Answer the following questions. (a) How does the poet describe the kites in the first two lines? (b) Why does the child say that they have to climb a tree first to get onto the kite? (c) What are the songs that the child hears when flying atop the kite? (d) Why did the people look up at the child and stare? If you looked up and saw that, what feelings would you have? (e) If you were the kite carrying the child high up in the air, what would you tell them?
The poet describes the kites as flying 'Up in the air' and compares them to 'coloured birds' in the 'wind-whipped sky.' This description creates a vivid image of colourful kites soaring high in the sky, moving with the wind like birds.
The child does not mention climbing a tree in the poem. The child wishes to be 'small and light as air' to climb on a kite and sail up there. Being light as air would allow the child to float up to the kite without needing to climb anything.
The child hears 'the songs that the wild wind sings' when flying atop the kite. These are the sounds made by the wind as it blows, which the poet imaginatively calls songs.
The people looked up at the child and stared because seeing someone flying on a kite would be extraordinary and amazing. If I looked up and saw a child flying on a kite, I would feel surprised, amazed, and perhaps a bit envious, wishing I could also fly like that.
If I were the kite, I would tell the child to hold on tight and enjoy the amazing view. I would say, 'Look at the tiny people below! See how beautiful the world looks from up here! Feel the wind and enjoy this wonderful flight with me.'
Explanation
(a) The first two lines 'Up in the air / See the kites fly, / Like coloured birds / In the wind-whipped sky' use simile to compare kites to colourful birds. (b) The poem states 'I wish I were small / And light as air, / I would climb on a kite / And sail up there.' The child wishes to become lightweight, not to climb a tree. (c) Stanza 3 states 'And hear the songs / That the wild wind sings.' The wind's sounds are personified as songs. (d) The last stanza mentions 'The people below / Would stand and stare, / And wish they were me / High, high in the air.' People would stare in wonder at such an unusual sight. (e) This question encourages imaginative thinking from the kite's perspective, connecting to the poem's theme of wonder and imagination.