Travel Questions & Answers | Class 7 English | CBSE NCERT

(c) — the poem opens with the line, "The railroad track is miles away".

(b) — the day is "loud with voices speaking", which makes the imagined whistle all the more striking.

(d) — ‘shrieking’ gives the whistle a human-like cry, so the whistle is personified.

away–day

No — the track is miles away and there isn’t a train that goes by all day. The whistle exists only in her imagination, yet she ‘hears’ it distinctly.

Her love for trains and travel is so strong that the thought of a journey fills her mind. The imagined whistle rises above the real noise of the busy day, showing how deeply she longs to travel.

(b) — she ‘sees’ the red sparks of the imagined train glowing against the night sky.

(c) — the night is "still for sleep and dreaming".

(d) — it is a visual image of the burning sparks lighting up the dark sky.

False — the poem clearly says, "All night there isn’t a train goes by"; the train exists only in her imagination.

In the first stanza, the speaker only hears the whistle shrieking during the day. In the second, at night, the imagined train becomes more vivid — she sees its red cinders glow on the sky and hears its engine steaming.

The words describe the calm of night, which should silence every sound. Yet even in this stillness the speaker’s mind keeps the train alive — hinting that her very dreams are about journeys and travel.

(b) — the line "My heart is warm with the friends I make" refers to the affection she feels for her friends.

(b) — she is completely satisfied and will not know any friends better than the ones she has.

(c) — she does not care about the destination at all; the journey itself attracts her.

ABAB

For her, travel is not about reaching a particular place. She loves the very experience of journeying — the sounds, the movement and the friends made along the way — so much that she would board any train at all.

(Model answer) Yes, I would — like the speaker, I would enjoy the adventure and surprises of an unknown destination, and travelling teaches independence and brings new friends. (A reasoned answer in the negative, valuing planning and safety, is also acceptable.)

The track is "miles away" from the speaker. This detail makes it clear that the trains she hears and sees are imagined, which shows the strength of her longing for travel.

She hears the train’s whistle shrieking. Even though there isn’t a train goes by all day, the sound is alive in her imagination.

The day is loud with voices speaking — it is full of people talking and everyday noise. Despite this noise, the imagined whistle still reaches the speaker’s ears.

‘Shrieking’ suggests a sharp, high-pitched, piercing cry. It also personifies the whistle, as though the train were a living creature calling out.

The night is still for sleep and dreaming. It is the quiet time when the world rests and dreams take over.

She sees the train’s cinders red on the sky — the glowing red sparks that an engine throws up as it races through the darkness.

They create the picture of a night train speeding along, its burning embers scattering like red fireworks against the dark sky — a bright streak of fire in the stillness.

The rhyme scheme is ABAB in every stanza. In the first stanza, ‘away’ rhymes with ‘day’, and ‘speaking’ rhymes with ‘shrieking’.

The word ‘shrieking’ personifies the whistle. Personification is a poetic device in which a non-human thing is given human qualities or actions.

It tells us that her friendships are loving and deeply satisfying. The friends she has made fill her heart with affection and warmth.

She feels they are the best she could ever have — "better friends I’ll not be knowing". She is content and loyal, with no desire to find better friends.

It shows her complete openness to travel. Every single train appeals to her; there is not one journey she would refuse.

It reveals that the destination does not matter to her at all. She values the adventure and experience of the journey itself, wherever it may lead.

The train symbolises adventure, freedom and new opportunities. It represents the excitement of setting out into the unknown and the experiences and friendships that travel brings.

The repetition highlights the speaker’s constant fascination with trains. It reminds us again and again that the trains are imagined, yet they fill her day and night completely.

The tone is content, enthusiastic and joyful. The speaker is happy with her friends, yet cheerfully restless, dreaming of journeys with excitement rather than sadness.

‘Cinders red on the sky’ is visual imagery of the engine’s sparks glowing against the night. ‘I hear its engine steaming’ is auditory (sound) imagery that brings the imagined train to life for the ear.

The day is loud with voices speaking, while the night is still and meant for sleep and dreaming. Yet in both, the speaker’s imagined train is equally present — heard by day, seen by night.

Along with the red cinders seen on the sky, the sound of the steaming engine completes the night picture. The imagined train becomes something the speaker can both see and hear in the darkness.

The poem expresses a deep love for journeys. Even without any real train passing by, the speaker’s imagination is filled with trains day and night, and she declares that she would happily take any train, anywhere, because travel brings her joy and friends.

