Summary & Question-answers of The Poem : 2- Geography Lesson with the concerned video

Summary of the poem

The poem is about the way earth looks from different altitudes. It is divided into three parts.

When the jet takes off and starts to climb up in the sky, you can have full height view of the city. The city grew as per its necessity and did not grow as per proper planning. It does not have any particular style. It even looked six inches from a certain height revealing its true structure.

When the jet climbs higher up to about ten thousand feet, he could apprehend the fact that cities grew water resources. Water fulfilled the necessities like agriculture, transport, business and others. He found that valleys were populated which met the necessities of the people.

When the jet went above six miles, there was no more water than land on the earth. While appreciating the geographical niceties of our planet, the poet is unable to understand the tendency to build borders, to erect walls, to create fences. Then he reflected that people on earth were selfish and narrow for they hated one another. He found the earth to be one but not the people living on this earth were divided for shallow reasons.

Extra Questions and Answers

1. What geographic lessons did the poet in the jet learn when the jet just took off? 

► The city that humans have developed have not been well planned, it grew as per necessity.

2. What geographic lessons did the poet in the jet learn when the jet reached ten thousand feet?

► From a height of ten thousand feet above the ground, the earth’s cities were found located on the banks of rivers and a little above the river level on valleys.

3. What was once most necessary for the emergence of a city in the past?

► The easy availability of water for drinking to irrigation was the prime reason why civilizations flocked around rivers.

4. What was difficult to understand about the earth when the jet was six miles high?

► It was difficult to understood why human hated one  another, built borders, walls and created fences.

5. What is the poet trying to bring out about human beings, the earth and learning?

► The poet is trying to bring out the fact that human beings have achieved a lot of knowledge about the earth and beyond. We have learnt much about the earth, its shape, the emergence of cities and nations, but we have failed to learn how to love one another & live peacefully on this wonderful planet.