Back to: CBSE Class 7 English Summary & Notes
Table of Contents
Introduction
The Rebel is a 30 lines poem in which the poet talks about the characteristics of a rebel in the society. A rebel is one who does everything against the norms of society. In the poem, the poet tells us that a rebel is usually hated by people but it is usually good to be one because it makes one different.
Poem
Video
Lines 1-10
When everybody has short hair, The rebel lets his hair grow long. When everybody has long hair, The rebel cuts his hair short. When everybody talks during the lesson, The rebel doesn’t say a word. When nobody talks during the lesson, The rebel creates a disturbance. When everybody wears a uniform, The rebel dresses in fantastic clothes.
According to the poet when people have short hair, a rebel grows his hair long but when others grow their hair, the rebel cuts his hair. When others talk during the lesson, a rebel remains silent but when others become silent, the rebel starts creating disturbance. When others wear uniform, rebel dresses in bright clothes.
Lines 11-20
When everybody wears fantastic clothes, The rebel dresses soberly. In the company of dog lovers, The rebel expresses a preference for cats. In the company of cat lovers, The rebel puts in a good word for dogs. When everybody is praising the sun, The rebel remarks on the need for rain. When everybody is greeting the rain, The rebel regrets the absence of sun.
When others wear bright and fantastic clothes, rebel dresses in simple clothes. Among dog lovers, a rebel expresses his love for cats but among cat lovers, the rebel praises dogs. When people praise sunny day, rebel desires for rain. However when others greet rain, rebel longs for sunny day.
Lines 21-30
When everybody goes to the meeting, The rebel stays at home and reads a book. When everybody stays at home and reads a book, The rebel goes to the meeting. When everybody says, Yes please, The rebel says, No thank you. When everybody says, No thank you, The rebel says, Yes please. It is very good that we have rebels. You may not find it very good to be one.
When others go to meeting, rebel stays at home and reads a book but when others stay at home and read books, the rebel goes to meeting. When others say, “Yes please”, rebel says,
“No thank you.” and when others say, “No thank you”, rebel says, “Yes please”.
According to the poet, it is good to have rebels among us because they bring variety in the society. However if we ourselves are rebels then it won’t prove good because rebels are not liked by society.
