The Kites Questions & Answers | Class 6 English | CBSE NCERT

(b) — The line "Like coloured birds" directly compares the kites to birds.

(a) — 'Whipped' by the wind means struck and stirred by strong winds.

(b) — A simile compares two things using 'like' or 'as'; here the word 'like' is used.

coloured

The poet describes the kites flying up in the air like coloured birds in the wind-whipped sky. The bright kites dipping and soaring in the strong wind remind her of flying birds.

I feel happy and excited to see the kites dancing in the wind. Their bright colours against the blue sky make me wish I could also fly up with them. (Any sincere personal response is acceptable.)

(b) — The child says, "I wish I were small / And light as air."

(c) — Being small and light would let the child climb onto a kite and sail into the sky.

(d) — "Light as air" compares the child's wished-for lightness to air using 'as'.

climb; sail

A kite can only carry something very light, like air itself. So the child wishes to become tiny and weightless so that the kite can lift her up and sail into the sky with her on it.

I would like to sail over my school and my neighbourhood, so that I could see everything from high above like a bird. It would be exciting to look down on the tiny world below. (Any reasonable answer with a reason is acceptable.)

(c) — The kite, made of paper and shaped like a bird, carries the child like wings.

(b) — The child would "hear the songs / That the wild wind sings."

(d) — 'Wild wind' repeats the same consonant /w/ sound at the beginning of both words.

drift

The word 'drift' suggests a slow, gentle, floating movement carried along by the wind. The child would not rush through the sky but float softly upon the kite's wings.

When the wind rushes past the kite, it makes a soft, musical sound, like humming or singing. Calling it a song makes the ride seem joyful and magical, as if the wind is entertaining the child. (Any thoughtful answer is acceptable.)

(b) — "What fun it would be / To look right down" from the sky.

(a) — The child would look down "Over the park / And the rooftops of town."

(c) — Looking 'right down' is only possible from somewhere high above.

False — the child is up in the air on the kite, looking down at the park and the rooftops of the town.

The line "What fun it would be / To look right down" tells us this. One can look right down only from a place high above the ground.

I would like to see my school, the playground and the streets of my town spread out below me like a map. Watching people and vehicles look as tiny as toys would be great fun. (Any imaginative, relevant answer is acceptable.)

(b) — The stanza says the people below "Would stand and stare."

(a) — The word 'high' is repeated to show that the kite is flying very high in the air.

(b) — Watching the child sail high in the air, the people would envy the fun and freedom of the ride.

stare

They would see a child riding a kite high up in the air — something amazing and unusual. Out of wonder and surprise, they would stop and keep looking up at the flying child.

I would feel amazed and delighted, and I would certainly wish I were the child on the kite. The joy of floating free in the sky would make everyone below envious, just as the poet imagines. (Any honest response with a reason is acceptable.)

The poet says the kites fly up in the air like coloured birds in the wind-whipped sky. Their bright colours and flying movement remind her of birds.

Only something as light as air can ride on a kite. The child wishes to be small and light so that she can climb on a kite and sail up there.

The child would drift upon the paper wings of the kite. She would float gently along, carried by the wind.

The child would hear the songs that the wild wind sings. The wind rushing past the kite makes a musical sound, like a song.

The child would see the park and the rooftops of town below. The whole town would look tiny from the sky.

The people below would stand and stare at the child flying high on a kite. They would be filled with wonder at the amazing sight and would wish they were in the child's place.

It means a sky where the wind is blowing hard and fast. The wind whips or lashes through the air, making the kites fly and dance.

The word 'drift' shows a slow, gentle, floating movement. The child would be carried along softly by the wind, like a leaf in the breeze.

The first simile is "Like coloured birds" — the kites are compared to birds using 'like'. The second is "light as air" — the child compares the lightness she wants to that of air using 'as'.

Stanza 1: fly–sky; Stanza 2: air–there; Stanza 3: wings–sings; Stanza 4: down–town; Stanza 5: stare–air. In every stanza, the second and fourth lines rhyme.

"Wild wind" from stanza 3 is an example of alliteration. Both words begin with the same consonant /w/ sound.

The word 'high' is repeated — "High, high in the air." The repetition tells us that the kite is flying very, very high up in the sky.

The wings of the kite are made of paper — the poet calls them "paper wings". Kites are usually made by stretching paper over a light frame.

The poet imagines the kite as a bird flying in the sky, so its paper surfaces become its wings. The image makes the kite seem alive, like a bird carrying the child.

It is only a wish or imagination. The child says, "I wish I were small and light as air," which shows that she is actually standing below, watching the kites and dreaming.

