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Coming – Class 11 English Chapter 11 Notes & NCERT PDF

Class 11EnglishChapter 11NCERT book: Woven Words (Elective) - English Class 11

Notes and a simple summary of Chapter 11 of the NCERT Class 11 English book, with the official chapter PDF, flashcards, an MCQ quiz and an AI tutor for your doubts.

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Chapter 11: Coming (Poem)

About the Poet

Philip Larkin (1922–1985) was born in Coventry, England. He is well known as a leader of the 'Movement' in English poetry in the 1950s. His principal works are The North Ship, The Less Deceived, The Whitsun Weddings and High Windows. His themes include love, change, disenchantment, mystery, survival and the inevitability of death. "Coming" is from The Less Deceived, which "establishes a kinship with the environment".

The Poem — Meaning

Part 1: Signs of spring (lines 1–9)

On longer evenings, / Light, chill and yellow, / Bathes the serene / Foreheads of houses.

The evenings are growing longer — a sign that winter is ending. The evening light is cool ("chill") and yellow, and it "bathes" the calm fronts ("foreheads") of houses. A thrush sings, surrounded by laurel, in a "deep bare garden". Its song is a "fresh-peeled voice" that seems to astonish even the brickwork.

Part 2: The announcement (lines 10–11)

It will be spring soon, / It will be spring soon—

The bird's song seems to announce, twice over, that spring is coming. This links directly to the title "Coming".

Part 3: The speaker's response (lines 12–19)

And I, whose childhood / Is a forgotten boredom, / Feel like a child / Who comes on a scene / Of adult reconciling, / And can understand nothing / But the unusual laughter, / And starts to be happy.

The speaker's own childhood was dull — "a forgotten boredom". Yet the song makes him feel like a child who walks in on adults making up after a quarrel. The child does not understand the situation, only the unusual laughter, but it starts to be happy. In the same way, the speaker does not fully understand the change, but feels a simple, instinctive joy at spring's approach.

What Two Things Are Compared?

The coming of spring after winter is compared to adults reconciling after a quarrel. The speaker's response to spring is compared to a child's response to that reconciliation.

Themes

  • Renewal and hope — spring after winter.
  • Unexpected happiness — joy that is felt before it is understood.
  • Kinship with the environment — nature changes the speaker's mood.

    • Literary Devices

  • Personification — houses have "serene foreheads"; the brickwork is "astonished".
  • Synaesthesia/striking imagery — "fresh-peeled voice" (sound described like freshly peeled fruit — crisp and new).
  • Repetition — "It will be spring soon" (twice) for emphasis and joy.
  • Simile — "Feel like a child…"
  • Free verse — short lines, no regular rhyme.

    • Haiku (included for fun)

    The book adds that a haiku is a Japanese three-line poem, usually 17 syllables, expressing a single thought. Examples given: Cobra, Night, Alone. These are for enjoyment and are not tested.

    Word Power

  • serene — calm, peaceful (शांत)
  • chill — cold (ठंडा)
  • thrush — a songbird (एक गायक पक्षी)
  • laurel — an evergreen shrub (एक सदाबहार झाड़ी)
  • astonishing — surprising greatly (चकित करने वाला)
  • reconciling — making peace after a quarrel (सुलह करना)
  • boredom — dullness (ऊब)
  • fresh-peeled — new, crisp, clear (ताज़ा, नया)

    • Exam Focus

    From Understanding the Poem and Try This Out:

  • What does the bird announce, and how does it relate to the title? — The thrush announces that spring is coming; "Coming" refers to this approaching spring.
  • Why is childhood "a forgotten boredom"? — The speaker's childhood was dull and uneventful, so nothing about it is worth remembering.
  • What causes surprise in the child? — The unusual laughter of adults who were quarrelling and are now reconciling; the child cannot understand why, but becomes happy.
  • What two things are compared? — Spring following winter and adults reconciling after a quarrel.
  • Respond to "Light, chill and yellow, / Bathes the serene / Foreheads of houses" — a gentle, personified image of early-spring evening light on house fronts.
  • "Fresh-peeled voice" — the bird's song is fresh, clear and new, like something just peeled.
  • Try This Out — in India the koel (cuckoo) is associated with the coming of vasant (spring).

    • Common Mistakes

  • Thinking the speaker had a happy childhood — it was "a forgotten boredom".
  • Missing that the child understands nothing but the laughter.
  • Thinking spring has already arrived — it is only coming ("It will be spring soon").

    • 💡 Key Learning Points

    • ✓Understand that the thrush's song announces the coming of spring, linking to the title.
    • ✓Explain the comparison between spring after winter and adults reconciling after a quarrel.
    • ✓Interpret images such as 'serene foreheads of houses' and 'fresh-peeled voice'.
    • ✓Understand the speaker's instinctive happiness despite a childhood of 'forgotten boredom'.
    • ✓Know the features of a haiku (three lines, usually 17 syllables, single thought).

    👨‍🏫 Teaching Tips

    • →Ask students to note early signs of spring in their own surroundings.
    • →Play recordings of a thrush and an Indian koel to connect sound with season.
    • →Discuss a time they felt happy without fully understanding why.
    • →Highlight the personification in 'foreheads of houses' and 'astonishing the brickwork'.
    • →Have students compare this poem with another spring poem they know.
    • →Let students count syllables in the haiku examples for fun.

    📋 Assessment Questions

    1. Can the student explain what the bird announces and how it links to the title?
    2. Can the student explain why childhood is 'a forgotten boredom'?
    3. Can the student identify the two things compared in the poem?
    4. Can the student interpret 'fresh-peeled voice'?
    5. Can the student describe a haiku?

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    Keep learning

    All chapters in Woven Words (Elective) - English Class 11

    1. 1. The Lament
    2. 2. A Pair of Mustachios
    3. 3. The Rocking-horse Winner
    4. 4. The Adventure of the Three Garridebs
    5. 5. Pappachi's Moth
    6. 6. The Third and Final Continent
    7. 7. Glory at Twilight
    8. 8. The Luncheon
    9. 9. The Peacock
    10. 10. Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds
    11. 11. Coming
    12. 12. Telephone Conversation
    13. 13. The World is too Much With Us
    14. 14. Mother Tongue
    15. 15. Hawk Roosting
    16. 16. For Elkana
    17. 17. Refugee Blues
    18. 18. Felling of the Banyan Tree
    19. 19. Ode to a Nightingale
    20. 20. Ajamil and the Tigers
    21. 21. My Watch
    22. 22. My Three Passions
    23. 23. Patterns of Creativity
    24. 24. Tribal Verse
    25. 25. What is a Good Book?
    26. 26. The Story
    27. 27. Bridges