The speaker’s love for travel shines through every line. Even though the railroad track is miles away and not a single train passes by, she hears the whistle shrieking all day and sees the cinders red on the sky all night. Her imagination keeps the train alive at every hour. Finally, she declares that there is not a train she wouldn’t take, no matter where it’s going — the strongest possible statement of her love for journeying.

The poet appeals to both sight and sound. By day, we get the auditory image of the whistle ‘shrieking’ above the loud voices, and of the ‘engine steaming’ in the night. By night, we get the vivid visual image of ‘cinders red on the sky’ — the glowing sparks of the engine flung against the darkness. Together, these images make the reader almost see and hear a train that never actually passes.

The poem states it directly: ‘there isn’t a train goes by all day’ and ‘All night there isn’t a train goes by’. The track is miles away. Yet the train feels real because her longing gives her imagination the power of the senses — she hears, sees and almost touches the journey in her mind. For a dreamer, an imagined train can be as vivid as a real one.

These lines mean that the speaker’s friendships fill her with affection and happiness. Her heart is ‘warm’ — full of love and contentment. She adds that she will never know better friends than the ones she has made, showing deep satisfaction and loyalty. Yet, despite this contentment, her heart still leaps at the thought of any passing train, which makes her love of travel even more remarkable.

The poem is full of sound. The whistle is heard ‘shrieking’ — a sharp, wild cry that personifies the train. The engine is heard ‘steaming’ — the hiss and puff of its power. These sounds contrast with the quietness around them: the loud, speaking voices of day and the stillness of night for ‘sleep and dreaming’. Against both, the imagined sounds of the train ring clearly in the speaker’s mind.

In the final stanza, the speaker first says her heart is warm with the friends she makes and that she will never find better friends. Then she says she would take any train, no matter where it is going. The order of ideas suggests that journeys matter to her because of the people she meets on them. The destination — the ‘where’ — hardly counts; the friendships gathered along the way are the true wealth of travel.

Personification gives human qualities to non-human things. The clearest example is the train’s whistle, which is said to be ‘shrieking’ — a human-like scream of excitement. Through this word, the train becomes a living, calling creature that seems to summon the speaker. The day ‘loud with voices speaking’ also fills the scene with human presence, against which the personified whistle stands out even in imagination.

The line appears in all three stanzas and works like a refrain. Its repetition stresses that the trains are purely imagined — the track is far away and no train ever passes. At the same time, the repeated denial makes the speaker’s obsession stronger: no train goes by, yet she hears it, sees it, and longs to board it. The refrain thus deepens both the quietness of her surroundings and the loudness of her desire.

The speaker emerges as an imaginative, warm-hearted and adventurous person. Her imagination is powerful enough to keep an absent train alive through day and night. She is friendly and loyal, cherishing the friends she has made. Above all, she is open to life — willing to take any train to anywhere, valuing experience over certainty, and excited by the unknown rather than afraid of it.

The poem is not really about a train — no real train ever passes in it. It is about the speaker’s longing to travel: her imagined whistles, her dreamt-of cinders, and her readiness to leave on any train at all. Naming the poem ‘Travel’ keeps the focus on that longing and on the spirit of journeying, whereas ‘The Train’ would wrongly suggest a poem about an actual engine.

The central theme of ‘Travel’ is the irresistible pull of journeys and the adventurous spirit. The poem opens with distance and denial: ‘The railroad track is miles away’ and ‘there isn’t a train goes by all day’. Yet the speaker’s mind overrides both facts — she hears the whistle shrieking all day, and at night she sees ‘its cinders red on the sky’ and hears ‘its engine steaming’. The second theme, friendship, appears in the final stanza: her heart is ‘warm with the friends I make’, and ‘better friends I’ll not be knowing’. The poem then resolves these ideas in its famous closing declaration — ‘Yet there isn’t a train I wouldn’t take, / No matter where it’s going’. The speaker is content in her life and loves her friends, but the mere idea of travel can still pull her away from it all. The poem celebrates this free, wandering spirit that finds joy not in arriving, but in setting out.

