Try Again: NCERT Class 7 English Poem (Poorvi)

etmantra3 Nov 20266 min read

Everyone feels like giving up sometimes. In this poem, a sad king watches a tiny spider fall again and again, and finds his courage in its effort. It is a story your child will remember the next time a sum, a match or an exam feels too hard.

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From NCERT’s new English book Poorvi for Class 7, unit “Learning Together”. Unit 1.

What your child learns

Words for effort and feelings: endeavour, strive, toil, despair, conquered
Opposite words from the poem: up and down, glad and sad, win and lose
Telling a simile from a metaphor (as fast as a cheetah, the world is a stage)
Reciting a story poem with rhythm, and saying a tricky tongue twister clearly

What the poem is about

King Bruce of Scotland has tried many times to do a great deed for his people, and he has failed each time. He lies down in deep sadness and decides to give it all up. Just then a spider drops down on its thin thread, and the King stops to watch it climb back to its web near the ceiling.

The spider climbs, falls, and climbs again. After nine attempts the King is sure it will stop, but it tries once more and, inch by inch, reaches its home. The King cheers the spider and asks himself why he should not do the same. He tries again, and this time he does not fail. The poem, by Eliza Cook, tells a story in rhyme, and its message is simple: keep trying until you succeed.

New words, with Hindi meanings

monarch: a king or queen who rules a country (हिंदी: राजा, सम्राट)
despair: a feeling that there is no hope left (हिंदी: निराशा)
grieved: very sad and hurt (हिंदी: दुखी)
pondered: thought about something carefully (हिंदी: सोचा, विचार किया)
endeavour: a try at doing something new or difficult (हिंदी: प्रयास)
strive: to try very hard to get something (हिंदी: भरसक कोशिश करना)
toil: to work very hard for a long time (हिंदी: कड़ी मेहनत करना)
attempts: tries at doing something (हिंदी: कोशिशें)
conquered: won over something hard (हिंदी: जीत लिया)
braced: made ready for something difficult (हिंदी: तैयार किया, मज़बूत किया)

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.

Why was King Bruce sad at the start of the poem?
What did the spider try to do, and how many times did it fail?
What did the King say when the spider finally reached its web?
What changed for King Bruce at the end of the poem, and why?
Tell about a time you wanted to give up. What helped you try again?

Answers for parents

He had tried again and again to do a great deed for his people, but he had not succeeded.
It tried to climb its thin thread up to its cobweb near the ceiling. It fell nine times before it reached the top.
He cheered 'Bravo!' and said the spider had won over despair, so why shouldn't he win too?
He made his mind strong and tried once more. This time he did not fail, because the spider had shown him that trying again works.
For example: I could not ride a bicycle and kept falling. My elder brother held the seat every evening, and after a week I could ride alone.

Grammar corner: Opposite words (antonyms)

Opposite words mean the reverse of each other, like up and down. The poem is full of them, because the spider keeps going up and coming down, and the King moves from sad to glad. Learning words in opposite pairs helps you remember both.

The spider went up the thread, but soon it came down again.
The King was sad when he failed and glad when he saw the spider succeed.
Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose, but we can always try again.

Practice at home

Write the opposites: up, fast, glad, win, succeed.
Fill in the blank with endeavour, strive or toil: Farmers ___ in the fields from morning to evening.
Simile or metaphor? (a) The classroom was a zoo. (b) He ran as fast as a cheetah.

Answers: 1. down, slow, sad, lose, fail · 2. toil · 3. (a) metaphor, because it says the classroom IS a zoo; (b) simile, because it uses 'as ... as'

Try this

Play 'Nine tries'. Give everyone a hard little task, like stacking five coins on their side, throwing a paper ball into a cup from three steps away, or saying a tongue twister five times fast. Each person counts their tries aloud: 'one attempt, two attempts...'. When someone succeeds, everyone says 'Bravo!' Then each person says one line about how it felt to keep going.

Tip for parents

Ask your child to tell you the King's story in Hindi first: 'राजा हार मान रहा था, फिर उसने मकड़ी को देखा...'. Then ask for the same story in English, and let them mix Hindi words where they get stuck. Share one time you yourself kept trying, in whichever language is easier, and praise every attempt they make to speak English.

Questions parents ask

What is the poem Try Again about?

It is about King Bruce of Scotland, who is ready to give up after many failures. He watches a spider fail nine times and still reach its web, so he tries once more and succeeds.

Who wrote the poem Try Again and what is its message?

The poem is by Eliza Cook. Its message is perseverance: failure is not the end, and we should keep trying until we succeed.

Is Try Again in the new NCERT book?

Yes. It is in NCERT's new Poorvi book for Class 7, Unit 1 (Learning Together).

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Every chapter of Poorvi, NCERT’s new Class 7 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.

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