NCERT Solutions for Poem Whatif Class 6 English Honeysuckle
The poet uses whatif to express various dangerous situations in this poem. The poet was lying in bed one night when a series of questions crawled into his ear, continuing throughout the night. He was haunted by these fears while sleeping. The thought crossed his mind that he might lose his ability to speak, or get beaten up, or get sick and die. He might also fail the test, or his hair might turn green, he could be struck by lightning, or a war might break out, or his parents might divorce. He was worrying about many things which were useless. There is no point in worrying about things that may or may not happen. This is a waste of time. 
Chapter Name | Whatif NCERT Solutions |
Class | CBSE Class 6 |
Textbook Name | Honeysuckle |
Related Readings |
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WHATIF - WORKING WITH THE POEM
Question 1 A: Who is the speaker in the poem?
Answer
The speaker in the poem is a child who is a school-going student. The different kinds of doubts in the form of "What ifs" mentioned in the poem reflect the small fears and worries the child is thinking about during his childhood days.
Question 1 B: With your partner list out the happenings the speaker is worried about.
Answer
The speaker is worried about the following happenings, as mentioned in the poem:
- If he/she gets dumb in school
- If they closed the swimming pool
- If he/she got beaten up
- If there was poison in his/her cup
- If he/she began to cry
- If he/she got sick and died
- If he/she flunked in that test
- If green hair grew on his/her chest • If nobody liked him/her
- If a bolt of lightning struck him/her If he/she did not grow taller
- If his/her head started getting smaller • If the fish stopped biting
- If the wind tore his/her kite
- If they started a war
- If his/her parents get divorced
- If the bus gets late
- If his/her teeth don't grow in straight
- If he/she tore his/her own pants
- If he/she never learned to dance
Question 1 C: Why do you think she/he has these worries? Can you think of ways to get rid of such Worries?
Answer
The speaker, a school-going student experiences these small worries like every small child of his/her age.
Lying alone in bed during the night time, the child wonders about the worst things and situations that can happen along with some unrealistic situations as well. As it has been rightly said, "An empty mind is a devil's workshop; the child's mind tends to bend towards such fears.
In order to get rid of such worries, the child can occupy himself/herself in studying or playing with friends. As long as one remains occupied with different things, the place for fears and worries gets filled up with constructive energy to do something beneficial.
Question 2: Read the following line.
'Some What ifs crawled inside my ear'
Can words crawl into your ear? This is an image The poet is trying to make an image of what she/he experiences. Now with your partner try and list out some more images from the poem.
Answer
Images mentioned in the poem are:
- And pranced and partied all night long
- And sang their same old What if song
- What if green hair grows on my chest?
- What if a bolt of lightning strikes me?
Question 3: In groups of four discuss some more 'what ifs' that you experience in your day to day life and list them out.
(i) _____________
(ii) _____________
(iii) _____________
(iv) _____________
(v) _____________
(vi) _____________
(vii) _____________
(viii) _____________
And now write a poem of five or six lines with the 'What ifs' that you have listed.
Answer
Some of the 'What ifs' are as follows:
- What if my mother doesn't give me lunch.
- What if my friends stop talking to me.
- What if my teacher gives me bad grades.
- What if I lose all my notebooks and textbooks.
- What if I am punished the whole day at school.
NOTE - This is a fun activity. Students can perform in groups and make many such creative and interesting "What ifs" and then compile all of them to form a poem.