The child imagines sailing up there — high in the sky above the park and the rooftops of town. From there she would look right down at everything below.

The mood of the poem is joyful and playful. Words like 'fun', 'sail', 'drift' and 'songs' create a happy, dreamy picture of a wonderful ride in the sky.

The people would feel surprised, wonderstruck and envious. They would stand and stare and wish they were the child, high, high in the air.

The poem shows that the child longs to be free like the kites and the wind. She dreams of sailing the open sky with nothing to stop her, far above the town.

Yes, I have flown a kite during the Makar Sankranti festival with my cousins on our terrace. It was thrilling to see our colourful kite soar higher and higher in the blue sky. (Any genuine personal experience is acceptable.)

The child imagines first becoming as small and light as air. Then she would climb on a kite and sail up into the sky. She would drift gently upon the kite's paper wings and listen to the songs of the wild wind. Looking right down, she would see the park and the rooftops of town, while the people below stood staring and wished to be in her place.

Similes make the poem's pictures clear and bright. In "Like coloured birds / In the wind-whipped sky", the flying kites are compared to birds, so we can picture their colours and movement. In "And light as air", the child compares the lightness she wishes for to air itself, which explains exactly how weightless she must become to ride the kite. Both similes use 'like' or 'as', and both help us imagine the scene better.

The central idea of the poem is the joy of imagination and the longing for freedom. A child watching kites fly like coloured birds dreams of riding one into the sky. Through this daydream, the poet shows how imagination lets us enjoy experiences that are impossible in real life. The poem also captures the simple delight that kites give to everyone who watches them.

The child would rather be in the sky because from up there she could see the whole town, feel the wind, and enjoy a freedom that the ground cannot give. It tells us that she is imaginative, adventurous and full of wonder. She is not satisfied with merely watching the kites — she wants to experience the flight herself, which shows a curious and bold spirit.

In the last stanza, the child imagines that the people below would stand and stare at her flying high, and wish they were in her place. This is the exact opposite of the beginning, where the child on the ground watched the kites and wished to fly. The stanza completes the circle — the dreamer becomes the dreamt-of, and ordinary watchers become the wishers. It shows how wonderful the flight would be, making everyone envious.

'Fly' describes the kites' general movement in the air. 'Climb' shows the effort of getting onto the kite. 'Sail' suggests gliding smoothly through the sky, like a boat on water. 'Drift' adds the feeling of floating slowly and gently on the wind. Together, the words take the reader through every stage of the imagined ride, from mounting the kite to floating in the sky.

If I were the kite, I would tell the child to hold on tight and enjoy the wonderful view, because such a ride comes only once in a dream. I would tell her to look at the tiny park and rooftops and never forget how beautiful our town looks from the sky. I would also remind her to be grateful to the wind, because it is the wind that sings the songs and keeps both of us flying.

The poet fills the poem with pleasing sounds. The wild wind 'sings' songs, turning a natural sound into music that the child hears on her ride. Every stanza has rhyming words — fly/sky, air/there, wings/sings, down/town and stare/air — which give the poem a song-like rhythm. There is also alliteration in 'wild wind'. All these sounds together make the poem delightful to read aloud.

At the start of the poem, the child is on the ground, small and powerless, merely watching the kites fly like coloured birds in the wind-whipped sky. She can only wish to be "small and light as air" so that she could join them. By the end, in her imagination, she is high, high in the air, drifting on paper wings, while the people below stand and stare. The change from a watching child to a watched child shows the full flight of her imagination.

The poem teaches that happiness can be found in the simplest things around us. A mere sight — kites flying in the sky — fills the child with so much joy that she builds a whole wonderful daydream around it. It teaches us to keep our imagination alive and to notice the small beauties around us, like kites, birds and wind, which can lift our spirits anytime.

The theme of the poem is the joy of imagination and the human longing to fly free like the kites. The poet develops this theme step by step through the five stanzas. In the first stanza, the child watches the kites flying up in the air "like coloured birds in the wind-whipped sky", and the desire to join them is born. In the second stanza, she wishes to become "small and light as air" so that she could "climb on a kite and sail up there". The third stanza deepens the dream — she would drift upon the paper wings and hear the songs that the wild wind sings. The fourth stanza adds the delight of looking "right down" over the park and the rooftops of town. Finally, the fifth stanza completes the dream with the people below standing and staring, wishing they were the child "high, high in the air". Through this rising arc — from watching, to wishing, to flying, to being envied — the poet shows how imagination can give us the complete experience of flight while our feet remain on the ground.

