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.
Who is the speaker of the poem, and what is the situation?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → a student writing an exam in a classroom
The speaker tells us where they sit and what they do.
- “I sit at desk fourteen” with pens, a ruler and “my admit card”. An admit card is the slip a student shows to sit for an exam.
- When the papers come, “I turn mine and read”, and “my pen” writes the answers. All this happens under the clock on the classroom wall.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: a teacher keeping watch over a class during an exam — Incorrect. Misread: The teacher is someone else in the room, who says “Pens down”. The speaker is writing the paper.
Option 3: a student waiting nervously for the exam results — Incorrect. Wrong time: The poem covers the exam itself, from the papers lying face down to “Pens down”. No results are mentioned.
Option 4: a student revising at home on the night before an exam — Incorrect. Contradicted: The speaker is in a classroom, with a blackboard, a teacher and the papers on the teacher’s desk.