(a) The poem is about the death of a ruler, who is a traitor. The ruler who is assassinated outside a night club, and his body is left to be devoured by vultures. His diary is washed into the sea by rain. and when it is found it reveals who the ruler was and his desire to be buried in a dignified, grand funeral.
(b) The words stuttering rifles are onomatopoeic. They describe the sound of bullets flying from the rifles of the assassins.
(c) The tone of the poem is satirical/sarcastic. The poem is satirical about the arrogance of the politician who is very selfish and has no regard for other people. The poem satirizes the politicians desire for a lavish funeral but dies in very humiliating conditions.
(d) The central theme of the poem is betrayal and change. The politician has no regard for the downtrodden and poor people in the country, whose interests he should be serving. He uses his money to buy cheap pleasure instead of engaging in constructive activities. Change is represented by the assassination and at the end of the poem a pupil suggests that they bring tractors to plough the land; which represents a major change.
(e) (i) Yellow is not a colour of the national flag of Kenya. The poet is asking who could contradict the politician who claimed to be the expert while the common citizens are cursed to brood on books, think about schoolgirls and hunger, and sleep hungry under torn mosquito nets.
(ii) The possible meanings of this line are:
-first, it could literally mean that his diary was a submarine because it was found in the sea;
-secondly, it could mean that the ideas he had written in the diary were highly destructive and irresponsible, to the extent that they could lead to the Third World War.
(f) This is an open question. Award marks for well thought out alternatives, for example civic education and electing responsible leaders who have integrity.
(g)
(i) anchored — secured or held firmly
(ii) brood — think or worry about
marto answered the question on August 14, 2019 at 12:50
- Read the oral poem below and answer the questions that follow.(Solved)
Read the oral poem below and answer the questions that follow.
Ha! That mother who takes her food alone
Ha! That mother before she has eaten
Ha! That mother she says, “lull the baby for me”.
Ha! That mother, when she has finished eating,
Ha! That mother, she says, “give the child to me.”
a) What type of oral poem is this? (2 marks)
.....................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
b) Explain briefly what the above oral poem is about (4 marks)
.....................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
c) Who is the speaker in the above oral poem? (2 marks)
.....................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
d) What is the speaker’s attitude towards the mother? (2 marks)
.....................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
e) What evidence is there to show that this is an oral poem? (6 marks)
.....................................................................................................................................................
f) State two functions of the above oral poem.
g) Mention one feature that is characteristic of this sub-genre (2 marks)
.....................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................................................................
Date posted: August 13, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the poem below and answer questions that follow (Solved)
Read the poem below and answer questions that follow
(8mks)
To my Sister
It is the first mild day of March
Each minute sweeter than before,
The red breast sings from the tall larch
That stands beside our door
There is a blessing in the air,
Which seems a sense of joy to yield?
To the bare trees and mountains bare,
And grass in the green field
My sister! (‘tis a wish of mine)
Now that our morning meal is done
Make haste, your morning task resign,
Come forth and feel the sun.
William Wordsworth.
Questions
(i) List any four pairs of rhyming words.
(ii) Describe the rhyme scheme of the poem.
(iii) How would you say the ninth line of the poem?
Date posted: August 13, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the poem below and then answer the questions that follow.(Solved)
Read the poem below and then answer the questions that follow.
When, in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least,
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising;
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
(Like to the lark at the break of day arising)
From sullen earth sings hymns at heaven's gate,
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
William Shakespeare's Sonnet 29)
i) Identify any four pairs of words that rhyme in this poem.
(ii) Give two instances of alliteration in this poem.
iii) Imagine you are performing this poem to learners who are visually impaired.
B.Explain four ways in which you would ensure that they get the message effectively.
Date posted: August 13, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow. When the sessions of sweet silent thought...(Solved)
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
When the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past,
I sigh the lack of many things I sought.
And with old woes new wails my dear time’s waste,
Then can drown an eye, unused to flow,
For precious friends hid in death dareless night
And weep afresh love’s long since cancelled woe,
And moan the expansive of many a vanished sight.
The can I grieve at grievances fore gone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell O’er,
The sad account of fore-bemoaned man
Which I now pay as not paid before,
But if the while I THINK ON THEE DEAR FRIEND
All loses are restored and sorrow end.
QUESTIONS
i) Describe the rhyme scheme of this poem.
ii) Identify three pairs of rhyming words in this poem.
iii) Apart from rhyme, how else has rhythm been achieved
iv) Which words would you stress in the first line. Explain.