The poet celebrates adventure mainly through the power of imagination. Her speaker has everything a settled life offers — busy, talkative days, quiet nights, and friends she treasures — yet her thoughts constantly fly to trains that never even pass. The imagined whistle ‘shrieking’ through the loud day, the ‘cinders red on the sky’ seen through the night meant for ‘sleep and dreaming’, and the ‘engine steaming’ in her ears all show a mind that refuses to be still. The climax comes in the last stanza, where she flatly states that there is not one train in the world she would refuse — ‘No matter where it’s going’. The adventure is not in the destination but in the willingness to go. By making the trains imaginary, the poet shows that the spirit of adventure lives inside a person, ready for any journey, real or dreamed.

The poem quietly teaches several values. First, openness to experience: the speaker would board any train at all, which encourages us to say ‘yes’ to new places, people and possibilities instead of clinging to routine. Second, the value of friendship and gratitude: she is content with her life, declaring that ‘better friends I’ll not be knowing’ — she does not take her friends for granted. Third, imagination: she keeps an unseen train alive through vivid dreaming, reminding us that a rich inner life is a treasure. Fourth, the courage to leave comfort: even a happy heart, like hers, should sometimes follow the shrieking whistle of adventure. Together, these values suggest a balanced life — deep roots in loving relationships, and wide wings for exploration.

The speaker’s ready willingness to take any train is a metaphor for embracing opportunity. In real life, this spirit means being open to experiences whose outcomes we cannot fully know. A student can apply it by volunteering for a new role in school — leading an assembly, joining a new sport, or taking part in a debate — even without being sure of success. It can mean choosing to study a subject or pursue a career because it excites us, not merely because it is safe. It also applies to people: like the speaker, whose ‘heart is warm with the friends I make’, we can be open to friendships with people from different places and backgrounds, on journeys, in classrooms or in new neighbourhoods. Of course, openness should be balanced with sense — the spirit of the line is courage, not carelessness. But if we never board the unknown train, we never discover where it could have taken us.

Though the poem is short, the speaker’s character emerges clearly. She is, first, a dreamer: living miles from any railroad, with no train passing by day or night, she yet hears the whistle ‘shrieking’ and sees the ‘cinders red on the sky’ — her imagination is more vivid than reality. She is warm and sociable: the day around her is ‘loud with voices speaking’, and her heart is ‘warm with the friends I make’. She is loyal and content: ‘better friends I’ll not be knowing’ shows she neither needs nor seeks better friends. Yet, remarkably, she is also restless and adventurous — contentment has not made her complacent, for there is not a train she wouldn’t take, ‘No matter where it’s going’. The speaker is thus a happy person with an unquenchable hunger for journeys: a portrait of someone who loves her life but loves life’s possibilities even more.

The poem uses several devices with great effect. (i) Rhyme: every stanza follows the ABAB scheme — ‘away/day’ and ‘speaking/shrieking’ in stanza one; ‘by/sky’ and ‘dreaming/steaming’ in stanza two; ‘make/take’ and ‘knowing/going’ in stanza three. (ii) Personification: the whistle is described as ‘shrieking’ — a human action that turns the train into a living creature crying out to the speaker. (iii) Imagery: ‘cinders red on the sky’ paints a visual picture of glowing sparks at night, while ‘engine steaming’ appeals to the ear; ‘the day is loud’ is an image of noisy daytime life. (iv) Repetition: the phrase ‘there isn’t a train goes by’ echoes through all three stanzas, hammering home that the trains are imagined while intensifying the speaker’s longing. (v) Contrast: the loud day is set against the still night, and the speaker’s settled happiness with friends is set against her urge to leave on any train. Together these devices make a tiny poem feel vast with longing.

(A model imaginative answer.) At last the whistle was real — a train was actually stopping at the crossing, and without a moment’s thought I climbed aboard. I did not ask where it was going; that, I felt, was the whole point of the journey. The carriage was full of strangers who soon became friends — a farmer with a basket of mangoes, a sailor with stories of seven seas, and a girl my age who shared her sweets and her dreams. The day roared past the window like the loud voices of the poem, and I heard the engine steaming beneath us like a living, breathing creature. As evening fell, I saw cinders red on the sky, glowing exactly as I had imagined them all those quiet nights. We crossed rivers that shone like silver, and tiny villages whose lamps flickered and vanished like fireflies. Somewhere along the way, I understood what my heart had always known — that the friends I make on a journey are the true destination. When the train finally slowed at an unknown station, I stepped out into a new morning, unafraid. I had not known where I was going, and that had made all the difference. I was richer in stories, richer in friends, and, above all, richer in the joy of having simply gone.