The child's imaginary journey begins with a wish — she would have to be small and light as air, because only then could a kite carry her. Once ready, she would climb on a kite and sail up into the sky. There, she would drift gently upon the kite's paper wings, moving slowly wherever the wind took her. Her ears would be filled with the songs that the wild wind sings, making the ride musical and magical. Looking right down from her height, she would see the green park and the rooftops of the town spread below her like a picture. Her flight would not be a secret for long — the people below would stand and stare at the astonishing sight of a child riding a kite. They would wish they were in her place, high, high in the air. Thus, in her imagination, the child enjoys every part of the ride — the climbing, the sailing, the drifting, the listening, the seeing and even the fame of being watched by the astonished townspeople.

The poem uses several poetic devices beautifully. First, simile: the kites are compared to "coloured birds" using 'like', and the child wishes to be "light as air" using 'as'; both comparisons paint clear pictures. Second, alliteration: words beginning with the same sound are placed together, as in "wild wind", where the /w/ sound is repeated. Third, repetition: the word 'high' is repeated in "High, high in the air" to stress how far up the kite flies. Fourth, rhyme: each stanza rhymes its second and fourth lines — fly/sky, air/there, wings/sings, down/town and stare/air — which gives the poem its song-like music. Fifth, personification: the wind is said to "sing" songs, as if it were a singer entertaining the child. Together, these devices make the simple scene of flying kites lively, musical and a joy to read aloud.

The poem teaches us several values and feelings. First, it teaches the value of imagination — the child turns the ordinary sight of kites into a complete adventure in the sky, showing that a healthy imagination enriches life. Second, it teaches us to find joy in simple things; the line "What fun it would be / To look right down" shows that the child expects pure delight from the simplest pleasures. Third, it teaches longing for freedom — the child wishes to be "light as air" and to sail where nothing holds her back. Fourth, it teaches wonder about nature: she listens to "the songs / That the wild wind sings", treating the wind as a musician. Finally, it gently shows a confident spirit — the child imagines that others "would wish they were me / High, high in the air", revealing self-belief and pride in her dream. The poem thus nurtures imagination, joy, freedom, wonder and confidence in young readers.

Although the poem itself does not name any festival, the joy it describes is the same joy that India's kite-flying traditions celebrate. In India, kites fill the skies during Makar Sankranti in January, when the festival is celebrated as Uttarayan in Gujarat and is also enjoyed in states such as Rajasthan, Telangana, Maharashtra and Punjab, where people fly kites during Baisakhi and Basant Panchami. People of all ages climb to their terraces and rooftops to fly kites and take part in competitions. The poem shows exactly why kites are loved so much: they look like "coloured birds in the wind-whipped sky", they carry our dreams of flying with them, and even those who do not fly kites — "the people below" — stand and stare in delight. The child's wish to ride a kite expresses every watcher's secret wish, which is what makes kite-flying a shared festival of joy across the country.

(A model answer) One windy afternoon, I suddenly became as small and light as air, and before I could think, my red kite swooped down and lifted me into the sky. I climbed onto its paper wings and sailed up there, higher and higher. The wild wind sang songs in my ears as we drifted over my school, and I waved at the tiny children in the playground. The park looked like a green carpet dotted with little dolls, and the rooftops of the town shone in the sun like rows of sleeping cats. Cars crawled like slow beetles, and the streets seemed like grey ribbons winding between houses. I saw the temple spire, the water tank and my own terrace, where my mother was drying clothes, though she could not see me. A flock of pigeons flew beside me for a while, and I felt I was one of them. The people below stood and stared, pointing up at me in wonder. I felt free, brave and utterly happy, and I wished the wind would never stop singing. When the kite finally glided down, I stepped onto my terrace, light as a feather, with the sky's song still humming in my heart.

These lines tell us that wonder and envy are natural parts of human nature. When people see someone enjoying an extraordinary experience — like a child flying on a kite — they stop whatever they are doing, stare in amazement, and wish to be in that fortunate person's place. This is because joy is attractive; watching happiness makes us hunger for the same happiness. Yes, to a large extent everyone who watches others enjoying something wants a taste of it — that is how festivals, games and even hobbies spread from person to person. At the same time, watching others can also give us pure, unselfish pleasure: the people below do not resent the child, they simply wish they were her. This is why the poem ends on a shared feeling — the child's imagined joy becomes everyone's dream. It teaches us that admiration is a gentle form of envy, and that happiness, even when it belongs to one person, has the power to delight everyone who sees it.