Class 10 English · Original EZT practice
Fog - Carl Sandburg (Class 10 English, First Flight)
Fog is a six-line free-verse poem by the American poet Carl Sandburg, printed in Class 10 First Flight (Reprint 2026-27) just after the chapter Mijbil the Otter. In one small stanza the fog arrives 'on little cat feet', sits over harbour and city 'on silent haunches', and then moves on - a whole weather event told as a cat's quiet visit. This page unpacks the metaphor, gives word meanings and adds fresh practice questions with answers. (Note: this is original practice, not a textbook exercise key.)
6 original worked examples, 6 fresh self-check questions and 4 mixed questions, with explained answers. These are not copied textbook exercises, an official chapter index or a full answer key. No affiliation with NCERT is claimed.
Official sources for topic and edition context, checked 24 October 2026:
1. The poem and its summary
The complete poem is six lines: 'The fog comes / on little cat feet. / It sits looking / over harbour and city / on silent haunches / and then moves on.' Arrival: it 'comes / on little cat feet' - silent, sudden, unnoticed. Pause: 'It sits looking / over harbour and city / on silent haunches' - like a cat sitting on its bent legs, watching, the fog hangs over the harbour and city, still and watchful. Departure: 'and then moves on' - as quietly as it came, it leaves.
2. Theme - nature observed closely
Nature observed closely: a common weather event becomes alive through one precise comparison. The poem also shows how little language a poem needs - six lines hold arrival, stay and departure.
3. Metaphor, devices and form
The poem is a single extended metaphor: the fog behaves like a cat. Note for exams: the poet never writes 'the fog is like a cat'. The comparison is carried entirely by cat-actions (feet, sitting on haunches, moving on), which is what makes it a metaphor rather than a stated simile. Imagery: 'on little cat feet'; 'on silent haunches'. Form: free verse, one six-line stanza, no end-rhyme. Word meaning from the textbook gloss: on haunches - sitting with knees bent.
Choose, solve, check, then try a fresh question.
Before calculating, read the method prompt and name the condition that makes it useful. Write your own attempt. Open the steps only when you need them, and use the check to catch a wrong sign, unit or interpretation. Finish with the fresh question before reading its answer.
Trace the quiet arrival
Choose the method: Feet before fog.
EZT practice question
How does the fog come, according to Sandburg?
Show the worked solution
- The first two lines answer directly.
- 'The fog comes / on little cat feet.'
- So the fog comes silently and suddenly, the way a cat pads into a room unnoticed.
Answer: The fog comes 'on little cat feet' - silently, suddenly and unnoticed, the way a cat pads into a room.
Check: Quote the exact phrase 'on little cat feet' - the image is the answer.
Watch for this: Do not write 'like a cat' as the quote - the poem says 'on little cat feet', an action, not a stated comparison.
Now try it yourself
What does the quiet arrival suggest about real fog?
Check your answer
That fog rolls in without warning or noise - you notice it only after it has arrived.
The cat image works because both arrivals are silent.
Fix the pronoun
Choose the method: One subject throughout.
EZT practice question
What does 'it' in the third line refer to?
Show the worked solution
- Line three begins 'It sits looking'.
- The only noun the poem has named is the fog.
- So 'it' is the fog - the same subject from line one, now sitting over the harbour and city.
Answer: 'It' refers to the fog - the same subject from the first line, now sitting and looking over the harbour and city.
Check: Pronoun questions are answered by the nearest named subject - here, the fog.
Watch for this: Do not answer 'the cat' - the cat is only the comparison; the subject stays the fog.
Now try it yourself
Why does the poem never name the fog again after line one?
Check your answer
Because 'it' can carry the poem - the cat-actions keep the subject clear without repeating 'fog'.
Economy of words is part of the poem's point.
Collect the cat details
Choose the method: Actions make the cat.
EZT practice question
Which three details make us picture a cat though the word 'cat' names the comparison only once?
Show the worked solution
- 'Little cat feet' - the only place the cat is named.
- 'It sits looking' - the watchful sitting pose of a cat.
- 'On silent haunches' - sitting on bent legs, as a cat crouches - and finally it 'moves on', as a cat would.
Answer: 'Little cat feet', 'sits looking' and 'sits on silent haunches' - and finally the fog 'moves on' as a cat would; the word 'cat' appears only once, in 'little cat feet'.
