(F) WE LOOK BEFORE AND AFTER,
AND PINE FOR WHAT IS NOT:
OUR SINCEREST LAUGHTER
WITH SOME PAIN IS FRAUGHT;
OUR SWEETEST SONGS ARE THOSE THAT TELL OF SADDEST THOUGHT.

Ans. The lines have been taken from the beautiful lyric “To a Skylark” by the great Romantic poet P. B. Shelley. This passage is the outcome of a distressed and much oppressed soul which has sucked boundless bitterness of the world. In these lines, the poet, in a vivid manner, describes the precarious condition of men on this earth and also their sad lot.

The life of human beings is full of disappointments and frustrations. Human beings aspire and long but those aspirations and longings remain unfulfilled. Man is a creature that looks “before and aft er” and his happiness is frequently marred by memories of past afflictions and sorrows, and the painful uncertainty of what is to come in the future. Man is subject to wariness and satiety and he can never enjoy happiness perennially. Human life is subject to recurrent spells of frustration and pain. Earthly joys are temporary and fade away into nothingness after sometime. There is an element of pain mingled even with our most genuine laughter. Even the sincerest of our delights has a touch of sadness in it and our most touching songs are those that unfold the tragedies of life. In contrast to miserable hum an life, the Skylark’s life is free from all sorts of fever, fret, bitterness, sorrow, pain, disgust of life on earth.