Get premium membership and access questions with answers, video lessons as well as revision papers.

Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow THE WAR LORD

      

thrust.png

cajole.png
rotting.png

Questions

(a) Briefly explain what the poem is talking about. (3 mks)

(b) What is the attitude of the persona to the warlord? Elaborate your answer. (2 mks)

Explain the relevance of having separated words for stanza one, three, five and seven. (3 mks)

(c) Explain the irony in the poem. (3 mks)

(d) What is the meaning of the following lines as used in the poem?

(i) The trumpets herald you with regal glory.

Epaulettes glisten and medals gleam. (2 mks)

(ii) The prize presented on some stolen silver.

A maggot riddled remnant of a once serene world. (2 mks)

(e) Apart from irony, which other stylistic device has been used in the poem? (2 mks)


(f) Identify one thematic concern of the poem. (3 mks)

  

Answers


Martin
(a) The poem talks about an army that is approaching a village and the things that are done by the army – cutting, thrushing, slashing etc. The reaction of the people is that of subservience, for they are barren, bleak, blackened, shattered, sterile, and stricken.

(b) The poet is contemptuous towards the warlord. The warlord’s actions are condescending and the poet doesn’t admire what they do.

(c) The separated words reveal the kneejerk decisions made that aim at destruction e.g. cut, thrust, plunge etc. they mimick the destruction meted on the people by the members of the warlord’s army

(d) As the warlord strives to concur, he destroys what he/she desires to concur. The praises he gets are as a result of coercion that is why it is ‘shrill.’

(e) (i) Glory awaits the warlord – with regal glory and glistering epaulettes.
(ii) Through the warlord is overjoyed by all the “success” the people concurred are unhappy their voices are sharper and sharper.
Metaphor - ‘A maggot riddled remnant of a once serene world.’

Effects of war
The citizens groan under the atrocities committed by the warlord and his/her army – The plunder, rape, castration, torture, killing etc have devastating effects on the citizens.
marto answered the question on May 3, 2019 at 07:28


Next: Describe a plateau.
Previous: Outline the description of Vegetation.

View More English Poetry Questions and Answers | Return to Questions Index


Learn High School English on YouTube

Related Questions


  • Read the poem below and answer the questions below. (20 marks) Theme for English B.(Solved)

    Read the poem below and answer the questions below. (20 marks)

    Theme for English B.
    said.png
    so.png

    Questions.

    a) Who is the speaker in the poem? Illustrate your answer. 2 mks

    b) Identify two themes in the poem. Explain. 4 mks

    c) Describe the mood of the poem? What details contribute or help establish that mood? 2 mks

    d) What point does the speaker seek to make by listing the things that he or she likes? 2mks

    e) What is the tone of the poem? Explain 2 mks

    f) Identify the use of personification in the poem. 2 mks

    g) In what ways is the speaker and the addressee similar and different? 2 mks

    h) Describe the relationship between the persona and the addressee 2 mks

    i) i) 'I wonder if it is that simple.' Rewrite as a yes/no question.

    ii) Rewrite the following beginning with: neither....

    You don’t want to be part of me. Nor do I often want to be part of you l mk

    Date posted: May 3, 2019.  Answers (1)

  • Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow. The Gourd of Friendship(Solved)

    The Gourd of Friendship.

    Where is the curiosity we've lost in discovery?

    Where is the discovery we've lost in knowledge?

    Where is the knowledge we've lost in communication?

    Where is the communication we've lost in mass media?

    And where is the community we've lost in all these?

    Where is the message we've lost in the medium?

    It is easy to go to the moon:

    There, there are no people.

    It is easier to count the stars:

    They will not complain.

    But the road to your neighbour's heart - who has surveyed it?

    The formula to your brother's head - Who has devised it?

    The gourd that doesn't spill friendship - In whose garden has it ever grown?

    You never know despair Until you've lost hope;

    You never know your aspiration Until you've seen others disillusionment.
    Peace resides in the hearts of men.

    Not in conference tables and delegates signatures.

    True friendship never dies - It grows stronger the more it is used.

