailed Summary: Time and Time Again

The poem evokes the cacophonous symphony of city clocktowers, each chiming slightly off-sync due to bronze alloys, Swiss craftsmanship, donor whims, and communal distances. These perpetual Hindu-Christian-Muslim feuds and alliances are interrupted by winds, minds, sirens, or quarrels. Yet, one day, a clock stands eyeless amid zigzag skies—silenced by riots, bombs, or nature's lightning precision—mirroring time's fragile, discordant harmony.

Stanza 1: Discordant clock gongs from accidental alloys and cultural markers.

Stanza 2: Interruptions by natural/social whims; feuds amid alliances.

Stanza 3: Sudden silence: A clock wrecked by violence or nature's act.

विस्तृत हिंदी सारांश: Time and Time Again

कविता किसी पुरानी, सुव्यवस्थित नगरी के घड़ीघरों की असंगत संगीतमय ध्वनियों को जीवंत करती है, जहाँ प्रत्येक घंटी थोड़ी असंगति से बजती है—कांस्य मिश्रण, स्विस शिल्पकार के काँपते हाथ, दानदाता की मन whims, और सामुदायिक दूरी से। ये हिंदू-ईसाई-मुस्लिम की शाश्वत कलहें और मौसमी गठबंधन हवा, मन के परिवर्तन, सायरन, या गली के झगड़ों से कट जाते हैं। फिर एक दिन, एक घड़ी आँखहीन खड़ी मिलती है—ज़िगज़ैग आकाश दिखाते हुए, दंगे, शांति-मार्च बम, या बिजली की रात्रि में प्रकृति के सटीक कृत्य से चुप।

Time and Time Again

Or listen to the clocktowers

of any old well-managed city

beating their gongs round the clock, each slightly

off the others’ time, deeper or lighter

in its bronze, beating out a different

sequence each half-hour, out of the accidents

of alloy, a maker’s shaking hand

in Switzerland, or the mutual distances

commemorating a donor’s whim,

the perennial feuds and seasonal alliance

of Hindu, Christian, and Muslim—

cut off sometimes by a change of wind,

a change of mind, or a siren

between the pieces of a backstreet quarrel.

One day you look up and see one of them

eyeless, silent, a zigzag sky showing

through the knocked-out clockwork, after a riot,

a peace-march time bomb, or a precise act

Of nature in a night of lightnings.

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Themes & Lyrical Analysis

Central Theme: Discordant Time & Cultural Feuds

Metaphor: Clocks as multicultural communities—off-sync, feuding yet allied.
Fragility: Interruptions by whim, wind, violence; silence via riots or lightning.
Human vs. Nature: Precision in destruction, echoing perennial disharmony.

Key Imagery: Bronze Gongs & Eyeless Clocks

Alloy accidents and shaking hands evoke time's imperfect craft; eyeless clock amid zigzag sky symbolizes blinded order amid chaos.

Cultural Introspection

Anthropological gaze: Donors' whims, communal distances as time's markers.
Perennial vs. Ephemeral: Feuds/alliance interrupted by fleeting forces.

Critical Appreciation

Ramanujan's 'Time and Time Again' crafts a sonic mosaic of urban timepieces, where gongs' off-beats distill cultural alloys—Hindu-Muslim-Christian tensions as bronze variances, cut by sirens and winds. The eyeless clock, pierced by riots or lightning's precision, laments harmony's fragility, blending folklore's depth with linguistic acuity in a verse that ticks with life's reluctant rhythms.

Discussion Prompts

How does the clock metaphor amplify Ramanujan's commentary on India's communal dynamics?
Does the 'precise act of nature' underscore a wistful acceptance of inevitable disruption?

Responding to the Poem

1. What did you think the poem was about when you read the first few lines?

Answer:

Initial impression: Urban clocktowers' mechanical symphony—discordant chimes evoking time's relentless, varied pulse in a cityscape.

2. From which line does the import of the title strike the reader?

Answer:

Line 10: "the perennial feuds and seasonal alliance"—title's repetition mirrors time's cyclical, repetitive discord in cultural rhythms.

