THE FROG AND THE
NIGHTINGALE
by Vikram Seth
Presentation
By
Kiran Tiwari
TGT English
The Poet
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Vikram Seth was born in
Calcutta in 1952.
He left India to study at Oxford
His first novel, The Golden
Gate, is written entirely in
tetrameter sonnets,
He won the Commonwealth
Poetry Prize in 1986and the
Sahitya Academy award in
1988.
The poem is about a contest between
the frog and the nightingale.
The nightingale is simple minded
whereas the frog is cunning and clever.
The frog claims that he is the best
singer.
The Frog
The bog
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1. The frog feels proud of his singing from
evening till morning.
2.One day he is surprised to hear the sweet
melody of the nightingale who was singing on
the sumac tree.
3.He fears that his position as the only singer
of the bog will be threatened by the song of
the nightingale
4. His fear comes true . All the birds listen to the song of the
nightingale and praise her very much . This makes the frog
sad.
5. The frog feels jealous of the popularity of the nightingale.
6.He introduces himself to the nightingale as the owner of
the tree.
7.He takes the nightingale into confidence and makes an
evil plan to get rid of her.
8. He makes her sing excessively for long hours . He starts
pointing out her mistakes and drawbacks .
9. The result is that the nightingale has to bear
scolding and exploitation at the hands of the
frog.
10.She loses the beauty of the voice . The other
creatures stop coming to hear her songs at the
concerts arranged by the cunning frog.
11. Ultimately , the nightingale dies after she
has burst one of her veins.
12.The frog continues to sing in a loud ,
unpleasant way, now unchallenged.
The Nightingale
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Polite, soft, timorous. –
“sorry was that you who
spoke”
Nervous and shy- “Did
you, did you like my
song”
Timid and polite – “This is
a fairy tale. And you are
Mozart in disguise..”
The Frog
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Territorial and boastful –
I’m the frog who owns the
tree. Technique was fine,
But it lacked certain force
Patronising – Without
proper training …You’ll
remain a begnner.
Possessive, greedy – “We
must aim for better
billings…..”
Arrogant and
condescending – “I tried to
teach her… a stupid
This story is about a frog and a nightingale
who lived in the Bingle Bog.
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This poem by Vikram Seth is a musical parody
where the Frog and the Nightingale represent
two contrasting characters.
The frog is the boastful, domineering character,
whereas the nightingale has been portrayed as
a meek, nervous, polite bird who is afraid of the
frog. She submits to him without any protest.
The poem has been told in the style of a story.
Starts “ Once upon a time … then the poem
progresses in a definite direction and finally
Some point to be noted are ….
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The use of the rhyming scheme makes the
poem rhythmic and musical.
The poet employs interesting comparison like
– the nightingale called the frog, Mozart.
The manner in which the frog trains the
nightingale has been beautifully described.
The irony is that the creature which doesn’t
even know what music is tries to teach music
to a bird like nightingale who possesses a
Q1. ‘BINGLE BOG’ REFERS TO A PLACE THAT IS
(A) WET AND SLIPPERY (B) MUDDY (C) WET AND MUDDY
Q2. THE WORD ‘AWN’ MEANS
(A) ON, BUT SPELT AS AWN (B) OWN
(C) MEANINGLESS
Q3. OTHER CREATURES IN THE FOREST DISLIKE THE FROG’S SONG. WHAT DO
THEY DO
TO PROTEST AGAINST IT?
CONTINUED
(A) GAVE STONES AND STICKS (B)
PRAY
(C) ALL OF THE ABOVE
Q4. THE NIGHTINGALE’S SONG MAKES
THE FROG GAPE. WHAT DOES IT
MEAN.
(A) THE FROG IS ELATED (B) THE
FROG IS AMAZED (C) THE FROG
GETS ANGRY
Q5. The world ‘encore’ implies
(a) sing some more (b) bravo
(c) well
done
Q6. The frog claims: ‘in this bog I’ve long been
known/ for my splendid baritone’. Is this
(a) a false claim? (b) a truth? (c) self –
praise?
Q7.The frog offered to train the nightingale
(a) for a fee
(b) for free
(c) for food
Q8. In which weather did the nightingale refuse to
sing?
(a) clear
(b) rainy (c) dry and humid