The whole poem
Fifteen lines.
A former President addresses the soldiers of his country, and ends by praying for them.
Shared by a Veda teacher · Generated with Veda AI · Oct 2026
Veda Bites are swipeable micro-lessons — each one teaches exactly one idea. Here's a taste from this kit; the app has the full deck.
Fifteen lines.
A former President addresses the soldiers of his country, and ends by praying for them.
Sons means both.
The line says sons; the book explains that the soldiers of both sexes are meant.
We sleep, you watch.
Two pronouns, one line apart. The reader is put on the sleeping side of the poem.
Five in fifteen lines.
Imagery, a simile, a metaphor, repetition and alliteration, all inside one short poem.
Naming is the easy half.
Say what the device DOES that a plain sentence would not, and the answer differs every time.
Weather and ground.
No faces, no uniforms, no weapons. A reader is shown conditions rather than people.
A former President writes fifteen lines to the soldiers of his country. This topic follows what the poem says, the two pronouns it sets against each other, the six places it names, and the prayer it ends with.
~31 min · full explanation, examples & memory tricks in the app
The poem uses imagery, a simile, a metaphor, repetition and alliteration, all inside fifteen lines. This topic finds each of them and asks what it does that a plain sentence could not.
~32 min · full explanation, examples & memory tricks in the app
The chapter closes with word work and three tasks. This topic sorts the terrain words from the words that are not terrains, learns five collocations, and plans an acrostic poem and a note of gratitude.
~30 min · full explanation, examples & memory tricks in the app
105 questions laddered from warm-up to topper-level, each with an explanation. A taste:
The poem addresses soldiers directly and was written by a President of India. Writing My Dear Soldiers was
BeginnerA.P.J. Abdul Kalam
A scientist, and the eleventh President of India.
The opening line of the poem speaks to a particular group rather than to a reader. Addressed there are the
Beginnerthe defenders of the borders
And the second line calls them the great sons of his land.
The book adds a note about the phrase great sons so that no reader takes it narrowly. The note is added because
Intermediatethe line means men and women both
The English of the line does not say what the poem means.
The turn of the whole poem is a contrast between what we do and what the soldiers do. While they stay at their duty, we are
Beginnerwe are all asleep
Which puts the reader on one side of the poem’s contrast.
51 flashcards in this kit — the app reviews them with spaced repetition so the right card returns on the right day.
Every game is built from this kit's own content — scores feed your mastery, so playing counts as studying.
The full Veda Bites deck, complete notes, spaced-repetition flashcards, leveled MCQs, tests and games for this kit — plus Daily Facts and the Arena, every day.