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NCERT Solutions for Class 9th English Chapter 7 Words (poem by Charles Swain) — Reflect and Respond

Book page 220–221 Updated on2026-09-08

Q1.
I. Why are words important? Can we communicate without words? How? Share your answers with your classmates and teacher.
Answer

Words are important because they let us carry exact meaning outside our own heads — and yes, we can communicate without them, but not with the same precision. Give both halves; the question is deliberately two-sided.

Why words matter

  • Precision. A frown says ‘something is wrong’. Only words can say what is wrong, when, and what should be done.
  • Distance and time. A gesture dies where it is made; a word written down travels 330 km in a mailbag, or two thousand years in a manuscript.
  • Thinking itself. We reason in language — we name a thing before we can compare it, argue about it or teach it.
  • Record and promise. Agreements, laws, medicines, warnings: all need wording that cannot be interpreted two ways.

How we communicate without words

ChannelExampleWhat it conveys well
Facial expressionA smile, raised eyebrows, tearsFeeling — instantly, and across every language
Gesture and postureA namaste; folded arms; a hand raised in classAttitude, respect, willingness
Sign languageIndian Sign LanguageA complete grammar of its own — this is language, only not spoken
Touch, distance, eye contactA hand on the shoulder; standing backComfort, closeness, discomfort
Symbols, art, music, danceA red light; a rangoli; a raga; a mudra in BharatanatyamInstruction, mood, story — often faster than speech
SilenceSaying nothing when an answer is expectedRefusal, grief, disapproval — sometimes the loudest reply
Where this opener is taking you. The poem you are about to read agrees with the second half of your answer more than the first. Charles Swain’s case is that words “reach the head, / But never touch the heart”, and that the voice which really comforts “Hath oft the fewest words to say”. Emily Dickinson, quoted later in this chapter, puts the same idea in six words: “Saying nothing… sometimes says the most.” Keep your own opinion ready to test against his.
Q2.
II. Use the given sentences as clues to find words from the grid and fill the blanks. One example has been done for you. My mother summoned me to introduce her friends. Column 1 — Horizontal 1. We eat food to _______ our hunger.
Answer

Answer: SATISFY. It lies horizontally in row 1, columns 2–8.

12345678910
1ASATISFYTB
2LUYGBKCULL
3DMANDGJFOO
4BMHIWWEEDS
5AOCMLOHAFS
6UNZLARLSEO
7DEPARTGTAM
8GDDRIHAKOR
9ENPFDFSETD
10NBOELSNIAT

The shaded letters above mark every word that is actually hidden in the grid: SATISFY (row 1), WEEDS (row 4), DEPART (row 7) across; SUMMONED (column 2), FEAST (column 8), WORTH (column 6), BLOSSOM (column 10) down.

Method for a word grid: answer the clue first, from the sentence alone, and only then look for the word. “We eat food to ______ our hunger” — to end hunger is to satisfy it. Now you know you need seven letters beginning with S, and the S in row 1 is easy to find. Searching the grid before you have a word in mind is the slow way to do it.
Tip: every answer in this grid is a word from the poem you are about to read — satisfy, depart, weeds, worth, blossom, feast, and the example summoned. The puzzle is a vocabulary preview in disguise.
Q3.
II. Column 1 — Horizontal. 2. The train will _______ from the station at 5.00 p.m.
Answer

Answer: DEPART. It runs horizontally in row 7, columns 1–6 — D E P A R T, reading straight across from the left edge.

Why depart and not leave or start: the sentence is a timetable announcement, and depart is the formal word railways and airlines use for it (‘Departures’ on the board, ‘the train will depart from platform 3’). The grid confirms it — leave and start are not there.
In the poem: “But words, like summer birds, depart, / And leave but empty air.” The word means the same thing in both places — to go away and not be here any more. Swain chose it for birds precisely because it is also what trains and travellers do: departure implies a scheduled, ordinary leaving, not a dramatic one. Words go the way the 5 o’clock train goes.
Q4.
II. Column 1 — Horizontal. 3. The gardener was removing the _______ to clean the flower beds.
Answer

Answer: WEEDS. It lies horizontally in row 4, columns 6–10 — W E E D S, running to the right-hand edge.

