Like Summer Birds
They arrive, they are lovely, they go.
Words depart and leave but empty air — a simile, since the line says *like*.
↳ The poem's first complaint: words do not injure, they merely fail to remain.
📚 Chapter Learning Kit
Words · Class 9 English · Kaveri
English 3 topics 106 leveled MCQs 70 flashcards 4 games Free
Shared by a Veda teacher · Generated with Veda AI · Oct 2026
⚡ Veda Bites
💡 Concept
💡 Concept
🚫 Warning
💡 Summary
💡 Concept
💡 Concept
The whole idea, one bite at a time
Veda Bites are swipeable micro-lessons — each one teaches exactly one idea. Here's a taste from this kit; the app has the full deck.
Why Words Are Wanted
The heart is a pilgrim upon earth.
A metaphor — the line says the heart is a pilgrim, not that it resembles one.
↳ Which explains why a heart in that condition needs something from outside itself.
When It Needs
Three words that are easily passed over.
Words are found worth as little as weeds — and found so exactly when they are required.
↳ Weeds grow unplanted, grow abundantly, and are worth nothing to the gardener.
The Similes
Three of them, all about words.
↳ The poem gets steadily harder without changing the kind of comparison.
The Heart, a Pilgrim
Only one thing in the poem gets a metaphor.
Not like a pilgrim — the heart is one, permanently travelling and permanently short of what it seeks.
↳ Stating an identity is warmer than comparing — and it is kept for the one subject the poem is on the side of.
Hyperbole
Nobody supposes the planet sits down to dinner.
Were the chest satisfied by words, the world might sit down to a feast — deliberate exaggeration, not meant to be believed.
↳ So the change, if it came, would be universal.
📖 Smart notes
What you'll study, topic by topic
1
Words, Stanza by Stanza
Six stanzas, four comparisons and one argument: that words which merely arrive in quantity leave nothing behind, while a few said truly can do what a great many cannot.
- The poem has six stanzas of four lines each, and the poet is Charles Swain.
- Words are compared to summer birds that depart and leave only empty air.
- The heart is called a pilgrim upon earth, and words are said to be worth as little as weeds.
~26 min · full explanation, examples & memory tricks in the app
2
The Devices, and the Words About Words
Which figure of speech is at work where, four hyperboles to complete, the metre of the opening lines, six figurative phrases matched to meanings, a word map and a grid puzzle that is a first reading in disguise.
- The poem uses three similes — summer birds, weeds, and plants that make a gaudy show.
- Its single metaphor is the heart, a pilgrim upon earth.
- Its hyperbole is the world holding a feast if words could satisfy the chest.
~27 min · full explanation, examples & memory tricks in the app
3
The Skills Work of This Poem
A listening task in which exactly four of six statements are true, eight quotations to choose between, a five-paragraph essay with a counterargument built into it, a game played without speech, and a second poem about we…
- The listening passage is a conversation between a girl and a boy about a declamation contest.
- Exactly four of the six statements are true and two are false.
- The girl was excited to take part, and the boy doubted the topic's suitability.
~28 min · full explanation, examples & memory tricks in the app
❓ Leveled MCQ practice
Try the smart MCQs from this kit
106 questions laddered from warm-up to topper-level, each with an explanation. A taste:
A reader says the poem condemns language altogether. Which stanza most directly refutes that?
Advanced
A Stanza 1, where words depart like summer birds
B Stanza 3, where a little said truly gives deeper joy than hosts of words
C Stanza 2, where words are worth as little as weeds
D Stanza 6, where the plant grows no fruit
Show answer & explanation
Stanza 3, where a little said truly gives deeper joy than hosts of words
The target is quantity and emptiness, not language.
A reader wants to know how long the poem is before starting on it. What should they be told?
Intermediate
A Six stanzas of four lines, by E. F. Hayward
B Four stanzas of six lines, by Charles Swain
C Six stanzas of four lines, by Charles Swain
D Eight stanzas of four lines, by Walter de la Mare
Show answer & explanation
Six stanzas of four lines, by Charles Swain
The name is printed under the last stanza.
Why is the comparison of words to summer birds described as exact?
Advanced
A Summer birds sing more loudly than other birds
B Summer birds return to the same place every year
C Summer birds build nests that outlast them
D Summer birds arrive, are lovely, and leave when the season turns
Show answer & explanation
Summer birds arrive, are lovely, and leave when the season turns
And what is left is empty air — simply nothing.
A student is asked to name the device in 'words, like summer birds, depart' and answers metaphor. Which correction applies?
Intermediate
A The word like makes it a simile
B The line names no second thing, so it is neither
C It is hyperbole, since birds cannot stand for words
D It is personification, since words are given flight
Show answer & explanation
The word like makes it a simile
A metaphor would have to say words are summer birds.
🃏 Flashcards
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70 flashcards in this kit — the app reviews them with spaced repetition so the right card returns on the right day.
🎮 Learning games
Play your way through this kit
Every game is built from this kit's own content — scores feed your mastery, so playing counts as studying.
Word Match
True False
Fill Blank
Word Scramble
Playable in the app
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