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

      

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

SENIOR STAFF CLUB by A.I.LUVAI

Super - revolutionary mouths
Drop
In between puffs of cigarettes
Water - tight truths.

The common man i.e
Working man and woman
To be exact-
Must be helped by us
To wake to their oppressed status
We must raise the masses' consciousnesses!
But - gesturing left hand hands
In between
Drop vampire BAT butts on the floor
Swept daily by women
Faceless and nameless

In the help- self places
Nani, wee, and ai - sei
Clear the directionless mess
Splashed by the directional
Here,too,in beery bowls
They find floating yellowed butts
The tail -ends of bitter truths
(Adapted from Boundless voices edited by Arthur I Luvai

a)What is the poem about.?

b)Who do you think are the super - revolutionary mouths in line 1

c)What is the irony in the poem?

d)A part from irony identify and illustrate two more features of style used in the poem.

e)How does the poet feel about the peoplke he describes in line 1?

f)Why do you think the poet refers to the women sweepers as faceless and nameless?

g)Describe the tone of the poem.

h)Give the meaning of these words as used in the poem.
i)water - tight

ii)beery

iii) oppressed

  

Answers


Martin
a) The poem is about how some people who see themselves superior to others; pretend to care about those whom they deem less intelligent and needing their help,
-yet the same so called senior people later on
- Don't care about the workers where they go to meet
- as they drop buts of cigarettes and command them to do the cleaning of their mess.

b)The super revolutionary mouths in line 1 are:
-the rulers/ managers/ politicians/ employers/ senior people in society.

c)The irony in the poem is that those saying they care about the common man and woman do the opposite as they drop waste on floors to be washed by the low people and who are ordered by the same senior people to wash the mess.
-To them, their mess is directionful while the people are faceless and nameless.

d)Other features of style used in the poem include:
i)alliteration Beery bowls
Find floating
ii)contrast

-what the super revolutionary mouths say is contrasted with their behavior of not caring about the common man.

e)The poet's feeling towards the super revolutionary mouth is hatred/ dislike/ disgust

f)The poet refers to the women sweepers as faceless and nameless to show how disrespected they are by those who frequent where the women work as sweepers.
The patrons of these places don't see them as humans and disrespect their work

g)The tone of the poem is sarcastic.

h)i) water tight - that which can't be questioned/ faulted

ii)Beery - bowls full of beer waste
iii)oppressed -those who are treated cruelly and
- not having same opportunities and benefits like others.
marto answered the question on March 9, 2020 at 11:01


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