What I want should not be confused with total inactivity.

Question

Read the following extract carefully and answer the questions that follow: 

What I want should not be confused 

with total inactivity.

Life is what it is about; 

I want no truck with death. 

(a) What is it that the poet wants? 

(b) What is the confusion that the poet wishes to clarify? 

(c) Explain the phrase ‘no truck with death’. 

(d) How is ‘it’ mentioned in the third line all about life?

Answer 1

(a) The poet wants man to come to a state of stillness and silence and introspect on how his present choice is impacting his wellbeing in the long term. 

(b) The poet fears lest his advocacy of stillness be mistaken for his advocating death. So he wishes to clarify his stand. 

(c) ‘No truck with death’ is an idiom which means having nothing to do with. Here the poet means that he has nothing to do with death. 

(d) ‘It’ here refers to inactivity that the poet is talking about. It is all about life because it is meant to make our life better. It is not about death.