No Men Are Foreign | Poem 1 | English 9th |Tulip series | JKANSWERS |

Poem 1 – No Men Are Foreign | Free NCERT Solutions | JKANSWERS |

(James Kirkup)

James Kirkup (born April 23, 1918) is a prolific English poet, translator, and travel writer. He was brought up in South Shields and educated at Durham University. He has written over 30 books, including biographies, novels and plays. He became a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1962. Amongst his honours, Kirkup held the Atlantic Award for Literature from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1950; he was elected the Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1962; he won the Japan P.E.N. Club Prize for Poetry in 1965 and was awarded the Scott-Moncrieff Prize for translation in 1992. In 1997 he was presented with the Japan Festival Foundation Award and invited by the Emperor and Empress to the Imperial New Year Poetry Reading at the Palace in Tokyo.

No Men Are Foreign

Remember, no men are strange, no countries foreign

Beneath all uniforms, a single body breathes

Like ours, the land our brothers walk upon

Is earth-like his, in which we all shall lie

They, too, aware of the sun and air and water,

Are fed by peaceful harvests, by war’s long winter starved

Their hands are ours, and in their lines, we read

A labour not different from our own

Remember they have eyes like ours that wake

Or sleep, and strength that can be won

By love, in every land, is a common life

That all can recognize and understand

Let’s remember, whenever we are told

To hate our brothers, it is ourselves

That we shall dispossess, betray, condemn

Remember, we who take arms against each other

It is the human earth that we defile

Our hells of fire and dust outrage the innocence

Of air that is everywhere our own

Remember, no men are foreign, no countries strange

Central Idea of the Poem

The poem ‘No Men Are Foreign’ is about the Universal brotherhood. This is the paramount need of the hour. All the people on the earth are alike because all breath and feel in the same way. The poet says that people should not differentiate on the basis of caste, colour, creed, gender, or religion.

Summary of the Poem

    “No Men Are Foreign” is one of the best poems of a prolific English poet, translator and travel writer, James Kirkup. This poem conveys a message of Universal Brotherhood, to the people living in the whole world. The word ‘men’ in the title does not refer to any ‘particular’ gender only but to all people living in the world. Through this poem, the poet wants to bring all people close to each other. He says that no one in this world belongs to a ‘particular’ place, no one is stranger. The Creator of the earth is only one. We walk on the same earth, wearing the same dresses. The air we breathe is common to all. All of us enjoy the taste of sweet air and water under one sun. The people living in other places also have the seasons of harvests and winters like we have. We work and read with the same hands and eyes.

    We have the same eyes that are used to enjoy the taste of sleep and beauty of nature. Strength can be achieved only by love and this is the love which helps us to recognize and understand each other.

    We are all brothers. If we hate others that means we hate ourselves. By taking arms against each other we kill our own brothers. No one is stranger and no one belongs to a ‘particular’ place. This earth and the air we breathe in is ours. By fighting wars, we pollute our own earth and its air.

    The poet in the poem conveys a message that we should not discriminate people because of caste, colour, religion, or gender. We are the same and we should live like brothers.

Understanding the Poem 

Q1. What does the poet mean by `uniforms’ in the poem?

Ans. The word ‘uniform’ in the poem means the clothes we wear. It may refer to the clothes worn by the soldiers so that to avoid discrimination among the soldiers. ‘Uni-‘ is a prefix that means ‘one’ or ‘single’. School children also wear the uniform.

Q2. What according to the poet makes all the people alike on the earth?

Ans. According to the poet, we live on the same earth where we enjoy the taste of air and water under one sun. We have the same hands and eyes by which we work and read. These things make. These things make all the people alike on the earth.

Q3. What outrages the innocence and beauty of this earth?

Ans. Our wrong deeds, wrong activities, hatred, wars, outrages the innocence and beauty of this earth.

Q4. What message do you get from the poem?

Ans. The poem clearly conveys a message of ‘Universal Brotherhood’. ‘Union is always strength’. It says that we are not different from each other, we are same and we should not hate each other because of caste, colour, religion, or gender. We have relations, if not by the blood but by the things we commonly use.

Learning about the literary device 

Q5. Do you find any rhyme scheme in the poem?

Ans. No, we did not find any rhyme scheme in the poem. All the lines have different kinds of syllables and sound differently.

Q6. What is the style used by the poet in the poem?

Ans. The poem is written in a simple style. If we look at the structure of the poem, we see it consists of five stanzas and each stanza contains four lines.

Discussion 

Q1. What are the things that divide people today? Do you think that negotiations can resolve conflicts? If yes how, if no why? What should be done in the latter case?

Ans. There are innumerable things that are responsible for the division between the people. Colour, caste, religion, and gender are most of these things that divide people today. If negotiation is accepted by the opposite, then it helps in resolving the conflicts easily without hurting anyone.

Q2. How do wars affect our lives?

Ans. Wars are the worst activities of the people. This affects our lives in many ways. It causes pollution thereby giving rise to droughts which results in the starvation of the people. It affects the economy of the country and results in poverty. It affects our livelihood, our habitat, and environment. It changes the ecological balance and affects our ecosystem. It makes our lives miserable and uncomfortable.

Suggested Reading

‘Under Siege’ by Mahmud Darwish