Check: One naming plus two actions - feet, sitting, haunches.
Watch for this: Do not count 'harbour and city' as cat details - those are the places the fog covers.
Now try it yourself
What two places does the fog sit over?
Check your answer
Harbour and city.
Water and town - the whole scene in two words.
Settle metaphor versus simile
Choose the method: No 'like' stated.
EZT practice question
Does the poem use a simile?
Show the worked solution
- A simile states the comparison with 'like' or 'as'.
- The poem never writes 'the fog is like a cat'.
- It transfers cat-actions to the fog - feet, sitting on haunches, moving on - so it is an extended metaphor, not a simile; only 'little cat feet' names the cat at all.
Answer: No. It never says 'like a cat' for the whole comparison; it transfers cat-actions to the fog, so it is an extended metaphor. Only 'little cat feet' names the cat at all.
Check: The test is whether the comparison is stated ('like' or 'as') or carried by action - here it is carried.
Watch for this: Do not call it a simile just because two things are compared - an unstated comparison is a metaphor.
Now try it yourself
Why is the metaphor called 'extended'?
Check your answer
Because it runs through the whole poem - arrival, sitting and departure all stay inside the single cat comparison.
Length and consistency make it extended, not a one-line figure.
Place the fog
Choose the method: Two nouns, one scene.
EZT practice question
What two places does the fog sit over?
Show the worked solution
- Read the middle lines: 'It sits looking / over harbour and city'.
- The two places are named directly.
- Harbour and city - water and town held in one short line.
Answer: Harbour and city - 'It sits looking / over harbour and city'.
Check: Quote the pair together; both are needed for full marks.
Watch for this: Do not add hills, valleys or villages - the poem names only harbour and city.
Now try it yourself
What does the fog do after sitting?
Check your answer
'And then moves on' - it leaves as quietly as it came.
Arrival, stay, departure: the whole visit in six lines.
State the central idea
Choose the method: Small poem, whole event.
EZT practice question
What is the central idea of Fog?
Show the worked solution
- The poem pictures one weather event - fog over a harbour and city.
- It presents arrival, stay and departure through the quiet movements of a cat.
- So the central idea is close observation: a common event becomes alive through one precise comparison, and six lines are enough to hold it.
Answer: The fog's arrival, stay and departure over a harbour and city are pictured through the quiet movements of a cat - a common weather event made alive by one precise comparison.
Check: Name both halves: the event (fog over harbour and city) and the comparison (cat).
Watch for this: Do not turn it into a poem 'about cats' - the subject is fog; the cat is the lens.
Now try it yourself
How many lines does Fog have, and what form is it?
Check your answer
Six lines in a single stanza; free verse with no rhyme scheme.
Form questions on this poem are counting questions.
Try a mixed set
Choose a method or explanation before opening each answer.
1. How does the fog come?
Show answer and reason
'On little cat feet' - silently and unnoticed.
The poem's defining image.
2. 'It' in line three means?
Show answer and reason
The fog - the cat is only the comparison.
Pronoun questions want the named subject.
3. Simile or metaphor?
Show answer and reason
Extended metaphor - cat-actions carry it, never stated with 'like'.
The exam trap this poem sets.
4. The fog sits over?
Show answer and reason
Harbour and city.
Two nouns hold the whole scene.
Try it yourself
Work these on paper before checking any notes. Answers are deliberately not shown here.
- Explain in one sentence why Fog is a metaphor and not a simile.
- Write the poem's arrival, stay and departure as three short phrases.
- Say what 'on silent haunches' makes you see, using the textbook gloss 'sitting with knees bent'.
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Questions about this practice page
- What is the central idea of Fog?
- The fog's arrival, stay and departure over a harbour and city are pictured through the quiet movements of a cat.
- How many lines does Fog have?
- Six lines in a single stanza; it is free verse with no rhyme scheme.
- Is Fog a metaphor or a simile?
- An extended metaphor - the cat comparison is carried by actions (feet, haunches, moving on), not stated with 'like'.
- Where is Fog in Class 10 First Flight?
- In Reprint 2026-27 it is printed after Mijbil the Otter; poems are not numbered as chapters, so follow your own edition's contents page.
- Who wrote the poem Fog?
- The American poet Carl Sandburg; the poem appears in NCERT's First Flight for Class 10, printed just after Mijbil the Otter.