How to Tell Wild Animals — Practice

Question 1

According to the poem, how can you tell it is a Bengal Tiger?

Accepted Answer

✦ Answer: by its black stripes on a yellow ground — and if it eats you, that confirms it is a tiger.

Question 2

How does the poem say you can recognise a bear?

Accepted Answer

✦ Answer: if a creature hugs you very hard, it is a bear.

Question 3

What is the comic clue for the chameleon?

Accepted Answer

✦ Answer: it has no ears and no wings; if you see nothing on a tree, it may be a chameleon (blended in by changing colour).

Question 4

Why is 'How to Tell Wild Animals' considered a humorous poem?

Accepted Answer

Step 1 — It pretends to be a guide for identifying wild animals.

Step 2 — But every 'clue' requires the animal to attack, eat or kill you first, so the advice is absurd and useless — this irony and exaggeration make it funny.

✦ Answer: because its identification 'tips' are fatal and absurd, creating comic irony.

Question 5

How does the poem distinguish the hyena from the crocodile?

Accepted Answer

Step 1 — The hyena is said to come 'with a laugh' (hyenas make a laughing sound).

Step 2 — The crocodile 'weeps' — it sheds crocodile tears as it eats you.

✦ Answer: the hyena laughs; the crocodile weeps (crocodile tears).

Question 6

How does the poet create humour through language and irony?

Accepted Answer

Step 1 — She uses irony — the animal is identified only by attacking you, so the 'help' is deadly.

Step 2 — She uses playful poetic licence — deliberately odd spellings and rhymes ('dyin'', 'lep') for comic effect.

Step 3 — Exaggeration and a light, mock-serious tone turn dangerous beasts into a joke.

✦ Answer: through ironic 'fatal clues', playful spellings/rhymes, exaggeration and a mock-serious tone.

Question 7

'If he roars at you as you're dyin' / You'll know it is the Asian Lion.' Explain the humour here.

Accepted Answer

Step 1 — The poet says you can identify the Asian Lion by its roar as it charges.

Step 2 — But the identification happens while 'you're dyin''— i.e. only as the lion is killing you.

Step 3 — The absurd, ironic idea that you learn what the animal is only at the moment of your death is what makes it funny.

✦ Answer: the humour lies in the irony — you identify the lion only while it is killing you, making the 'clue' comically useless.

Practice — How to Tell Wild Animals

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