Reading Comprehension and Textual Analysis of Prose and Poetry
The comprehension domain supplies an unseen passage or poem and asks for meaning, inference, tone and technique. You are marked on evidence drawn from the text, never on personal opinion alone.
A working method
- Read the questions first, then the passage twice: once for the overall ভাৱ, once for detail.
- Mark the বক্তা (who speaks), the প্ৰসঙ্গ (situation) and the central claim in one sentence.
- Answer in your own words but retain two or three key words from the text.
- For মূল ভাৱ questions, name the emotion or ৰস (কৰুণ, বীৰ, শান্ত) and justify it with a line.
Reading poetry
- Check চন্দ and যতি: দুলৰি and ছেকুৰি are native metres; মালিনী and শাৰ্দূলবিক্ৰীড়িত come from Sanskrit poetics.
- Name an অলংকাৰ only when you can point to the two things compared (উপমা) or the identification (ৰূপক).
- Ask what the poem is doing - lamenting, celebrating বিহু, praising a patron - not only what it says.
Worked example
Passage: বৰষুণে নগৰখন ধুই পেলালে; ৰাস্তাবোৰ চকচকীয়া হৈ উঠিল, আৰু মানুহবোৰৰ খোজত এটা নতুন উৎসাহ দেখা গ'ল. Question: লেখকে বৰষুণক কেনে ৰূপত দেখিছে? Answer: বৰষুণক পৰিষ্কাৰ কৰোঁতা হিচাপে দেখুওৱা হৈছে - ধুই পেলালে, চকচকীয়া হৈ উঠিল. The compound ধুই পেলালে marks completion, and চকচকীয়া supports the cleaning image; the tone is therefore positive, not gloomy.
Traps
- Retelling the passage instead of answering the question.
- Copying whole sentences; the examiner wants selection and comment.
- Naming an অলংকাৰ without explaining the comparison.
- Ignoring the last line, where the argument or the twist usually sits.