Introduction: “Afternoon on a Hill” is a short, joyful nature poem by the American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. It is Lesson 1 (Poem) in the ASSEB Class 6 English textbook Rainbow (SCERT, Assam). In the poem, the speaker describes how she will spend a perfect afternoon all by herself on a sunlit hill. She will look at the cliffs and clouds, touch the flowers gently without picking any, watch the wind moving through the grass, and finally come back home in the evening when the lights begin to shine in the town below. The poem celebrates the simple, pure happiness of being close to nature. Below are the complete textbook Activity answers, along with the summary, word meanings, stanza explanations and extra questions.
About the Poet
Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) was an American poet and dramatist. (Here “St.” is read as “Saint”.) She was born on 22 February 1892 at Rockland, Maine, USA. Millay began writing poems at a very young age and won wide recognition while she was still in her teens. She won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Her poems are known for their beautiful imagery, musical rhythm, and heartfelt celebration of nature, love and freedom. Her notable works include A Few Figs from Thistles and Ballad of the Harp-Weaver. “Afternoon on a Hill” is one of her best-known short poems and was first published in her 1917 collection Renascence and Other Poems. She died on 19 October 1950.
The Poem
I will be the gladdest thing
Under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick one.
I will look at cliffs and clouds
With quiet eyes,
Watch the wind bow down the grass,
And the grass rise.
And when lights begin to show
Up from the town,
I will mark which must be mine,
And then start down!
— Edna St. Vincent Millay
Summary
“Afternoon on a Hill” is a short and cheerful nature poem in which the speaker describes how she plans to spend a happy afternoon alone on a sunny hill. In the first stanza, she declares that she will be the happiest person under the sun. She will touch a hundred flowers gently with her hands but will not pluck even a single one — showing her love and respect for nature. In the second stanza, she says she will quietly observe the high cliffs and the clouds floating in the sky. She will also watch the wind making the grass bend down and rise up again, like waves moving across the field.
In the final stanza, the speaker says that she will stay on the hill until evening. When the lamps and lights of the town below begin to shine, she will look down and identify the light of her own house. Only then will she walk back home. The poem celebrates the simple pleasures of being alone in nature, the joy of observing the world quietly, and the calm happiness that comes from such moments of peaceful solitude.
Central Theme
The central theme of the poem is the pure, simple joy that one can experience in the company of nature. The poet shows that happiness does not need expensive things or the company of many people — a quiet afternoon spent on a hill, looking at flowers, clouds, cliffs and grass, can be the most joyful experience of all. The poem also teaches the lesson of love and respect for nature: the speaker touches the flowers but does not pick them, gently reminding the reader to enjoy nature without harming it. Finally, the poem celebrates the harmony between solitude, nature and home — after a peaceful afternoon outside, the speaker returns happily to her own house in the evening.
Word Meanings
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Gladdest | Happiest; most joyful |
| Touch | To feel something gently with the hand |
| Pick | To pluck or break off (a flower) from a plant |
| Cliffs | High areas of rock with a very steep side, often at the edge of the sea or ocean |
| Clouds | White or grey masses of tiny water drops floating in the sky |
| Quiet eyes | Calm, peaceful, observing eyes (without restlessness) |
| Bow down | To bend low |
| Grass | The green plants with thin leaves that cover fields and lawns |
| Rise | To stand up again; to go upward |
| Show up | To appear; to become visible |
| Town | A place smaller than a city where people live |
| Mark | To show the position of something; to notice or identify |
| Start down | To begin to come down (from the hill) |
Stanza-by-Stanza Explanation
Stanza 1
The speaker declares with great enthusiasm that she will be the happiest person in the whole world (“the gladdest thing under the sun”). She plans to touch a hundred flowers — meaning many, many flowers — but she will not pluck or break even one. This shows that the poet truly loves the flowers and wants to enjoy them without hurting them. She wants to feel their softness and beauty, but allow them to keep growing on the hill.
