Read the poem and answer the question that follow:
Beside the ungathered rice he lay,
His sickle in his hand;
His breast was bare, his matted hair
Was buried in the sand.
Again, in the mist and shadow of sleep.
He saw his Native Land.
Wide through the landscape of his dreams
The lordly Niger flowed;
Beneath the palm-trees on the plain
Once more a king he strode:
And heard the tinkling caravans
Descend the mountain-road.
He saw once more his dark-eyed queen
Among her children stand;
They clasped his neck, they kissed his cheeks,
They held him by the hand!-
A tear burst from the sleeper's lids
And fell into the sand.
And then at furious speed he rode
Along the Niger's bank;
His bridle-reins were golden chains.
And, with a martial clank,
At each leap he could feel his scabbard of steel
Smiting his stallion's flank.
Before him, like a blood-red flag.
The bright flamingoes flew
From morn till night he followed their flight,
O'er plains where the tamarind grew,
Till he saw the roofs of Caffre huts,
And the oceans rose to view.
The poem shows a contrast between:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → the man's past and present life
In the present, the man is a slave lying exhausted beside the ungathered rice, sickle in hand. In his dream he returns to his past: he strides as a king beneath the palm trees, sees his queen and children, and rides freely along the Niger. The poem sets his free, royal past against his present life of slavery.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: the life of King and Queen — Incorrect. Wrong focus: the king and the queen both belong to his past; the poem does not set one of them against the other.
Option 3: the flight of flamingoes and flow of ocean — Incorrect. Misread: the flamingoes and the ocean are details of the same dream journey, not two things in contrast.
Option 4: life of movement and life of rest — Incorrect. Only partly true: the man lies still while he dreams of riding, but this is only the setting of the dream. The poem's real contrast is between his freedom then and his slavery now.