3. What makes for the differences between the timekeeping of the various clocks? What is the implicit comparison?

Answer:

Differences: Alloys, maker's hand, distances, donor whims. Implicit: Clocks as multicultural communities—feuds/alliance in bronze, echoing human disharmony.

4. Why is the act of nature described as ‘precise’?

Answer:

Contrast: Human violence (riots, bombs) is chaotic; nature's lightning strikes with exact, inevitable fury—precision underscoring impartial, surgical disruption.

5. Which of the following reflects the poet’s attitude towards communal disharmony: (i) Critical condemnation (ii) Helpless acceptance (iii) Wistful lament

Answer:

(iii) Wistful lament—Poet observes perennial feuds with melancholic resignation, not outright critique, evoking sorrowful inevitability.

6. Is the poet’s attitude a representation of how the average Indian feels both towards human violence and nature’s fury?

Answer:

Yes: Mirrors collective weariness—resigned to communal riots yet awed by nature's precision, blending helplessness with cultural endurance.

Language Study

Explore terms like 'alloy' and 'gong' in context. How do they blend mechanical precision with cultural accident? Compare with musical instruments in other poems, e.g., 'psaltery' in Dickinson.

Guidance: Alloy: Metal mix for bronze tones, symbolizing cultural fusion/flaw. Gong: Deep, resonant strike—evokes ritual clash. Like psaltery's ethereal pluck, gongs add auditory depth to time's discord.

Term Comparison:

Term	Literal Meaning	Poetic Use	Sound Evocation
Alloy	Metal mixture	Cultural fusion's accidents	Deeper/lighter tones
Gong	Bronze disc struck	Time's off-beat sequence	Resonant, clashing
Psaltery (cf. Dickinson)	Plucked strings	Nature's distant melody	Ethereal, teasing

Task: Analyze how these enhance Ramanujan's synesthetic time imagery.

Interactive Quiz - Test Your Understanding

10 MCQs on poem, poet, themes, and language. Aim for 80%+ for mastery!

Complete Summary and Solutions for Time and Time Again – NCERT Class XII KALEIDOSCOPE English Elective, Chapter 7 – Poetry Summary, Explanation, Questions, Answers

Detailed summary and explanation of Chapter 7 'Time and Time Again' from the NCERT Class XII KALEIDOSCOPE English Elective textbook, exploring the poem's themes, literary devices, tone, and interpretation—along with all NCERT questions, answers, and exercises.

Time and Time Again

Introduction to Poetry - Kaleidoscope

Key Elements of Poetry

Points to Ponder

Poet: A.K. Ramanujan (1929-1993)

Key Style: Cultural Distillation

Life Highlights

Influence & Legacy

Ramanujan's Worldview

The Poem: Full Text & Summary

Detailed Summary: Time and Time Again

विस्तृत हिंदी सारांश: Time and Time Again

Time and Time Again

Themes & Lyrical Analysis

Central Theme: Discordant Time & Cultural Feuds

Key Imagery: Bronze Gongs & Eyeless Clocks

Cultural Introspection

Critical Appreciation

Discussion Prompts

Responding to the Poem

1. What did you think the poem was about when you read the first few lines?

2. From which line does the import of the title strike the reader?

3. What makes for the differences between the timekeeping of the various clocks? What is the implicit comparison?

4. Why is the act of nature described as ‘precise’?

5. Which of the following reflects the poet’s attitude towards communal disharmony: (i) Critical condemnation (ii) Helpless acceptance (iii) Wistful lament

6. Is the poet’s attitude a representation of how the average Indian feels both towards human violence and nature’s fury?

Language Study

Explore terms like 'alloy' and 'gong' in context. How do they blend mechanical precision with cultural accident? Compare with musical instruments in other poems, e.g., 'psaltery' in Dickinson.

Interactive Quiz - Test Your Understanding

Suggested Reading

Core Ramanujan Works

Further Exploration

Quizzes

Group Discussions