    By Richard Ntiru

    1. Explain the meaning of the poem (3 marks)

    2. Discuss the use of the rhetorical questions in the poem. (3 marks)

    3. Describe the tone of this poem (3 marks)

    4. Identify and explain two other stylistic devices (apart from the rhetorical questions) (4 marks)

    5. Explain the meaning of these lines. (4 marks)

    i) 'where is the curiosity we have lost in discovery'.

    ii) 'But the road to your neighbour's heart - who has surveyed it?' ( marks)

    6. What does the persona think about relationships? (2 marks)

    7. Explain the appropriateness of the title. (1 mark)

    Date posted: May 3, 2019.  Answers (1)

  • Read the poem below and then answer the question that follow. (20 marks) DEATH OF MY FATHER(Solved)

    DEATH OF MY FATHER

    His sunken cheeks, his inward-looking eyes,
    The sarcastic, scornful smile on his lips
    The unkempt, matted, grey hair,
    The hard, coarse sand-paper hands,
    Spoke eloquently of the lifehe had lived.
    But I did not mourn for him.

    The hammer, the saw and the plane,
    These were his tools and his damnation,
    His sweat was his ointment and his perfume.
    He fashioned dining tables, chairs, wardrobes,
    And all the wooden loves of colonial life.
    No, I did not mourn for him.

    He built colonial mansions,
    Huge,unwieldy,arrogant constructions;
    But he squatted in a sickly mud-house,
    With his children huddled stuntedly,
    Under the bed-bug bed he shared with Mother.
    I could not mourn for him.

    I had already inherited
    His premature old-age look,
    I had imbibed his frustration;
    But his dreams of freedom and happiness
    Had become my song, my love.
    So, I could not mourn for him.

    No, I did not shed any tears;
    My father’s dead life still lives in me,
    He lives in my son, my father,
    I am my father and my son.
    I will awaken his sleepy hopes and yearnings,
    But I will not mourn for him,
    I will not mourn for me.

    a) Identify the persona. (2 marks)

    b) What is the poem talking about? (3 marks)

    c) Comment on the alliteration that is used in the poem? (2 marks)

    d) Apart from alliteration, identify and explain any other two aspects of style that the poet has used. (4 marks)

    e) What reason does the persona give for not mourning his father’s death? ( 3 marks)

    f) What is the father’s profession from the poem? ( 1 mark)

    g) Explain the meaning of the following lines as used in the poem: ( 3 marks)

    i) The hard, coarse sand-paper hands,
    Spoke eloquently of the life he had lived.

    ii) His premature old-age look,

    iii) I will awaken his sleepy hopes and yearnings,

    h) What is the attitude of the persona towards his father’s life? ( 2 marks

    Date posted: May 3, 2019.  Answers (1)

  • Read the Poem below and answer the questions that follow: (20 Marks) The Twist(Solved)

    night.png

    a) What is the poem about? (3 marks)

    b) Identify three senses that the poem appeals to. (3 Marks

    c) What is the main theme of this poem? (2 Marks)

    d) What is the attitude of the persona towards the girls mentioned in the poem? (2 Marks)

    e) Identify three poetic devices used in the poem. (6 marks)

    f) What are the achievements of the persona on this night? (2 marks)

    g) Explain the meaning of:

    i) …… a miss (who was brown and black). (1 Marks)

    ii) Twist the music out of hunger. (1 Marks)

    Date posted: May 3, 2019.  Answers (1)

  • Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow. (20 marks) Western civilization(Solved)

    western.png/
    old.png

    Questions.

    a) What is the poem about? (4 marks)

    b) Identify and illustrate two features of style used in the poem. (4 marks)

    c) What does the fifth stanza suggest about the work done by 'he'? (2 marks)

    d) What basic requirements does the 'he' in the poem lack? (3 marks)

    e) Why do you think the 'he' dies 'gratefully'? (1 mark)

    f) Describe two themes brought out in the poem. (4 marks)

    g) Explain the meaning of 'Old age comes early' (1 marks)

    h) Supply a word that means the same as hunger as used in the poem. (1 mark

    Date posted: May 3, 2019.  Answers (1)

  • Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow. (20 marks) Their City(Solved)

    city.png
    traffic.png

    Questions.
    a) Who is the persona in the poem? (2 marks)

    b) Explain what the poem is about. (3 marks)

    c) What is achieved by repetition of 'We have seen them'? (2 marks)

    d) Identify and explain two thematic concerns of the poet. (4 marks)

    e) Why are the 'new Africans' said to have anxious faces? (2 marks)

    f) Explain the meaning of the expression;

    figures hardly human

    desperately dying to live. (2 marks)

    g) How does the persona portray the rich? (2 marks)

    h) Describe the tone in the poem. (3 marks)