Stanza 2
In the second stanza, the speaker says that she will look at the cliffs and the clouds with calm, peaceful eyes (“quiet eyes”). She will also watch how the wind bows the grass down and how the grass rises up again after the wind passes. This is a beautiful image of the wind moving across a meadow and the grass bending and lifting like waves. The whole stanza shows that the speaker enjoys observing nature silently and patiently.
Stanza 3
In the third stanza, the speaker says that she will stay on the hill until evening. When the lamps and lights of the town below begin to shine in the dusk, she will carefully look down and identify the one light that belongs to her own home. Only then will she begin to walk down the hill to return home. This stanza beautifully closes the poem by linking nature, home and the speaker’s quiet, joyful day.
Question Answers
These are the complete solved Activities from the ASSEB (SCERT Assam) Class 6 English Rainbow textbook for the poem “Afternoon on a Hill”, reproduced in the same order and numbering as in the book.
Warm-up (Pre-reading): Look and Tick
Look at the pictures. Which ones have you seen in real life? Put a tick in the circles: a sea, a hill, a desert, a river, a cloud, a cliff. Now, talk about your experience with your partner.
Answer: This is a speaking activity. Look at each picture and tick the ones you have seen in real life. Most students in Assam will have seen a hill, a river and clouds. Then talk to your partner about where and when you saw them — for example, “I have seen a hill near my village” or “I saw clouds in the sky during the rainy season.”
Activity 1: Answer the following questions
a) What are the few things that the poet will see while standing on a hill in the afternoon?
Answer: While standing on the hill in the afternoon, the poet will see a hundred flowers, the cliffs, the clouds floating in the sky, and the grass being blown by the wind. In the evening she will also see the lights of the town below.
b) When will the grass bow down and rise again?
Answer: The grass will bow down and rise again when the wind blows over it. The force of the wind bends the grass down, and as the wind passes by, the grass slowly stands up (rises) again.
c) What will the poet do on the hill in the afternoon?
Answer: On the hill in the afternoon, the poet will be the gladdest (happiest) person under the sun. She will touch a hundred flowers without picking any of them, look at the cliffs and clouds with quiet eyes, and watch the wind bow down the grass and the grass rise up again.
d) When will the poet go home?
Answer: The poet will go home in the evening, when the lights of the town below begin to show up (shine). She will mark the light of her own home and then start down the hill.
e) Why do you think the poet will not pick any flowers?
Answer: I think the poet will not pick any flowers because she loves nature and does not want to harm it. She wants to enjoy the beauty and softness of the flowers by only touching them, and let them keep growing freely on the hill.
Activity 2: Write down the stanza from the poem that you like the most
Write down the stanza from the poem that you like the most.
Answer (sample): I like the first stanza the most:
“I will be the gladdest thing
Under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick one.”
I like this stanza because it shows the poet’s great happiness and her deep love for flowers and nature. (This is a personal-choice activity — you may choose any stanza you like and give your own reason.)
Activity 3: Identify and write the stanza number for each explanation
Read the following explanations of the three stanzas of the poem given below. Identify and write the stanza number next to each explanation.
| Explanation | Stanza Number |
|---|---|
| The poet will look at cliffs and clouds and watch how the grass bows down because of the wind and rises again the next moment. | Stanza 2 |
| The lights will begin to show up from the town when it gets dark. The poet will identify the light that belongs to her place and return home. | Stanza 3 |
| The poet will climb a hill in the afternoon. She will be happy to do so. She will see and touch the flowers that are in abundance in the hill. But she will not pick a single flower. | Stanza 1 |
Activity 4: Match the following
Match the following.
| Column A | Column B (correct match) |
|---|---|
| The poet | will be on a hill in the afternoon. |
| A lot of flowers | are in the hill. |
| The grass | bows down and rises again. |
| Lights | show up from the town. |
Activity 5: Group Work — Discuss what you have understood
Discuss with your friends what you have understood from the poem and share with your class.