Date posted: August 8, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.(Solved)
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
O whisper, O my soul! The afternoon
Is waning into evening, whisper soft!
Peace, O my rebel heart! For soon the moon
From out its misty veil will swing aloft!
Be patient, weary body, soon the night
Will wrap thee gently in her sable sheet,
And with a leaden sigh thou wilt invite
To rest thy tired hands and aching feet.
The wretched day was theirs, the night is mine;
Come tender sleep, and fold me to thy breast.
But what steals out the gray clouds like red wine?
O dawn! O dreaded dawn! O let me rest
Weary my veins, my brain, my life ! Have pity!
No! Once again the harsh, the ugly city! By Claude McKay
i) Explain how the poet achieves rhythm in the poem above.
ii) Briefly explain how you would perform the first two lines in this poem.
Date posted: August 6, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the poem below and then answer the questions that follow.(Solved)
Read the poem below and then answer the questions that follow.
SWEET AND LOW
Sweet and low, sweet and low,
Wind of the western sea.,
Low, low, breath and blow,
Wind of the western sea!
Over the rolling waters go,
Come from the dying moon, and blow,
Blow him again to me;
While my little one, while my pretty one, sleeps.
Sleep and rest, sleep and rest,
Father will come to thee soon;
Rest, rest on mother’s breast;
Father will come to thee soon;
Father will come to his babe n the nest,
Silver sails all out of the west
Under the silver moon;
Sleep my little one, sleep, my pretty one, sleep. (Alfred lord Tennyson)
Questions
i) State any two pairs of rhyming words from the poem above.
ii) Apart from rhyme, with illustrations from the poem, identify any other two techniques that have been used by the poet to create rhythm in this poem.
iii) If you were to classify the above poem as a song, in which category would you place it and
iv) Comment on the number of syllables used in the last line of each stanza. What does this tell you about rhythm of this poem?
v) If you were to recite this poem to its target audience, how would you recite the last line of the last stanza.
vi) From the poem, identify any two words containing the vowel sound / ^/
Date posted: August 6, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow
Make me a grave where’er you will,
In a lowly plain
(Solved)
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
Make me a grave where’er you will,
In a lowly plain, or a lofty hill;
Make it among earth’s humblest graves,
But not in a land where men are slaves.
I could not rest if around my grave
I heard the steps of a trembling slave;
His shadow above my silent tomb
Would make it a place of fearful gloom
I could not rest if I heard the tread
Of a coffle going to the shambles led,
And the mother’s shriek of wild despair
Rise like a curse on the trembling air
(by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper)
Questions
a) Describe the rhyme scheme of the poem above.
b) Apart from rhyme, mention two other ways they have achieved rhythm
c) Mention two ways in which you would know that your audience is fully participating during the recitation of the poem above.
d) How would you say the last line of the poem?
e) Indicate whether the following items have a falling or a rising intonation.
i) Get out now! …………………………………………………
ii) The man was accused of theft. ……………………………………
iii) How did you find the English exam? ………………………………
iv) Could he have left?
Date posted: August 6, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the poem below and then answer the questions that follow.(Solved)
Read the poem below and then answer the questions that follow.
The splash
Under warm sunshine,
A pond of water rests, calm and serene.
The blue sky inhabits the middle of the pond,
And its sides reflect the greenery,
Spotted with the yellow and the red,
The red and the violet
The water, the sky, the vegetation,
Hand in hand convey harmony and peace.
Then comes the splash!
And a tremendous stirring surges:
Reflections distort,
Giving way to a rushing flow of triples
Ripples innumerable,
All fleeing from the wound.
Time elapses,
Ripples innumerable
All fleeing from the wound
Time elapses,
Ripples fade,
Reflections regain their shape,
And once again emerges the pond
Smooth and tranquil.
But the stone!
The stone will always cling to the bottom
a) What do you think this poem is about?
b) What is implied by the use of color imagery (lines 4, 5, 6)?
c) Identify and explain two stylistic devices used in this poem other than color imagery.
d) Describe the tone of this poem
e) Explain the meaning of the last two lines.
f) Explain the message of the following words as they are used in the poem:
Surges
Fade
Tranquil
Date posted: June 27, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow:(Solved)
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?
Date posted: June 27, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the poem below and answer the question that follow.(Solved)
Read the poem below and answer the question that follow.
Isatou died
When she was only five
And full of pride
Just before she new
5 How small a loss
It brought to such a few
Her mother wept
Half grateful
To be so early bereft.