    Date posted: May 3, 2019.  Answers (1)

  • Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow. THE PRESS(Solved)

    press.png

    get.png

    Questions

    a) Identify and explain the social evils dealt with in the poem. (6 marks)

    b) Pick out three poetic devices evident in this poem and comment on their significance. (6 marks)

    c) Comment on the tone of the poem. (2 marks)

    d) Is the title significant? Why or why not? (2 marks)

    e) Explain the irony of the poem? (2 marks)

    f) Explain the meaning of the following words: (2 marks)

    i) Crawled

    ii) Ushered

    Date posted: May 3, 2019.  Answers (1)

  • Read the following poem and respond to the questions appropriately. ‘STILL I RISE’(Solved)


    still.png

    rise.png

    Adapted from: Maya Angelous’ STILL I RISE (1978)

    1. With support from the poem, briefly explain what the poem is about. (3 marks)

    2. Identify three challenges that the speaker in the poem contends with. (3 marks)

    3. What is the attitude of the speaker towards these challenges? (2 marks)

    4. Identify and illustrate figures of speech from the poem above. Comment on their effectiveness. (4 marks)

    5. Other than the style in (4) above, identify and illustrate other two stylistic devices employed by the poet. (4 marks)

    6. Explain the meaning of the following phrases as they are used in poem. (3 marks)

    a) ‘Cause I laugh I’ve got gold mines’

    b) ‘But still, like dust, I’ll rise’.

    c) I am Black Ocean, leaping and wide.

    7. Supply the following sentence with the correct question tag. (1 mark)

    I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

    Date posted: May 3, 2019.  Answers (1)

  • Read the following poem and then answer the questions that follow. The Courage That My Mother Had(Solved)

    The Courage That My Mother Had

    The Courage That My Mother Had
    The courage that my mother had
    Went with her, and is with her still;
    Rock and New England quarried;
    Now granite in a granite hill.
    The golden brooch my mother wore
    She left behind for me to wear;
    I have nothing I treasure more;
    Yet, it is something I could spare.

    Oh, if instead she’d left to me
    The thing she took into the gravel!
    The courage like a rock, which she
    Has no more need of, and I have.

    (Had – Edna St. Vincent Millay)

    a) Briefly explain how the poem is about. (4 marks)

    b) Is the speaker male or female? How do you know? (2 marks)

    c) What does the speaker wish the mother had left behind? Why can’t the wish be fulfilled? (3 marks)

    d) Describe the character trait of the mother in the poem. (2 marks)

    e) Identify and illustrate the imagery used in the poem. (4 marks)

    f) What is the speaker’s attitude towards the mother and the golden brooch in the poem. (3 marks)

    g) Rewrite the following in your own words: (2 marks)

    'Has no more need of, and I have'

    Date posted: May 3, 2019.  Answers (1)

  • Read the poem below and answers the questions that follow (20 MARKS) WEDDING EVE(Solved)

    WEDDING EVE
    Should I
    Or should I not
    Take the oath to love
    For ever

    This person I know little about?
    Does she love me

    Or my car
    Or my future
    Which I know little about?

    Will she continue to love me
    When the future she saw in me
    Crumbles and fades into nothing
    Leaving the naked me
    To love without hope?

    Will that smile she wears
    Last through the hazards to come
    When fate strikes
    Across the dreams of tomorrow?
    Like the clever passenger in a faulty plane,
    Wear her life jacket
    And jump out to save her life
    Leaving me crush into the unknown?
    What magic can I use
    To see what lies beneath
    Her angel face and well knit hair
    To see her hopes and dreams
    Before I take an oath
    To love forever?

    We are both wise chess players
    She makes a move
    I make a move
    And we trap each other in our secret dreams
    Hoping to win against each other

    Everett Standa

    QUESTION

    1. Comment on the title of this poem. 3 marks

    2. Explain the dilemma of speaker in the first stanza. 2 marks

    3. What is the speaker’s attitude towards their relationship?

    4. Discuss and illustrate two character traits of the persona. 4 marks

    5. Comment on the imagery of the plane. 3 marks

    6. Explain how the relationship is compared to a game of chess. 3 marks

    7. Explain the meaning of the following line: leaving the naked me. 3 marks

    Date posted: May 3, 2019.  Answers (1)

  • Read the poem below then answer the questions that follow THE NECKLACE(Solved)

    Read the poem below then answer the questions that follow

    THE NECKLACE

    From a distance
    Fearful of inching any further,
    A cold sweat trickled rivulets,
    Making me shiver at noon.
    Undaring to approach the form

    It was over in minutes,
    The necessities of execution availed,
    The firestone tyre,
    Petrol in blackened tin,
    And ignites in numerous hands
    Each participant ready and anxious,
    To set the man a flame.