Answer: This is a group-discussion activity. You may share these points with your class: the poem tells us that the poet spends a happy afternoon alone on a hill; she enjoys the flowers, cliffs, clouds and grass without harming them; she touches the flowers but does not pick any; and in the evening she returns home. The poem teaches us to love and protect nature and to find joy in simple, quiet things.
Activity 6: Write the rhyming words from the poem
Write the rhyming words from the poem for the ones given below: brown, skies, run.
| Given Word | Rhyming Word(s) from the Poem |
|---|---|
| brown | down, town |
| skies | eyes, rise |
| run | sun, one |
Activity 7: Alliteration
Read the following phrases from the poem: “cliffs and clouds”, “Watch the wind”, “mark which must be mine”. Here the poet has used a literary device called alliteration. (Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of two or more words.) Write down a few sets of words using alliteration. One is done for you: a) tall towers.
Answer: In the given phrases the same beginning consonant sound is repeated — “cliffs and clouds” (c-c), “Watch the wind” (w-w), and “mark which must be mine” (m-m-m). A few more sets of words using alliteration (sample):
- a) tall towers
- b) busy bees
- c) silent sea
- d) green grass
- e) sweet songs
Activity 8: Nature gives us many things
a) “I will be the gladdest thing / Under the sun!” These two lines say that nature gives happiness to the poet. Besides happiness, nature gives us a lot of other things. Write down a few such things.
Answer: Besides happiness, nature gives us many other things, such as: air (oxygen) to breathe, water to drink, food to eat, shade and shelter, medicines, wood, fruits and flowers, and beautiful sights and sounds.
b) “Watch the wind bow down the grass / And the grass rise.” The poet derives immense pleasure by looking at nature. Observe nature around you. What attracts you? Share with your friend.
Answer: This is a speaking activity. Tell your friend about the things in nature that attract you — for example, a beautiful sunrise, flowers in bloom, chirping birds, a flowing river, or trees swaying gently in the wind.
Activity 9: Describe the picture
Look at the picture and write a description about it. You can use the ideas given in the box (beautiful sunrise, bright sunny morning, vibrant colours, beauty of nature, breathtaking view, nature at its best, birds chirping, flowers in bloom, flowing water).
Answer (sample): The picture shows a beautiful, bright sunny morning in the countryside. A happy boy is standing in a green field with his arms raised in joy. Behind him a river of clear water flows quietly, and the sun is rising, filling the sky with vibrant colours. Red flowers are in bloom in the front, tall green trees stand on both sides, and birds are chirping around him. It is a breathtaking view — truly nature at its best.
Activity 10: Word-search grid
Find words related to nature in the grid and encircle them. One is done for you (CLOUD). Now, make sentences using each word.
Answer: The nature words hidden in the grid are — CLOUD (already done), WIND, GRASS and SUN. Sample sentences:
- Cloud: A big white cloud floated slowly across the blue sky.
- Wind: The cool wind blew gently through the trees.
- Grass: The children played happily on the soft green grass.
- Sun: The sun gives us light and warmth.
Activity 11: Taking care of nature
a) In a group, discuss with your friend how you can take care of nature. You can use the ideas given in the cards.
Answer: This is a group-discussion activity. Some ways to take care of nature are: planting and nurturing trees, disposing garbage in bins, preserving water, switching off the lights while going out of the room, and walking to nearby places instead of using a vehicle.
b) Look at the pictures. These represent some activities for nurturing a plant. Choose the appropriate words or phrases from the box (weeding, providing nutrients, watering regularly, protecting from pests and diseases, ensuring sufficient sunlight, fencing) and write them below the pictures.
| Picture | Activity |
|---|---|
| Boy pulling out unwanted small plants | weeding |
| Boy putting manure/fertiliser at the base of the plant | providing nutrients |
| Boy putting sticks/support around the plant | fencing |
| Boy spraying the plant | protecting from pests and diseases |
| Plant standing in the sunlight | ensuring sufficient sunlight |
| Boy watering the plant with a can | watering regularly |
Activity 12: Draw and describe
a) Draw a scenery.