10 And did not see the smile
As tender as the root
Of the emerging plant
Which sealed her eyes
The neighbours wailed
15 As they were paid to do
And thought how big a spread
Might be her wedding too
The father looked at her
Through marble eyes and said;
20 “Who spilt the perfume
Mixed with morning dew?”
Lenrie Peters
(From: The Earth Is Ours. Edited by Ian Gordon)
i) Identify any two pairs of rhyming words in this poem.
ii) Which words would you stress in line 2 of this poem, and why?
iii) How would you say the last two lines of this poem?
Date posted: June 27, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.(Solved)
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
How doeth the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour
And gather honey all the day
From every opening flower.
How skilfully she builds her cell!
How neat she spreads the wax!
And labours hard to store it well
With the sweet food she makes.
In works of labour or of skill
I would be busy too.
For Satan finds some mischief still
For idle hands to do
In books or work or healthful play
Let my first years be past,
That I may give for every day
Some good account at last
i) Identify four pairs of rhyming words in the poem?
ii) Besides rhyme, identify and illustrate two other ways though which rhythm has been achieved in this poem
iii) Imagine you are listening to a live presentation of this poem. What four things would you do to benefit most from the listening experience?
Date posted: June 12, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow in the spaces provided.(Solved)
Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow in the spaces provided.
MY TRAIN JOURNEY TO MOMBASA
Kurukuru kakara kukuru kakara,
The train moves
Roaring and racing on the ridge.
Kukuru kakara kukuru kakara,
Crawling,criss-crossing beautiful plains
I sit staring at scenic scenes
Observing the wild animals.
Kukuru kakara kukuru kakara,
I feel the heat
I see the Swahili houses
Thriving thatched homestead.
Kukuru kakara kukuru kakara,
I see the bright ocean.
The train grinds to a hault.
I am in Mombasa.
By Egara Kabaji
i) Describe the rhyme scheme of this poem.
ii) Describe how rhythm has been achieved in this poem.
iii) How would you make this poem interesting if you were to recite it to audience.
iv) If the words ‘kukuru kakara kukuru kakara ‘are translated into English, what would happen?
Date posted: June 12, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow. Civil War....(Solved)
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
CIVIL WAR
In this land
Graveyards have no markers
For blood flows freely
Into the gutter
Where corpses abide
In restless sleep
In this land
Kinship is long dead
And the insiders prevail
A neighbours hand
In darkness hidden
Stripes yet another victim’s light
In this land
The wind blows across the neglected fields
Promising yet another spectacle
Of hollowed eyes and pinched skins
Trudging and falling to the unyielding trains
Of self-destruction
In the air
The whiter dove
Flutter with change
And perhaps
It would be better if this symbol of peace
Were established in the souls of the people
In this land
(David Mugwika
(1) What is the poem about?
(2) Who is the speaker?
(3) Identify any two features of the style in the poem and show their effectiveness.
(4) Describe the tone of this poem.
(5) Explain the significance of the last stanza in relation to the message in the whole poem.
(6) Give the meaning of the following lines as used in the poem.
(i) Kinship is long dead.
(ii) Stifles yet another victim’s light.
(7) Citing examples, discuss one effect of civil war.
Date posted: June 11, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow. From the dark tower(Solved)
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
FROM THE DARK TOWER
We shall not always plant while others reap
The golden increment of bursting fruit,
Not always countenance, abject and mute,
That lesser men should hold their brothers chap;
Not everlasting while others sleep
Shall we beguile their limbs with mellow flute,
Not always bend to some more subtle brute;
We were not made to eternally weep,
The night whose sable breast relieves the stark,
White stars is no less lovely being dark,
And there are buds that cannot bloom at all
In light, but crumple, piteous, and fall;
So in the dark we hide the heart that bleeds,
And wait, and tend our agonizing seeds.
By Countee Cullen
(i) Describe the rhyme scheme in the poem above.
(ii) Apart from rhyme, identify any other way in which the poet has achieved rhythm.
(iii) Which words would you stress in the line: 'We were not made to eternally weep'?
(iv) How would you say the last line of this poem.
Date posted: June 11, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the poem below and answer the questions below.(Solved)
Read the poem below and answer the questions below.
Advise to my son
The trick is, to live your days
as if each one may be your last
(for they go fast, and young men lose their lives
in strange and unimaginable ways)
but at the same time, plan long range
(for they go slow : if you survive
the shattered windshield and burning shell
you will arrive
at our approximation here below
or heaven or hell)
To be specific, between the poeny and the rose
plant squash and spinach, turnips and tomatoes;
beauty in nectar
and nectar, in desert saves
but the stomach craves stronger sustenance
than the homed vine.
therefore, marry a pretty girl
after seeing her mother;
speak truth to one man,
work with another;
and always, serve bread with your wine.