    As the smouldering form blackened,
    Smell of sizzling flesh filling in the air
    Piercing the nostrils,
    And choking me breathless,
    I watched in wonder,
    Witness to an unwritten law.

    As the crowd dispersed,
    The haggling and bargaining resumed,
    Buying, selling and cheating,
    As men in uniform arrived,
    Bearing away the charred remains

    Questions

    a) How relevant is the title of the poem above? (2 marks)

    b) Describe the character of the executionists in the poem (2 marks)

    c) What was needed to carry out the execution? (3 marks)

    d) Explain the difference in the use of the word 'form' in stanza one and stanza three (2 marks)

    e) (i) Who is the persona ? (1 mark)

    (ii) What deters the persona from getting closer to the scene of action? (1 mark)

    f) Explain the meaning of the following phrases as used in the poem (3 marks)

    i) Smell of sizzling flesh

    ii) Each participant ready and anxious

    iii) Witnessed to an unwritten law

    g) What mood is portrayed in the poem? (2 marks)

    h) Paraphrase the last stanza (4 marks)

    Date posted: May 3, 2019.  Answers (1)

  • Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.(Solved)

    Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.

    OUT-CAST

    They met by accident He proposed the idea
    She gave her consent All the way to the altar
    The casualty was male
    And his pigment was pale
    Unlike his alleged sire
    Who was black with ire
    The recourse was legitimate
    He disclaimed responsibility So they had to separate
    The boy remains illegitimate
    Last month, not long ago
    They both took their go Coincidentally by accident
    No will, no estate
    Nothing to inherit
    The poor boy is hardly ten
    And knows no next-of-kin
    He roams the streets of town Like a wind-sown out-cast

    G. Gathemia

    a) Briefly explain what the poem is about. (4 marks)

    b) Describe two characters traits of the mother in the poem (4 marks)

    c) Explain the meaning of the following as used in the poem. (3 marks)

    (i) Disclaimed.

    (ii) Unlike his alleged sire who was black with ire

    d) Identify and explain one instance of irony in the poem (3 marks)

    e) What is the persona’s attitude towards the boy in the poem?

    Date posted: April 9, 2019.  Answers (1)

  • Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow(Solved)

    Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow

    If you have some sure year
    Then get to hear
    A man of your year
    Even if he is a bad man anywhere
    Should not be found phoning here
    Don't you think that it is sometimes queer To neutralize fear
    With a bottle of beer?

    Anon.

    i) Comment on the rhyme scheme of the above poem. (2 marks)

    ii) Other than through rhyming words, illustrate other three ways in which the poet has attempted to achieve rhythm.
    (6 marks)

    Date posted: April 9, 2019.  Answers (1)

  • Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow: The earth does not get fat. (Solved)

    Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow

    The earth does not get fat.
    It makes an end- Of those who wear the head plumes We shall die on the earth.
    The earth
    does not get fat.
    It makes an end of those who act swiftly as heroes.
    Shall we die on the earth?

    Listen O earth.
    We shall mourn because of you. Listen O earth.
    Shall we all die on the earth? The earth does not get fat.
    It makes an end of The chiefs.
    Shall we die on earth? The earth does not get fat.
    It makes an end Of the women chiefs.
    Shall we die on earth?

    Listen o earth. We shall mourn because of you.
    Listen O earth.
    Shall we all die on earth? The earth does not get fat.
    It makes an end Of the nobles.
    The earth does not get fat It makes an end of the royal women.
    Shall we die on earth?
    The earth does not get fat.
    It makes an end
    of the common people.
    Shall we die on the earth?