What a weed actually is: not a poisonous plant, but any plant growing where it was not wanted. Nobody sows weeds; they arrive by themselves, in great numbers, and they take the light and water meant for the flowers. That is why a gardener removes them rather than picking them.
Hold on to that definition — the poem depends on it: “That words are of as little worth / As just so many weeds.” Swain is not saying words are poisonous. He is saying they come unasked and in crowds, they cost nothing to produce, and they crowd out the thing you actually planted. Read Critical Reflection I.1(iii) with this in mind.
Q5.
II. Column 2 — Vertical. 4. The view from the top of the hill was _______ the difficult climb.
Answer

Answer: WORTH. It reads downwards in column 6, rows 4–8 — W O R T H.

Read the sentence structure, not just the meaning. “The view was ______ the climb” needs a word that can sit between a noun and another noun and weigh one against the other. Worth does exactly that: X is worth Y means X repays what Y cost you. ‘Better than’ or ‘good for’ will not fit that slot.
In the poem: “That words are of as little worth / As just so many weeds.” Here worth is a noun, not a preposition — value. Notice how the same word does two grammatical jobs; the grid clue quietly teaches you both before you meet the line.
Q6.
II. Column 2 — Vertical. 5. The herbs and spices _______ flavour to food.
Answer

The word the clue is asking for is IMPART — “the herbs and spices impart flavour to food”, that is, they give or pass on a quality to it. (Add and lend would also complete the sentence.)

But be honest about the grid. Working carefully through the printed grid — every row, every column, and the diagonals in both directions — no word for this clue is actually hidden there. The grid contains exactly seven words: SATISFY (row 1), WEEDS (row 4) and DEPART (row 7) across, and SUMMONED (column 2, the worked example), FEAST (column 8), WORTH (column 6) and BLOSSOM (column 10) down. There is no IMPART, ADD or LEND anywhere in it, in any direction. So this appears to be a slip in the puzzle, not a failure of your searching. Write impart in the blank, and show your teacher where the other six words are.
Why impart is almost certainly the intended word: every other answer in this grid is lifted straight from the poem — satisfy, depart, weeds, worth, blossom, feast, summoned. The poem’s own word for ‘giving a quality to something’ is impart: “A little said, and truly said, / Can deeper joy impart.” Herbs impart flavour to food exactly as few true words impart joy to a listener — the clue and the line are built on the same verb.
Q7.
II. Column 2 — Vertical. 6. Flowers _______ in spring.
Answer

Answer: BLOSSOM. It reads downwards in column 10, rows 1–7 — B L O S S O M, straight down the right-hand edge.

Both a verb and a noun. Here it is a verb: to blossom is to come into flower. (As a noun, the blossom is the flower itself, especially on a fruit tree.) The grid needed seven letters, which rules out bloom — a useful check when two words mean nearly the same thing.
In the poem it appears in the strangest line of the whole piece: “Like plants that make a gaudy show, / All blossom to the root”. That means a plant which is flower from top to bottom — nothing but display, no substance anywhere. See Check Your Understanding II.2(vi).
Q8.
II. Column 2 — Vertical. 7. We enjoyed a delicious _______ after the ceremony.
Answer

Answer: FEAST. It reads downwards in column 8, rows 3–7 — F E A S T.

Not just a meal. A feast is a large, generous meal shared to mark an occasion — which is why the clue supplies “after the ceremony”. The word carries celebration inside it, not merely food.
In the poem: “If words could satisfy the chest, / The world might hold a feast.” The whole world sitting down to eat together is the picture of complete, shared contentment — and the very next line takes it away: “But words, when summoned to the test, / Oft satisfy the least!” The book uses these two lines as its example of hyperbole (Check Your Understanding III).
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