Question Details

Read the following poem, and answer the question that follow (96-100)
‘This was Mr bleaney’s room he stayed
The whole time he was at the bodies, till
They moved him, ‘flowered curtains, thin and frayed,
Fall to within five inches of the sill.
Whose window shows a strip of building land,
Tussocky littered. ‘Mr bleaney’s took
My bit of garden properly in hand.’
Bed, upright chair, sixty-watt bulb, no book
Behind the door, no room for books or bags—
‘I’ll take it. ‘So it happens that I lie
Where Mr bleaney lay, and stub my fags
On the same saucer-souvenir, and try
Stuffing my ears with cotton, wool, to drown
The jabbering set he egged her on yo buy,
I know his habits——what time he came down’
His preference for sauce to gravy, why
He kept on plugging at the four aways__
Likewise their yearly frame: the Frinton folk
Who put him up for summer holidays
And Christmas at his sister’s house in stoke
But if he stood and watched the frigid wind
Tousling the clouds, lay on the fusty bed
Telling himself that this was home, and grinned,
And shivered, without shaking off the dread
That how we live measures our own nature,
And at his age having no more to show
Than one hired box should make him pretty sure
He warranted no better, I don’t know.
Philip Larkin


Mr. bleaney was the _________ of the house.

Options

A

Owner

B

Tenant

C

Master

D

Possessor

Correct Answer :

Tenant

Solution :

The correct option is Tenant.

Explanation:
In Philip Larkin's poem "Mr Bleaney," the speaker describes moving into a small, sparsely decorated room that was previously occupied by Mr. Bleaney. Several details throughout the poem confirm that Mr. Bleaney was a tenant (a renter) rather than the owner or possessor of the house:
1. The room is explicitly described towards the end of the poem as "one hired box." The word "hired" indicates that the room was rented.
2. The speaker converses with a landlady, who remarks that "Mr Bleaney's took / My bit of garden properly in hand," which shows that the property belonged to the landlady and Mr. Bleaney was renting space from her.
3. The speaker rents the exact same room ("I'll take it. So it happens that I lie / Where Mr Bleaney lay"), establishing that this is a room let out to successive tenants.

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