Answer: This is a drawing (art) activity. Draw a scenery of your choice in your notebook — for example, a hill with colourful flowers, green trees, a flowing river and the rising sun.
b) Describe the picture to your friend without showing it to him/her. Your friend will listen to you and draw accordingly. Match your drawing with the one your friend has drawn. Are the two pictures the same? Now take turns doing the activity.
Answer: This is a fun pair activity. Describe your drawing to your friend clearly (mention what is on the left, right, top and bottom) without showing it. Let your friend draw it from your description, then compare the two drawings to see how similar they are. Take turns so both of you get a chance to describe and to draw.
Activity 13: The two sounds of the letter ‘i’
a) Read these words aloud: hill, rise, lights, wind, cliff, thing, pick, mine. Note that the letter ‘i’ is pronounced in two different ways.
b) In Box A, write the words in which the letter ‘i’ is pronounced as in ‘hill’. In Box B, write the words in which the letter ‘i’ is pronounced as in ‘rise’. (You may hear the word ‘wind’ pronounced in two different ways.)
| Box A (‘i’ as in ‘hill’ — short sound) | Box B (‘i’ as in ‘rise’ — long sound) |
|---|---|
| hill | rise |
| cliff | lights |
| thing | mine |
| pick | — |
| wind | — |
Note: The word “wind” (moving air) is usually pronounced with the short ‘i’ as in ‘hill’, but as a verb (“to wind”) it takes the long ‘i’ as in ‘rise’.
Activity 14: Word classes from the poem
Read the poem “Afternoon on a Hill” and find words which belong to different word classes. Write them down. One word is provided as an example for each word class.
- a) Noun (a naming word): hill, sun, flowers, cliffs, clouds, grass, town, lights
- b) Pronoun (used instead of a noun): I, one, which, mine
- c) Adjective (describes a person or a thing): gladdest, quiet, hundred
- d) Verb (expresses a state or an action): touch, be, look, watch, mark, pick, rise, show, start
Activity 15: Degrees of comparison
a) In the line “I will be the gladdest thing …”, the word “gladdest” is the superlative degree of the adjective “glad” (comparative: gladder). Generally, “er” is added to make the comparative degree and “est” is added to make the superlative degree.
b) Complete the following table.
| Positive Degree | Comparative Degree | Superlative Degree |
|---|---|---|
| quiet | quieter | quietest |
| safe | safer | safest |
| slow | slower | slowest |
c) Look at the two pictures. Which picture do you like more and why? Discuss with your friend, using the adjectives given in the box (green, clean) in the comparative degree form. Then suggest some ways to protect nature.
Answer (sample): I like Picture 1 more, because it is greener and cleaner than Picture 2. Picture 1 shows healthy green trees, blooming flowers, clean flowing water and animals, while Picture 2 looks dry, bare and polluted. To protect nature we should plant more trees, keep our water and surroundings clean, and never throw garbage here and there.
Activity 16: Future (‘will’/’shall’) and Simple Present Tense
In the poem the poet uses “will” (I will be…, I will touch…, I will look…, I will mark…). When we talk about actions that will happen in the future, we use “will” (we also use “shall”). When we talk about actions that take place regularly, we use the simple present tense.
Write down two sentences stating the activities that you will do tomorrow. Use “will” or “shall”.
Answer (sample): (i) I will finish my homework tomorrow. (ii) I shall visit my grandmother tomorrow morning.
Write down what you usually do in the morning. Use the simple present tense.
Answer (sample): I wake up early in the morning. I brush my teeth, take a bath and say my prayers. Then I eat my breakfast and go to school.
