Read the poem and answer the questions given below it.
The Clock Above the Blackboard
I sit at desk fourteen, beside the door,
two pens, a ruler, my admit card in line.
The papers lie face down on the teacher’s desk.
The clock above the blackboard says half past nine.
Ten minutes before the first bell rings,
and every minute lasts a year. I stare
up at the long hand above the board.
I look away, look back: it is still there.
The bell. The papers. I turn mine and read,
and soon my pen is moving at full speed.
Four answers done. I glance up at the wall:
an hour has gone, and I never felt it at all.
The sun lies in a yellow strip on my desk,
gold chalk dust drifts in the window light,
and the thin red second hand goes round and round,
sweeping the last ten minutes out of sight.
“Pens down,” the teacher says. The sheets are gone.
I look up at the clock above the board:
a dusty face, three minutes slow, as always,
the clock that all year we had ignored.
Which kind of imagery is used in the following lines?
“The sun lies in a yellow strip on my desk,
gold chalk dust drifts in the window light,
and the thin red second hand goes round and round”
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Visual imagery (sight)
Visual imagery uses words that help us see a scene.
- The lines are full of colours: a “yellow strip” of sun, “gold chalk dust” and a “thin red second hand”.
- They also show light and movement: dust that “drifts in the window light” and a hand that “goes round and round”. Example: Green parrots flashed across the orange evening sky.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Auditory imagery (sound) — Incorrect. Auditory imagery helps us hear something. Example: We woke to the clatter of pots and the whistle of the cooker.
Option 3: Tactile imagery (touch) — Incorrect. Tactile imagery helps us feel something on the skin, such as heat, cold or roughness. Example: The icy water stung my feet.
Option 4: Olfactory imagery (smell) — Incorrect. Olfactory imagery helps us smell something. Example: The smell of frying pakoras filled the lane.