This document contains a summary of the poem "The Frog and the Nightingale" by Vikram Seth. It describes how a boastful frog hears the beautiful singing of a nightingale and, out of jealousy, offers to train her so he can profit from her talents. He overworks the nightingale and her singing deteriorates. Eventually the pressure causes her to die, while the frog resumes his loud croaking, unrivaled once more in the bog. The moral is about being wary of those who try to take advantage of others' innocence or ignorance.

1. Name: MRINAL DWIVEDI
Class: 10-A
Roll No: 26
Topic: PresentationonPoem
(the Frog and Nightingale)

2. 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.

3. 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
concludes with the death of the bird.

4. Divyanshu Gupta, X- ‘C’

5. Once upon a time a frog croaked in Bingle Bog all the night beginning
from dusk to dawn. All the creatures hated his loud and unpleasant
voice but still they did not have any other option. The voice came out
from the sumac tree where every night the frog sang till morning. He
was so determined and also shameless that neither stones, prayers or
sticks nor the insults or complaints could divert him from singing.
One night, a nightingale started casting her melody in the moonlight to
which both the frog and the other creatures were left dumbstruck. The
whole bog remained, rapt and admired her voice and applauded her
when she ended. The frog was obviously jealous of his rival and had
finally decided to eliminate her. So, the next night when the
nightingale was again preparing to sing, the frog’s croak disturbed her.
On being asked about himself by the nightingale he answered that he
owned the sumac tree and he had been known for his splendid voice.
Also he said that he had written a number of songs for the Bog
Trumpet.

6. The nightingale asked him whether he liked her song or not. The frog
said that the song wasn’t bad but too long and it lacked some force.
The nightingale was greatly impressed that such a critic had discussed
her song. She said that she was happy that the song was her own
creation. To this the frog said that she needed a proper training to
obtain a strong voice otherwise she would remain a beginner only. He
also said that he would train her but would charge some fee.
Now, the nightingale was flushed with confidence and was a huge
sensation, attracting animals from miles away and the frog with a great
accuracy charged all of them admission fee. The frog began her vocal
training despite of the bad and rainy weather where even the
nightingale had first refused to sing. But the frog forced her to sing for
six hours continuously till she was shivering and her voice had become
rough and unclear. But, somehow her neck got clear the next day and
she was able to sing again collecting a breathless crowd including rich
ladies kings queens etc. To all this, the frog had both sweet and bitter
feelings. Sweet because he was earning lots of money and bitter
because of jealously as his rival was earning name and fame.

7. Everyday, the frog scolded her to practice even longer finding out her
little mistakes like nervousness not laying more trills and frills etc. He
reminded her that she still owed him sixty shillings and that s why the
crowd should increase.
But the condition of nightingale was getting worsened. Her tired and
uninspired song could no longer attract the crowd. She could not resist
this as she had become used to applause and thus had become
miserable too. The heartless frog scolded her even then calling her a
brainless bird. She trembled, puffed up, burst a vein and died. The
frog said that he had tried to teach her but she was foolish, nervous
and tensed and moreover much prone to influence. Then, once again
the frog’s fog horn started blearing unrivalled in the bog.

8. 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..”
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

9. The moral of the poem is that being inspired and
influenced by someone much unknown and
strange is indeed a foolish work. The nightingale
could have very well judged that how could the
frog with such a harsh voice be music maestro
and she had to suffer for her misjudgment.
Many people in the human society also try to
take advantage of the innocence or ignorance of
the people.