Class 7 English · Original EZT practice
A Funny Man (Class 7 English Chapter 5): a nonsense poem by Natalie Joan
'He wore a shoe upon his head / And hats upon his feet.' Natalie Joan's nonsense poem introduces a very strange - and very polite - visitor who presents a currant bun as a rose, sings sitting on the ground, and hops home on his head. It is pure silliness, and that is exactly its charm. This page gives a summary, word meanings and practice questions. (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 23 October 2026:
1. Poem summary and central idea
The poet meets a 'funny kind of man' who does everything impossibly wrong - shoe on head, hats on feet, a currant bun offered as a rose, a song sung sitting on the ground - and finally hops home on his head. The fun lies in the absurd mixed-up world the poem builds, and in the speaker's calm, polite reporting of it.
2. Reading the nonsense - understanding
The poem plays with the senses - a 'funny sounding sight', a rose with a 'funny looking smell', a 'funny feeling sound' - mixing seeing, smelling and feeling in impossible ways that make us laugh and look at words afresh.
3. Word meanings
Simple words used in strange ways - present (verb), currant bun, staggered, hopped.
4. Enjoying the poem
Nonsense verse like this is a playground for rhythm and rhyme - notice the walking beat and the rhymes (street/feet, me/polite, nose/rose, ground/sound, said/head), then try a nonsense line of your own, as the textbook suggests.
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.
Say what makes him funny
Choose the method: Everything backwards.
EZT practice question
What makes the man in the poem 'funny'?
Show the worked solution
- He wears a shoe upon his head and hats upon his feet.
- He offers a currant bun as a rose and sings sitting on the ground.
- He turns the other way about and hops home on his head.
Answer: Everything he does is backwards or impossible - a shoe on his head, hats on his feet, a bun for a rose, hopping home on his head - a walking bundle of delightful nonsense.
Check: The very first stanza sets the pattern: 'He wore a shoe upon his head / And hats upon his feet.'
Watch for this: Do not look for a moral - the poem is written for fun; the charm is the silliness itself.
Now try it yourself
Who wrote 'A Funny Man'?
Check your answer
Natalie Joan.
Her name closes the poem in the book.
Explain the mixed senses
Choose the method: A smell that looks funny.
EZT practice question
'I never saw a rose with such / A funny looking smell.' What is funny about this line?
Show the worked solution
- A smell cannot 'look' funny - smells are not seen.
- The poet mixes seeing and smelling.
- The mixed-up words match the mixed-up gift: a currant bun presented as a rose.
Answer: A smell cannot 'look' funny - the poet mixes seeing and smelling, matching the man's mixed-up gift of a currant bun presented as a rose.
Check: The poem does it three times: a 'funny sounding sight', a 'funny looking smell', a 'funny feeling sound'.
Watch for this: Do not try to 'correct' the lines - the sense-mixing is the joke, not an error.
Now try it yourself
What does the man offer the poet, calling it a rose?
Check your answer
A currant bun, which he holds to the poet's nose.
'Allow me to present / Your Highness with a rose.'
Judge the man's manners
Choose the method: Polite, not rude.
EZT practice question
Were the man's manners rude or polite? Find a line to support your answer.
Show the worked solution
- He raises the shoe (his 'hat') to the poet.
- He smiles and speaks formally - 'Allow me to present / Your Highness with a rose.'
- 'He raised the shoe and smiled at me, / His manners were polite.'
Answer: Polite - 'He raised the shoe and smiled at me, / His manners were polite.'
Check: Raising the 'hat' (here, the shoe) is the polite gesture of greeting.
Watch for this: Do not call him rude because he is strange - the poem says his manners were polite.
Now try it yourself
Why does the poet call the man 'Your Highness'?
Check your answer
Open response - it makes the nonsense grander, as if the man were royalty.
Grand words add to the fun.
Describe the ending
Choose the method: The other way about.
EZT practice question
How does the man go home at the end of the poem?
Show the worked solution
- The poet asks why he wears two hats upon his feet.
- The man 'turned the other way about' - flips upside down.
- He hops home on his head.
Answer: He turned the other way about and hopped home on his head.
Check: The last rhyme - said/head - lands the final joke.
Watch for this: Do not say he walked home - he hopped, upside down, on his head.
Now try it yourself
What does 'He turned the other way about' mean?
Check your answer
He flipped upside down - the wrong way round.
That is how he could hop on his head.
Match poem words to meanings
Choose the method: Plain meanings for strange uses.
EZT practice question
Match: present (verb), staggered, hopped - with their meanings.
Show the worked solution
- present - to give formally, as in 'Allow me to present Your Highness with a rose'.
- staggered - moved unsteadily, almost fell.
- hopped - jumped (here, upside down, on his head).
Answer: present - to give formally; staggered - moved unsteadily, almost fell; hopped - jumped (here, upside down, on his head).
Check: The poet staggered back against the wall at the 'rose' - then the man hopped home.
Watch for this: Do not read 'present' as the noun (a gift) or the adjective (here) - it is the formal verb 'to give'.
Now try it yourself
What is a currant bun?
Check your answer
A small sweet bread roll with currants (dried grapes) in it.
That is the man's 'rose'.
Pick out the rhyming pairs
Choose the method: Walking beat, end rhymes.
EZT practice question
Pick out the rhyming pairs in the first two stanzas.
Show the worked solution
- street - feet.
- me - polite.
- sight (carried with polite); rose - nose; well - smell.
Answer: street - feet; me - polite (with sight); rose - nose; well - smell.
Check: Later stanzas keep it going: ground - sound; said - head.
Watch for this: Do not pair by meaning - rhyme is about the line-end sound.
Now try it yourself
Write one nonsense line of your own in the same rhythm.
Check your answer
Open response - for example, 'He wore a teacup for a hat'.
The textbook invites a limerick of your own.
Try a mixed set
Choose a method or explanation before opening each answer.
1. Who wrote 'A Funny Man'?
Show answer and reason
Natalie Joan.
A nonsense poem in Unit 2.
2. What did the man wear?
Show answer and reason
A shoe upon his head and hats upon his feet.
The opening joke.
3. The 'rose' he presented?
Show answer and reason
A currant bun, held to the poet's nose.
'A funny looking smell.'
4. How did he go home?
Show answer and reason
He turned the other way about and hopped home on his head.
The final rhyme: said/head.
Try it yourself
Work these on paper before checking any notes. Answers are deliberately not shown here.
- Which is your favourite silly image in the poem? Why?
- What does 'staggered' mean in the poem?
- What do the funny man, street performers and clowns have in common?
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Questions about this practice page
- What is A Funny Man about?
- A poet meets a delightfully absurd man who wears a shoe on his head, offers a currant bun as a rose, and hops home on his head.
- Who wrote A Funny Man?
- Natalie Joan.
- What kind of poem is it?
- A nonsense poem - humour built from impossible, mixed-up actions and senses.
- What is the message of the poem A Funny Man?
- It is written for fun, not a moral - it celebrates imagination, wordplay and laughter.
- Are these the NCERT exercise questions for Class 7 English Chapter 5?
- No. EZT pages are original practice following the chapter's section order - use them to prepare for the textbook exercises, not as a substitute for your book.