Write the explanations of the essay entitled "The Student". (Part-1)

Write the explanations of the essay entitled “The Student”. (Part-1)

Ans.

Explanations

(1) He could hardly relish them more if they were things with a sweet smell or taste. That at least is the experience of one who always loved his books to be new and shrank from getting them second hand as one would shrink from a that had first been in somebody else’s mouth.

Reference to the Context: These lines are an extract from the essay ‘The Student’ written by Robert Lynd, a great English essayist. He describes the hearty feelings of that student who is a great lover of his new books at entering the college after the school study.

Explanation: Describing about the student, the writer says that he is very eager and enthusiastic to enter the college after completing his school study. He leaves the school and is ready to join a college. He has purchased new books with pleasure, opens them with eagerness and he enjoys the feel of the paper as well as of the new books. Everyone likes a thing of sweet smell or good taste but the student loves his books more than these things. Every student as the lover of books has the same experience.

The student always keeps his books in good condition because he loves them much. He does not like to purchase and read old and second-hand books which he compares with the sweetmeats already tasted by someone else. Nobody would like to eat those sweet-meats which have already been tasted by someone. In the same way, that book lover wants to have new books with fine cover and paper in place of old books.

(2) Now I would rise from my past as from sleep, put on ‘the new man, as the preachers say, and set out on a career of tireless discovery. I would plunge into the beautiful waters of learning and emerge a scholar.

Reference to the Context: These lines are an extract from the essay ‘The Student’ written by the great essayist Robert Lynd. He describes the thirst for knowledge of the student advising him in a useful way.

Explanation: The essayist remembers his own college days as a student who had a great thirst for knowledge and he also wanted to become a learned scholar. When he had joined the college he had deep liking for learning more and more. After completing his school study he thought that he had completed the first stage as a student Then he gave up the idleness of his school days and he rose up as he had got up from sleep with a determination to study seriously.

As soon as, he climbed up the steps of the college, he started feeling his responsibility as a serious student. He also developed in him the spirit of competition because he wanted to excel in his aim of life. He gave up his laziness of his boyhood to play the role of a new youngman as the preachers preach in their sermons. That student also started pursuing his college career.

That student did not feel tired of his studies because he had a determination to discover something new. He enjoyed his studies by reading his new books. It was like a daily morning bath in the fresh waters of learning with mental freshness. In this way he tried to become a perfect scholar according to his ambition to fulfil it.

(3) The truth is, every subject was a hill to climb, and any hill was better than no hill. I felt a certain excitement as I read The University Calendar and came on the courses even in strange subjects such as engineering and political economy.

Reference to the Context: These lines are an extract from the essay, “The Student’ composed by Robert Lynd.

Explanation: The ideal student who had joined the college after completing his school education was full of enthusiasm and learning real spirit. He had an ambition to become an ideal and perfect scholar. He also wanted to get adequate knowledge of each and every subject. For him, every subject with its much knowledge seemed to him like a hill which was to be climbed up by him. He had a strong desire to study and master any one subject with one great ambition to achieve in his life. It was like climbing up the hill of one subject. If he had no ambition, there was no hill for him to climb up. As a good student, he would read the university calendar with great zeal. He also made the study of some other unfamiliar subjects like engineering and political economy without any background of these subjects. He had great love for knowledge so he studied such subjects.

(4) I could fancy myself with the greatest of ease a civil engineer and an architect, even though algebraic fomulae meant less to me than the marks left by the feet of seagulls on the sand, and though I could hardly draw a house correctly enough to distinguish it from a beehive.

Reference to the Context: These lines are an extract from the essay, ‘The Student’ written by Robert Lynd.

Explanation: He remembers the great zeal of his own student life when he had joined the college after leaving the school.

The writer says that in the early days of college life, he had a great thirst for knowledge, so he wanted to learn everything more and more. He could imagine himself as an engineer as well as an architect. It was the day-dream of his life. His knowledge of alzebra was very poor because he could not understand its formulae in comparison to the foot-marks of the sea-gulls on the sand.

So far as his imagination to become an architect was related, it should be noted that he could not draw a map of a house on paper, so he could not become an architect in his future life, yet in his college days he had his learning zeal with a day-dream to become an architect. It is necessary to mention that an architect must be able to draw a house map but the map of the house drawn by him looked no better than a bee-hive. The house map drawn by him was very ordinary, not correct fully. He had a very poor background knowledge in order to become an engineer or an architect. On the other hand he had great zeal for getting knowledge of each and every subject as well as his enthusiasm which he had in his early days of college life.

(5) The sense of my ignorance and incapacity did not daunt me in those days. I regarded these as remediable weaknesses. I accepted the world as a great lucky tub into which, did I but dip-earnestly enough, I could find whatever talent I desired.

Reference to the Context: These lines are an extract from the essay, ‘The Student’ written by the great writer Robert Lynd. He describes the dream, or the main purpose of his study in a college after leaving the school.

Explanation: The writer makes it very clear that he had thought over seriously the possibility of becoming a sculpture or a composer. He added that he had tried his best to make use of the study at college in the best way. He admitted that he could not become the master in all the subjects, nor he could get much knowledge in all the fields. His idea of getting such knowledge was disturbed by the reality of his situation at the time of his study in the college. He never thought if he was competent enough to choose any particular branch of knowledge or he could not do it well. Soon after, he was lost in day-dreaming with a firm belief that tomorrow he would get maximum success as well as great glory in that field of study which he had chosen to follow.

(6) How often did I seriously consider the possibility of becoming a sculptor or a composer! I felt that if I began to handle the Clay with all my might’ it would take shape from some of those restless dreams and cravings that made it so delightful to be idle to day and promised to come to birth in something real and beautiful tomorrow.

Reference to the Context: These lines are an extract from the essay, “The Student’ written by Robert Lynd. He describes the picture of the mind of a newly admitted student beginning his study at the college.

Explanation: The writer as a student wished to study each and every subject to gather maximum knowledge for his future success. He made it very clear that he could not decide to begin the study of all subjects, or in all the fields of knowledge. They indicate to him that he should try to get knowledge in all subjects and he could not resist their seduction. He never thought whether he was competent enough to choose any particular subject in order to get enough knowledge or he should give up any such idea. He found himself lost in the day-dreaming with the idea that he would be able to get enough success and glory in his selected field whether he should work as a stone-cutter or as a maker and singer of music. He was thinking about his success and glory for tomorrow (in future).