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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 (SCHOOL BASED) 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
Read the poem below and answer the questions:
Nightsong city by Denis Brutus
Sleep well, my love, sleep well;
the habour lights glaze over restless docks
police cars cockroach through the tunnel streets
from the shanties creaking iron-sheets
violence like a bug-infested rag is tossed
and fear is immanent* as sound in the wind-swung bell;
the long day’s anger pants from sand and rocks;
but for this breathing night at least,
my land, my love, sleep well
immanent means inherent, indwelling
Why are the docks described as restless?
(1 Mark)
What is the effect of ’cockroach’ here?
(1 Mark)
Why are the streets called tunnel streets?
(1 Mark)
Discuss three figures of speech used in the poem.
(6 Marks)
How has rhythm been achieved in the poems?
(6 Marks)
Identify the subject matter in the poem.
(3 Marks)
How does Brutus build up the mood of the poem?
(2 Marks)
Question Two
What do you understand by the term ’Negritude?’
(10 Marks)
What is Africa
To me?
Blackness,
Deep, deep fathomless
Darkness;
Africa,
Idle giant
Basking in the sun,
Sleeping, snoring,
Twitching in dreams
Fro, song Ocol
Okot p’Bitek
Discuss why Ocol is sorry to be African (10 Marks)
Question Three
Discuss with illustrations the development of South African poetry highlighting the various thematic concerns that characterized each stage of development. (20 Marks)
Question Four
Read the poem below and answer the question that follows:-
That you should come
Crawling
Like a common worm
Into my yard
Ragged and odorous
Screwing up your face
In unimaginable agony
And with a gesture ultimate in despair
Stretch out your hand
Palm upwards
Begging
Go way, I have nothing
So much for charity
A barefaced slap
Dazed and puzzled he stood
Waiting
Waiting as if that cracked picture of man
Could storm the barricaded conscience
Waiting with walled patience
Go way, I repeated fiercely. Nothing
Surprise wiped patience
Hurt, surprise
Anger, hurt
It was done
The unpardonable offence committed
I chased from my doorstep
A beggar man
Hungry
And what of the ultimate insult to manhood
Committed by this scarecrow
Why in this vast and vaunted freedomage
Should he
Wearing the rags of his decayed inheritance
Self-pitying, self-humiliating
Face furrowed with a thousand years
Of trampling on
Why come to stand before me
A mocking testament
Even my dog begs with more dignity
You scarecrow in my yard
Your grotesquerie is a lie
Carved on the conscience of time
That we are brothers
You deny the wasted manhood
Coursing your stiff bones
If you want what I have
Earn it
Lie, rob, burn, kill
Assert your right to life
Win the shuddering admiration
Of a world grown weary with humility
But do not, do not
Stand there
A broken dumb image of a man
Palm upstretched
Accusingly
You’ll get no judgement here
So he turned away with his hurt angry look
Ill-masking hate
Went out my garden gate like a sick dog
Empty
And in my pocket burned
Three bright red pennies
And in my bones
A twisted agony
Go way
I hate you
Brother
Give a comprehensive explication of the above poem commenting on:
Literary language and style
(10 Marks)
Thematic concerns
(10 Marks)
Question Five
With close reference to West African poets identify and discuss some of their concerns as expressed in their poetry.
(10 Marks)
Read the poem below and give it a literary explication in terms of style and themes.
(10 Marks)
Young Africa’s Plea
Don’t preserve my customs
As some fine curios
To suit some white historian’s tastes
There’s nothing artificial
That beats the natural way
In culture and ideals of life
Let me play with the whiteman’s ways
Let me work with the blackman’s brains
Let my affairs sort themselves out
Then in sweet rebirth
I’ll rise a better man not ashamed to face the world
Those who doubt my talents
In secret fear my strength
They know I am no less a man
Let them show their noble sides
Let me have untrammeled growth
My friends will never know regret
And I, I never once forget
Dennis Osadebay
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