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Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow:

      

Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow:

Touch by Hugh Lewin
When I get out
I’m going to ask someone
To touch me
Very gently please
And slowly,
Touch me

I want
To learn again
How life feels
I’ve not been touched
For seven years
For seven years
I’ve been untouched
Out of touch
And I’ve learnt
To know now
The meaning of
Untouchable.

Untouchable-not quite
I can count the things
That have touched me

One: fists
At the beginning
Fierce mad fists
Beating beating
Till I remember
Screaming
Don’t touch me
Please don’t touch me

Two: paws
The first four years of paws
Every day
Patting paws, searching
Arms up, shoes off
Legs apart-
Probing paws, systematic
Heavy, indifferent
Probing away
All privacy.

I don’t want fists and paws
I want
To want to be touched
Again
And to touch.
I want to feel alive
Again
I want to say

When I get out
Here I am
Please touch me.

(From poets to the people, edit by Barry Feinberg)

a) Where do you think the personal is? Briefly explain your answer.

b) What do you think the persona means by 'touch'?

c) Using two illustrations, describe the persona’s experience during the seven years


d) What is the significance of the word paws ?

e) Which device does the poet use to reinforce the theme?

f) Explain the meaning of the following words as they are used in the poem

Prodding

Indifferent

g) What does the poem reveal about human need?

  

Answers


Martin
(a) The person is probably in prison/ detention or some form of
confinement. The persona is longing to get out. 'When I get out he or she has been held in inhuman conditions.

(b) By ' touch ' he/she means being treated like a human being, loving and being loved. 'Touch” means the freedom to express his or her emotion freely, spontaneously.
'touch' the literal, physical touch.

(c) During the seven years of confinement, the persona has been treated like a pariah. He/ she says, I’ve learnt to know the meaning of untouchable. The persona has also been brutalized. He/ she was subjected to extreme
violence. ' fierce mad fists, beating…' Finally, the persona experienced utmost indignity. He/ she was humiliated and denied any form of privacy ….' Searching – arms up, shoes off, legs apart …. Probing away all
privacy.'

(d) The word ' paws' vividly describes the beastly behavior of the tormentors. Animals like hyenas and lions have paws which they use to tear their prey to pieces. The word reveals the cruelty visited on the persona and the attempts to disfigure and mutilate him/ her physically and emotionally.

(e) The pot uses repetition to emphasize his message. The word ' touch', for example is repeated more than ten times- both to explain the kind of touch that is desirable and that which is resented. Also emphasis through the enumeration and the pauses. ( one …. Two…)

(f) Prodding – poking, jabbing

Indifferent- callous, inhuman, beastly)

(g) The poem reveals that human beings abhor confinement, brutality and all forms of degrading treatment. On the other hand, people crave for human warmth, affection, privacy and freedom. When one is denied the latter, one in a way ' dies'. The persona says: ' I want to feel alive again.'
marto answered the question on June 27, 2019 at 06:09


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