Activity 17: Listening — Announcement of an Art Competition
Listen to the announcement of an art competition made by your class teacher. As you listen, fill in the blanks with the information from the text. (The teacher reads the announcement: on the occasion of World Environment Day, an art competition will be held on the school premises on June 5. The theme is “A Clean and Green Environment”. It will be held in two groups — Group A (Classes I–V) and Group B (Classes VI–VIII) — starting at 10 a.m. at the playground. The school will provide the drawing paper; students must bring the necessary art materials; three winners from each group will be awarded.)
- a) The art competition will be held on the occasion of World Environment Day.
- b) The theme of the competition is “A Clean and Green Environment”.
- c) The competition will start at 10 a.m.
- e) The students have to bring the necessary art materials.
- f) The school authority will provide only drawing paper.
- g) Three winners from each group will be awarded.
(The exercise in the textbook is numbered a, b, c, e, f, g — item “d” is not printed in the book.)
Did You Know?
Molai Forest: The Molai Forest is named after Jadav “Molai” Payeng, an environmental activist from Majuli. Jadav Payeng is known as the “Forest Man of India”. He planted various tree species on a barren sandbar of the Brahmaputra river. His work transformed the barren sandbar into a large forest, now known as the “Molai Forest”. This forest is home to many wild animals, birds and other creatures.
Additional Important Questions and Answers
The following extra questions are given for additional practice. They are not part of the printed textbook activities.
A. Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
1. Who is the poet of “Afternoon on a Hill”?
(a) William Wordsworth (b) Edna St. Vincent Millay (c) Robert Frost (d) Sarojini Naidu
Answer: (b) Edna St. Vincent Millay
2. How many flowers will the poet touch?
(a) ten (b) fifty (c) a hundred (d) a thousand
Answer: (c) a hundred
3. With what kind of eyes will the poet look at the cliffs and clouds?
(a) tired eyes (b) quiet eyes (c) sleepy eyes (d) angry eyes
Answer: (b) quiet eyes
4. When does the poet start down from the hill?
(a) at noon (b) at midnight (c) when the lights begin to show up from the town (d) at sunrise
Answer: (c) when the lights begin to show up from the town
B. Fill in the Blanks
- 1. The poet will be the __________ thing under the sun. (gladdest)
- 2. She will touch a hundred flowers and not __________ one. (pick)
- 3. She will watch the wind __________ down the grass. (bow)
- 4. She will __________ which light must be hers. (mark)
C. True or False
- 1. The poet picks many flowers on the hill. (False)
- 2. The poet is very happy on the hill. (True)
- 3. The poet returns home in the evening. (True)
- 4. The poem has four stanzas. (False — it has three stanzas.)
D. Short-answer Questions
1. How many stanzas are there in the poem, and how many lines in each?
Answer: There are three stanzas in the poem, and each stanza has four lines, so there are twelve lines in total.
2. What is the rhyme scheme of the poem?
Answer: The rhyme scheme of each stanza is abcb — the second and fourth lines rhyme: sun/one, eyes/rise, town/down.
3. Why does the poet say she will be “the gladdest thing under the sun”?
Answer: She says this because she is going to spend a beautiful afternoon alone on a sunny hill, surrounded by flowers, cliffs, clouds and the wind in the grass. This peaceful, beautiful experience in nature fills her heart with great joy, so she feels she will be the happiest person in the whole world.
4. Pick out an example of personification from the poem and explain it.
Answer: “Watch the wind bow down the grass” is an example of personification. The wind is described as if it were a person bowing the grass down, although in reality it is only blowing across the field. This gives life and movement to a natural element.
5. What message does the poem give to the readers?
Answer: The poem gives the message that we should love and respect nature, enjoy its beauty quietly, and never harm it. It also tells us that real happiness lies not in big or expensive things, but in simple moments — like watching flowers, clouds, cliffs and grass on a quiet afternoon — and that we should always return home lovingly at the end of the day.