But son,
Always serve wine
(Peter Meinke)
a) Who is the speaker in the poem. Illustrate your answer.
b) In what circumstances do many young people die? Illustrate your answer from the poem.
c) What do heaven and hell symbolize?
d) Identify items in the poem that represent life’s necessities on one hand and life’s luxuries on the other.
e) Identify and illustrate the use of the paradox in the poem.
f) What does the persona mean by ‘marry a pretty girl after seeing the mother'?
g) The stomach craves stronger sustenance.(Rewrite using (What)
h) Give two meanings of each of the following words.
-Last
-Fast
i) Give the meaning of the last two lines
Date posted: June 11, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.(Solved)
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
SUNSET
The sun spun like
a tossed coin
it whirled on the azure sky,
it clattered into the horizon,
it clicked in the slot,
and neon lights popped,
and blinked ‘time expired’
as on a parking meter.
(Oswald Mbusiyeni: mtshaki)
i) Describe the rhyme scheme of the poem
ii) How would you say the last line of this poem
iii) State any two onomatopoeic words in the poem.
iv) Identify any other sound pattern used in the poem.
v) State and illustrate three non-verbal cues that you would use to make the recitation of the above poem interesting.
Date posted: June 11, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
Horizons by Kalungi Kabuye(Solved)
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
Horizons by Kalungi Kabuye
As I meditate
And levitate
In human state
No one can see
How the internal sea
Wells up with hope
But lets hope
Life so dear
With love so near
And closeness so close
Will bring home
The thing that we hope
Means to transform
Even the simplest digit
Into a magnified seed
Of a mustard tree
i) Which words would you stress in line (i) of the poem and why?
ii) How has rhythm been achieved in this poem?
iii) What tone of voice would be appropriate in recitation of this poem?
iv) How would you say the last line of this poem?
Date posted: June 11, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.(Solved)
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
When my love swears that she is made of truth,
I do believe her, though I know she lies.
That she might think me some untutored youth,
Unlearned in the world’s false subleties.
Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
Although she knows my days are past the best.
Simply I credit her false speaking tongue
On both sides thus is simple truth suppressed.
But wherefore says shes not unjust?
And wherefore says not I that I am old?
O love’s best habit is seeming trust,
And age in love loves not to have years told.
Therefore I lie with her, and she with me,
And in our faults by lies we flattered be.
Questions.
(i) Identify and illustrate the sound patterns in the poem.
(ii) Explain and illustrate the rhyme scheme in the poem.
Date posted: June 7, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the poem below and then answer the questions that follow.(Solved)
Read the poem below and then answer the questions that follow.
Thou art indeed just, Lord, if I contend
With thee; but, sir, so what I plead is just.
Why do sinners way prosper? and why must
Disappointment all I endeavour end?
Wert thou my enemy O thou my friend
How wouldst thou worse, I wonder, than thou dost
Defeat, thwart me? Oh, the sots and thralls of lust
Do spare hours more thrive than, that spend,
Sir, life upon thy cause. See, banks and breaks
Now, leavèd how thick! lacèd they are again
With fretty cherril, look, and fresh wind shakes
Them; birds build – but not I build; no, but strain,
Time’s enough, and not breed one work that wakes.
Mine, O thou lord of life, send my roots rain.
Questions
(i) Identify four examples of assonance in the poem.
(ii) Write out and describe the rhyme scheme of the poem.
(iii) How would you perform the last line of the poem?
(iv) Indicate whether the following lines in the poem would be said with a falling or rising intonation.
a) Why do sinners way prosper?
b) Disappointment all I endeavor end?
Date posted: June 7, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow. The Seed Shop(Solved)
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
The Seed Shop
HERE in a quiet and dusty room they lie,
Faded a scrumbled stone or shifting sand,
Forlorn as ashes, shrivelled, scentless, dry--
Meadows and gardens running through my hand.
In this brown husk a dale of hawthorn dreams,
A cedar in this narrow cell is 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) Describe the rhyme scheme of this poem.
(ii) What is the effect of rhyme in the poem?
(iii) Giving one example, show how else the poet has achieved the effect in (ii) above?
(iv) Which word would you stress in the last line of stanza one and why?
Date posted: June 7, 2019. Answers (1)