Fog is the 9th poem in the book First Flight Class 10th. This is a very small poem, full of insight and intellectual message. Poet uses symbolism to convey a powerful message, in this poem too, poet used Fog as a symbol.
It is written by Carl Sandburg [Carl August Sandburg] an American author. He won Pulitzer Prizes three times & this is a record. He was also renowned for writing biography of Abraham Lincoln. This poem ‘Fog’ is 6 lines long poem carrying only 2 periods [Full Stop].
Theme
Major theme of this small poem is Change & Impermanence. According to him change is a universal fact of this life. Nothing can remain permanent, neither human nor nature.
Important Points of Fog
- It comes just like little cat feet. Simile is used to define that it silently comes and cover all the visible things.
- Fog is a symbol of every emotion, a human experiences.
- After sometimes, this fog moves on and again clear view of the whole city becomes visible.
- Neither pain not happiness – there is no permanent existence. Hence whenever we encounter some emotions, stay meditative and mindful – it will move on.
Question Asked in Board Examinations
- According to poet, What is fog like? How does it come? [B-2017]
- How has Carl Sandburg portrayed the nature and its silent working? [C-2017, B-2020, C-2020]
- What is fog compared to? What does it look over? [D-2017, C-2018]
- Where does fog like and how? [D-2018]
- Write the summary of the poem? [C-2019]
Analysis
- In each year, from 2017 to 2020 – a prominent question from this poem came always.
- In previous 4 years, there are 8 questions appeared in the board examinations, in which 5 questions are unique and 2 questions were repeated.
- Question 2 and 3 repeated 3 times and 2 times respectively. Our close analysis shows that symbolism of this poem was asked many times. Either we consider Fog as a natural phenomenon or compared this with human emotions – sole message of this poem is impermanence. Hence a student must understand this concept effectively, they can easily cover the poem.
- Trends are showing that Code A was less preferable for questions from poem. Code C in each year carry questions from this poem.
| Year | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
| Question Came in Code | B, C, D | C, D | C | B, C |
No comprehension from this poem was ever asked in previous 4 years.
Following is the text taken by NCERT First Flight for Class X and analysis is carried out on the basis of Board of School Education, Haryana previous year question papers. Read the Text of the chapter for enhancing reading and speaking skills.