Summary & Question-answers of The Poem:6- No Men are Foreign with the concerned video

No Men are Foreign Summary In English

About the Poet
James Flaconer Kirkup (23 April, 1918—10 May, 2009) was a prolific English poet, translator and writer. He wrote more than 30 books, including autobiography, novels and plays.

Kirkup was bom and brought up in South Shields. He educated at South Shields Secondary School and Durham University. He wrote his first book of poetry, ‘The Drowned Sailor at the Downs’ which was published in 1947. He was the first resident university poet in the United Kingdom.

Central Idea of the Poem

In the poem ‘No Men are Foreign’, the poet tells us not to distinguish people on the basis of their appearance, religion, region, etc. People of the whole world are brothers. All people are bom, wear clothes, eat food and at last die and buried in the same earth. All of us have same kinds of body parts. But it is we who defile the earth by hating and fighting with each other.

Theme of the Poem
The Poem ‘No Men are Foreign’ is about all human beings. The poet tells us that all human beings on earth are brothers and are the same. He tells us that all of us need sun, air, water and clothes to cover the same kind of body. All walk on the same kind of land. All are fed by the harvest and after death, all are buried in the same land. We do the same work. All of us on earth sleep and wake up, love and want to be loved. It is the human beings who hate others. We defile the earth and we all live on by hating and fighting with one another. It is we who pollute the air that we all breathe to serve our purpose and without taking into consideration its bad impact on other people.

Thinking about the poem
(Page 81)

Question 1.

1. “Beneath all uniforms…” What uniforms do you think the poet is speaking about?
2. How does the poet suggest that all people on earth are the same?

Answer:

1. The poet speaks about the various dresses that people of various countries wear but beneath them, the human body is same.
2. The poet says that nobody is different and peculiar. No country is foreign. A single body breathes beneath all uniforms. Moreover, the land is the same everywhere.

Question 2.
In stanza 1, find five ways in which we all are alike. Pick out the words.
Answer:
In the first stanza the poet says that there is no difference between the body of a citizen of one country and the citizen of another country. We have same kind of body; we wear same kind of clothes. We walk on the same planet, and the end of each individual is the same.

Question 3.

How many common features can you find in stanza 2? Pick out the words.
Answer:
The following common features are given in the stanzas:

1. sun
2. air
3. water,
4. Peaceful harvests required for human survival
5. same hands

Question 4.
“… whenever we are told to hate our brothers….” When do you think this happens? Why? Who ‘tells’ us? Should we do as we are told at such times What does the poet say?
Answer:
Sometimes some selfish people instigate the innocent to harm others. They do it for their own benefit. The common or ordinary man does not understand their tricks and starts hating his fellow human beings. They tell them to cause riots. The poet says that one should not follow anybody’s advice without brooding over it. The poet repeatedly says that there is no difference in them and the foreigners. The people of the entire world are the same.