    The earth does not get fat.
    It makes an end of all the beasts Shall we die on the earth?
    Listen you who are asleep, who are left
    tightly closed in the land.
    Shall we all sink Into the earth? Listen O
    Earth the sun is setting tightly.
    We shall enter into the earth.
    We shall not enter into the earth.
    (From: 'The Heritage Of African Poetry

    a) What is the poem about? (3 mks)

    b) Who is the persona in the poem? (2 mks)

    c) Identify and illustrate any two features of style used in the poem? (4 mks)

    d) What is the tone of the persona in the poem? (2 mks)

    e) What in the poem shows that death is indiscriminate in its manifestations? (2 mks)

    f) Describe the political setting of the community from which the poem originates. (2 mks)

    g) What is the mood of the poem? (2 mks)

    h) Explain what the expressions below mean : (3 mks)

    i) The earth does not get fat .

    ii) Those who wear the head plumes

    iii) Earth the sun is setting tightly

    Date posted: April 8, 2019.  Answers (1)

  • Read the poem below and then answer the questions that follow: Why do we Grumble?(Solved)

    Read the poem below and then answer the questions that follow

    Why do we Grumble?
    Why do we grumble because a tree is bent
    When, in our streets, there are even men who are bent? Why must we complain that a new moon is slanting? Can anyone reach the skies to straighten it?
    Can't we see that some cocks have combs on their heads but no plumes in their tails?
    And some have plumes in their tails but no claws on their toes? And others have claws on their toes but no power to crow? He who has a head has no cap to wear, and he who has a cap has no head to wear it on.
    He who has good shoulders has no gown to wear on them, and he who has the gown
    has no good shoulders to
    wear it on.
    The Owa has everything but a horse's stable.
    Some great scholars of Ifa cannot tell the way to Ofa:
    Others know the way to Ofa, but not one line of Ifa.
    Great eaters have no food to eat, and great drinkers no wine to drink:
    Wealth has a coat of many colors.

    (An oral poem from Nigeria in Oral Poetry from Africa: Longman, U.K. 1983. Compiled by Jack Mapanje and Landeg White)

    (i) Identify and illustrate two aspects that make this oral poem easy to perform. (4 marks)

    (ii) Which words would you stress on the last line of the poem 3, and why? (2 marks)

    (iii) How would you perform line 4 of the poem ? (2 marks)

    (a) Assume that you are the principal of Bidii School where the governor makes a visit. Introduce Sarah Mwangi

    (a medical doctor) who is a member of the Board of Management to the Governor (2 marks)
    You.

    Date posted: April 8, 2019.  Answers (1)

  • Read the following poem and respond to the questions appropriately(Solved)

    Read the following poem and respond to the questions appropriately

    STILL I RISE

    You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? 'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells' Pumping in my living room.
    Just like moons and like suns, With the certainity of tides Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise.
    Did you want to see me broken?
    Bowed head and lowered eyes?
    Shoulders falling down like tear drops. Weakened by my soulful cries.
    Does my haughtiness offend you? Don‟t you take it awful hard
    'cause I laugh like I've got gold mines Diggin' in my own backyard.
    You m,ay shoot me with your word
    You may cut me with your eyes,
    You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I'll rise.
    Out of the hurts of history's shame I rise
    Up from a past that's rooted in pain I raise
    I‟m a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear In the tide
    Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise
    Into a day brake that is wondrously clear
    I rise
    Bringing the gifts that my
    Ancestors game,
    I am the dream and the Hope of the slave I rise
    I rise I rise
    Adapted from: Maya Angelous STILL I RISE (1978)

    1. With support from the poem, briefly explain what the poem is about. (3 marks)

    2. Identify three challenges that the speaker in the poem contends with. (3 marks)

    3. What is the attitude of the speaker towards these challenges? (2 marks)

    4. Identify and illustrate figures of speech from the poem above. Comment on their effectiveness. (4 marks)

    5. Other than the style in (4) above, identify and illustrate other two stylistic devices employed by the poet. (4 marks)

    6. Explain the meaning of the following phrases as they are used in poem. (3 marks)

    a) Cause I laugh I've got gold mines'

    b) But still, like dust, I'll rise'.

    c) I am Black Ocean, leaping and wide.

    7. Supply the following sentence with the correct question tag. (1 mark)
    I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

    Date posted: April 5, 2019.  Answers (1)

  • Read the poem written below and answer the questions that follow(Solved)

    Read the poem written below and answer the questions that follow.

    The seed shop

    Here in a quiet and dusty room they lie
    Faded as crumbled stone or shifting sane
    Forlorn as ashes, shriveled scentless dry
    Meadows and gardens running through any hand
    In this brown husk a dale of how throne dreams A cedar in this narrow cells in thrust That will drink deeply of a century‟s streams These lilies shall make summer on my dust Here in their safe and simple house of death Sealed in their shells, a million roses leap Here I can blow a garden with my breath And in my hand a forest lies asleep

    i) Identify four pairs of rhyming words. (2 marks)

    ii) Describe the tone of the voice that would be appropriate in reading this poem. (3 marks)

    iii) How would you say the last two lines of the poem?

