L-5

Six and Out

Efforts by-
Sadhgi Mehta
7c
 Summary
The poem 'Six and Out' by G.D. Martineau focuses on children who
are forced to play out on the road at the park closes and six
o'clock. Hence the title 'Six and Out.“

 The children, while playing on the road, are disturbed by the motor
vans and baker's cart. The road is narrow, they have to use the
base of  lamp  post as wicket and wall of the well as score board.
The wicket keeper scorer is both, the umpire and the crowd. Yet
they are determined to play out there and not bound by the rules
of MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club). 
The bowler hits ball so hard that it goes and strikes a window and
broke its glass. The man of the house shouted and the children fled
from there.
Questions
For
Stanza-3,4
 Questions

1. What did the scorer do?

2. How does the poet describe the children with

regards to their interest in cricket?

3. Why does the poet call the children

‘unorthodox and free?’
 Answers
Ans1. The scorer wrote the scores on the scoreboard, probably the
wall of the well, and kept on updating the scores. He also gave a
loud commentary of the match being played on the road. Besides,
he did the work of umpires.

Ans2. The children were deeply interested in cricket. They did not
follow the rules of cricket. Their love was more to the enjoyment
of playing than just the rules of cricket.

Ans3. The children were keen about playing cricket but they were
not restricted by the rules of cricket. For them even the busy road
was a pitch, lamp-posts were wickets and the wall of a well
was the score-board.
 RTC
1) “He was both umpires, crowd, and all,
And plied a busy chalk.”
a) Who is being talked about in these lines?
b) What things did he did?
c) What did he do skilfully with a chalk?

2) “Harsh circumstances often made the rule,

And not the MCC.”
a) What is MCC?
b) What are the harsh circumstances faced?
c) Why these harsh circumstances made the rules?
 RTC Answers
1)
a) Scorer is being talked about.
b) He speaks the commentary; did the work of umpire; like being
a part of crowd cheered and wachtes the play; writes the
scores.
c) He writes the scores skilfully with a chalk.

2)
a) MCC refers to Marylebone Cricket Club.
b) At 6pm the park is closed so they have to play in the street
where motor vans, baker carts and many things passed.
c) When these harsh circumstances were faced then often had to
stop the game and they even made lamp post as wicket and
wall of well as a score board.
Questions
For
Stanza-5,6
 Questions
1. Who is the I in the stanza? What was he doing?

2. Explain, “How well he drove it to the screen and

then the crash of glass.”
Why did the players run away?

3. What did the narrator hear when the boys ran

away?

4. What does ‘the law’s majestic tread’ mean?

 Answers
1. narrator is the I in the stanza. The narrator was watching and thinking about
the boys who were playing the game of cricket.

2. One of the batsmen hit the ball very hard and the ball flew to a nearby
window and smashed the glass.

3. The players ran away because one of them drove the ball into a nearby house
and broke its window.

4. The narrator heard the loud shouting of the owner of the house whose
window the boys had broken.

5. It refers to the fear that caught the children after breaking the glass of a
man’s window and their running away from the road for fear of being caught.
Law is majestic and violating the law evokes fear in the minds of people.