Litt 311:African Poetry Question Paper
Litt 311:African Poetry
Course:Education
Institution: Kenya Methodist University question papers
Exam Year:2013
KENYA METHODIST UNIVERSITY
END OF 1ST TRIMESTER 2013 (DAY) EXAMINATION
FACULTY : EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT : EDUCATION
UNIT CODE : LITT 311
UNIT TITLE : AFRICAN POETRY
TIME : 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS
Answer any three questions
Question One
Outline important facts towards understanding poetry. (20 Marks)
Question Two
State and explain five sense devices in poetry. (20 Marks)
Question Three
Analyze the poem "Tell Me Africa" by Ng’ang’a Mbugua with regard to major issues addressed by the poet (20 Marks)
TELL ME AFRICA
By Ng’ang’a Mbugua
Tell me, mama Africa
Are you the suffering angel,
Leashed to the chains of oppression?
Or are you the black burden
Perched on Europe’s back?
Are you the poor mine worker
Dying in the pits of the earth
Searching for the gems that are not your own?
Or are you the insatiable king
Nourished by public offers?
Mama Africa, are you the beggar
Sprawled in the World Bank corridors
Or are you the beneficiary
Of bilateral benevolence?
What are you Africa?
Are you the thatched hut
Fragmented by war
Dying of hunger
Among the walls of your children?
Or are you Africa,
The virgin, luxuriant forest
Dark, unspoilt and rich?
Or are you all of these and more?
Question Four
Discuss the mood and tone in the poem Alex La Guma provided (20 Marks)
ALEX LA GUMA
By T. Ochola
News from far away Havana
The land of heroic Castro
Reports you are no more
When the volcano of your words
Is erupting in your motherland
How brief the report
Tucked inside newspaper columns
You didn’t deserve that
You who wrote so much
So much your death deserved
And your funeral
In far away Havana
The land of heroic Castro
Quiet and solemn
When the dead in your country
Are buried by the blood and lives
Of fighting comrades
And you,
Who chose to fight with body and pen
In the battling streets of black townships
Alongside workers who couldn’t write your name
And children who couldn’t write your name
And children who couldn’t read your books
Are not to be burked in your beloved country
But from far away Havana
Where you write stories of love and freedom
Hear heroic waves knocking fiercely
Against the stones country which will soon open
The free hand
to all who live in it " the price for your death.
Question Five
With relevant examples, discuss the role of African poets in their communities. (20 Marks)
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