A Concrete Example: NCERT Class 8 English Poem (Poorvi)

etmantra3 Nov 20266 min read

Mrs. Jones is very proud of her garden, but her neighbour sees mostly stones and plants too tiny to notice. The joke at the end makes students laugh, and the poem is a lively way to learn about refrain, irony and puns. It also opens a good talk about how people see the same thing in different ways.

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From NCERT’s new English book Poorvi for Class 8, unit “Wit and Wisdom”. Unit 1.

What your child learns

Garden words: rockery, sundial, lily pond, hedge, sapling, pebbles
Choosing the right synonym: strange, peculiar, fragile, exclaimed
Poetic devices: refrain, alliteration, rhyme scheme (AABBCC), irony and pun
Saying sorry in informal and formal ways, and writing a school notice

What the poem is about

The poem by Reginald Arkell is spoken by Mrs. Jones' next-door neighbour. Her garden is full of stones: an odd stone path, a lily pond, a rockery and a sundial that she finds charming. She plants tiny, delicate plants between the stones, so small that the speaker jokes she must plant them with a pin.

One day Mrs. Jones invites the speaker round, and they talk about one special flower for fifteen minutes. When the speaker asks where this lovely flower is, Mrs. Jones says the speaker is standing on it. The poem is light-hearted and gently mocking. The title is a pun: 'concrete' means the hard, stony material of the garden, and also a clear, real example of Mrs. Jones' unusual gardening habits.

New words, with Hindi meanings

concrete: a hard building material made of cement, sand and stones; also, real and clear (हिंदी: कंक्रीट, ठोस)
rockery: a part of a garden made with rocks, with small plants between them (हिंदी: पत्थरों का बगीचा)
crazy path: a path made of uneven, oddly shaped flat stones (हिंदी: टेढ़ा-मेढ़ा पथरीला रास्ता)
sundial: an old instrument that shows the time by the shadow of the sun (हिंदी: धूपघड़ी)
device: an instrument or a tool made for a purpose (हिंदी: यंत्र, उपकरण)
delicate: easily broken or hurt; fine and small (हिंदी: नाज़ुक)
quarter of an hour: fifteen minutes (हिंदी: पंद्रह मिनट)
refrain: a line repeated in every stanza of a poem (हिंदी: टेक)
irony: when what happens is the opposite of what we expect (हिंदी: विडंबना)
pun: a joke using a word with two meanings (हिंदी: श्लेष, शब्दों का खेल)

Talk about it

Ask these aloud after reading or watching. Let your child answer in English if they can, or mix in their home language. Both help.

What does Mrs. Jones have in her garden?
Why does the speaker joke that Mrs. Jones plants her flowers with a pin?
What happens when the speaker asks where the lovely flower is?
How does Mrs. Jones feel about her garden? How do you know?
What kind of garden would you like to have, and why?

Answers for parents

Her garden is full of stones. It has a stony path, a lily pond, a rockery and a sundial, with tiny plants between the stones.
The plants are so small and delicate that the speaker can hardly see them. The joke about the pin shows, with humour, how tiny they are.
Mrs. Jones says the speaker is standing on it. The flower they talked about for fifteen minutes was so small that the speaker had stepped on it without seeing it. This is the irony of the poem.
She loves it and is proud of it. She thinks her sundial is nice, she invites her neighbour to see the stones, and she talks about one flower for a quarter of an hour.
For example: I would like a garden with flower beds, a few fruit trees and a small pond, because I love colours and I want birds to visit.

Grammar corner: Synonyms: choosing the word that fits

Synonyms are words with the same or nearly the same meaning, like strange and peculiar. But a synonym must fit the sentence: 'cried' can mean 'wept' or 'exclaimed', and only one of them fits a happy question. Words that look alike, like delicate and delicious, are not synonyms at all.

The tiny plants were so fragile that she watered them very gently.
Mrs. Jones thought her old sundial was charming.
"Look at that odd stone!" my little brother exclaimed.

Practice at home

Choose the word that can replace 'strange' in this sentence: We saw a strange stone shaped like a frog. (unusual / external / delicious)
Fill in the blank with a refrain of your own for a funny poem about your school: My ___, ___, has got a ___ full of ___.
The word 'bark' has two meanings. Make one sentence that uses both, like a pun.

Answers: 1. unusual · 2. For example: My best friend, Kabir, has got a bag full of sweets. · 3. For example: The dog sat under the tree and gave a loud bark at its bark.

Try this

Play 'Two meanings' at home. One person says a word with two meanings, like ring, bat, bark, match or concrete, and the others must make a funny sentence that uses both meanings. Then take a walk around your home, a park or a neighbour's garden and name the things you see: a hedge, a sapling, a flower pot, pebbles, a fence. Who notices the smallest plant?

Tip for parents

Tell the poem's joke in Hindi first: पड़ोसन ने पूरे पंद्रह मिनट एक फूल की तारीफ़ की, और फूल पैर के नीचे दबा था. Then ask your child to tell it in English, mixing Hindi words if needed. Practise saying sorry in both languages: 'माफ़ करना, मेरा ऐसा इरादा नहीं था' becomes 'Sorry, I didn't mean to'. Praise every try, even a half-English one.

Questions parents ask

What is the poem A Concrete Example about?

It is a humorous poem by Reginald Arkell about Mrs. Jones, whose garden is full of stones with tiny plants between them. After she talks about a lovely flower for fifteen minutes, it turns out her neighbour has been standing on it.

Why is the poem called A Concrete Example?

The title is a pun. 'Concrete' refers to the stones in Mrs. Jones' garden, and it also means a clear, real example of her unusual gardening habits.

Is A Concrete Example in the new NCERT book?

Yes. It is Chapter 2 of NCERT's new English book Poorvi for Class 8, in Unit 1, Wit and Wisdom.

Learn every Class 8 chapter with CALP

Every chapter of Poorvi, NCERT’s new Class 8 book, with notes in English and Hindi, say-it-aloud practice with a score, listening, grammar, speaking and writing with feedback. ₹1,599 for the whole year.

See the free lessons and enrol →