Read the following poem carefully and answer the questions that follow:
Love came to Flora asking for a flower
That would of flowers be undisputed queen,
The lily and the rose, long, long had been
Rivals for that high honour. Bards of power
Had sung their claims. ‘The rose can never tower
Like the pale lily with her Juno mien’
‘But is the lily lov’lier?’ Thus between
Flower-factions rang the strife in Psyche’s bower.
‘Give me a flower delicious as the rose
And stately as the lily in her pride’
‘But of what colour ?’‘Rose-red’, Love first chose,
Then prayed,‘No, lily white, or, both provide.
And Flora gave the lotus, ‘rose-red’ dyed.
And ‘lily-white; the queenliest flower that blows.
1. Write the summary of this poem.
2. Explain the following lines:
And Flora ………………………….. gave that blows.
3. Infer the meanings of the following phrases:
(i) flower-factions rang the strife in Psyche’s bower.
(ii) queenliest flower
(iii) Bards of power
4. Change the following into nouns:
(i) queenly
(ii) lovable