    Date posted: April 5, 2019.  Answers (1)

  • Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow: THE VILLAGE WELL By the well, Where fresh water still quietly whisper(Solved)

    THE VILLAGE WELL
    By the well,
    Where fresh water still quietly whisper
    As when I
    First accompanied Mother and filled my baby gourd,
    By this well,
    Where many an evening its clean water cleaned me;
    This silent well
    Dreaded haunt of the long haired Musambwa
    Who basked
    In the mid-day sun reclining on the rock
    Where I now sit
    Welling up with many poignant memories;
    This spot,
    Which has rung with the purity of child laughter;
    This spot,Where eye spoke secretly to responding eye;
    This spot,
    Where hearts pounded madly in many a breast;
    By this well,
    Over-hung by leafy branches of sheltering trees
    I first noticed her
    I saw her in the cool of red, red evening
    I saw her
    As if I had not seen her a thousand times before
    By this well
    My eyes asked for love, and my heart went mad.
    I stuttered
    And murmured my first words of love
    And cupped
    With my hands, the intoxication that were her breasts
    In this well,
    In the clear waters of this whispering well,
    The silent moon
    Witnessed with a smile our inviolate vows
    The kisses
    That left us weak and breathless.
    It is dark.
    It is dark by the well that still whispers.
    It is darker
    It is utter darkness in the heart that bleeds
    By this well
    Where magic has evaporated but memories linger.
    Of damp death
    The rotting foliage reeks,
    And the branches

    Are grotesque talons of hungry vultures,
    For she is dead
    The one I first loved by this well.
    Questions:
    (i) Who is the persona in this poem? (2 marks)

    (ii) What is the significant of the well to the persona? (4 marks)

    (iii) Identify imagery in the poem. (2 marks)

    (iv) Explain the meaning of the following lines as used in the poem.

    (a) Dreaded haunt of the long haired Musambwa. (2 marks)

    (b) I saw her in the cool of a red, red evening. (2 marks)

    (c) It is dark by the well that still whispers. (2 marks)

    (v) Comment on the change of mood in the last two stanzas. (4 marks)

    (vi) What is the attitude of the persona towards death?

    Date posted: April 4, 2019.  Answers (1)

  • Read the oral poem below and then answer the questions that follow: He couldn't wait, eh! For the child of my mother To finish school(Solved)

    Read the oral poem below and then answer the questions that follow

    He couldn't wait, eh!
    For the child of my mother To finish school
    He begged, eh!
    That man begged
    He begged and begged
    He couldn't wait, eh!
    For the child of my mother To dress up

    Questions.

    (i) What makes this oral poem rhythmic? (2 marks)

    (ii) Which word are you likely to stress in the second line of the first and last stanzas and why? (2 marks)

    (iii) How would you say the last line of the poem

    Date posted: April 4, 2019.  Answers (1)

  • Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow: Old and New. She went up the mountain to pluck wild herbs(Solved)

    Old and New
    She went up the mountain to pluck wild herbs,
    She came down the mountain and met her former husband,
    She knelt down and asked her former husband,
    What do you find your new wife like?
    My new wife, although her talk is clever,
    Cannot charm me as my old wife could,
    In beauty of face there is not much to choose,
    But in usefulness they are not at all alike,
    My new wife comes in from the road to meet me,
    My old wife always came down from her tower.
    My new wife is clever at embroidering silk;
    My old wife was good at plain sewing.
    Of silk embroidery one can do an inch a day;
    Of plain sewing, more than five feet.
    Putting her silks by the side of your sewing,
    I see that the new will not compare with the old.
    Anonymous 1st Century B.C

    Questions
    a. What is the poem about? (3 marks)

    b. With illustrations identify one similarity and difference in the two wives. (4 marks)

    c. Comment on any two poetic devices used in the poem. (6 marks)

    d. Explain the meaning of the following lines.

    'My new wife, although her talk is clever, cannot charm me as my old wife' (3 marks)

    e. Identify aspects of social life noticeable in the poem. (3 marks)

    f. What is the tone of the poem?

    Date posted: April 4, 2019.  Answers (1)