'Summer Friends' by Mary Ann Lamb - Textual Questions & Answers (Class

Summer Friends

Mary Ann Lamb

Class – VIII (Lesson – 09)

Summary, Questions & Answers

The poem 'Summer Friends' is a poem written by Charles Lamb's sister, Mary Ann Lamb. This is a beautiful little poem. A good friend is described here with the analogy of a small bird in nature. In the poem, the meaning of 'friendship?' is made significant to the readers.

👉 Summer Friends: About the poet

Mary Ann Lamb (3 December 1764 – 20 May 1847) was an English authoress. She is well known for her collaboration with her brother Charles on a collection of Shakespearean stories. From 1796 Mary suffered from mental illness. She stabbed her mother to death at the age of 31 due to mental illness. She was confined to mental difficulties for most of her life. She and her brother, Charles Lamb, presided over a literary council in London where, among many writers, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge were mostly notable.

👉 Summer Friends: Theme

The theme of this poem revolves around the concept of friendship. By using birds as a simile, the poet highlights the nature of friendship that can be found in real life. Mary Lamb gives an example of how their appearances can be deceiving through this poem.

👉 Summer Friends: Stanza 1 (Summary)

The poem begins with a description of the swallow bird. Swallow is a summer bird. In summer, when the weather is pleasant, this bird roams around the chimneys and houses of people. The swallow bird also chirps with delight for the next few weeks. At this time they easily become friends of people. But then when the summer is over and the cold weather of winter sets in, this sly bird easily forsakes human companionship and returns to its beloved home.

Here the authoress as a representative of the entire human race shows how a creature of nature when it is happy comes to the presence of others for its own sake and when the need is over it again leaves for its own home. The authoress compares this behavior of birds with real life people.

👉 Summer Friends: Stanza 2 (Summary)

In this stanza, the authoress shows the readers a contrasting comparison. That is, in this stanza he gives an example of a sparrow whose qualities are completely different from those of a swallow. Here the sparrow is the opposite of the kind of friend the swallow turned out to be. Here, sparrow birds are named to illustrate what a good friend is like and what a good friend should do. Here, sparrows are shown as friends of man, how they do not leave even in harsh winters.

Here the image of winter is used to symbolize the hardships faced in life. Here, the sparrow represents friends who stick with people come rain or shine. These friends, like sparrows, never let their love wane in difficult times, always being there to support them in times of need.

👉 Summer Friends: Conclusion

So a real truth of human society is deeply drawn by Mary Lamb through this poem 'Summer Friends'. This short poem depicts who is a false friend and who is a good friend. She showed that true friends are always there for people in bad times. So through this poem the authoress has warned all the readers about the authenticity of friendship i.e. through this poem she has presented an intrinsic example of a true friend of man.