a)The poem is criticism directed at those who exploit others for their selfish gains and are compared to the larvae in the toilet. Those who are dishonest and use dishonest means to get ahead in life are also criticized. For example, the university students who “ don’t sweat” yet they pass. The person sounds a warning that the opportunities carry out their schemes will disappear and he wonders what they will then do.
b) The use of the second person ‘you’ is to draw the attention of the reader. It is also meant to provoke the reader into thinking about the situations highlighted in the poem and so share in the persona’s sentiments.
c)The poet has used the following stylistic devices.
i)Contrast / irony – Don’t dig…… don’t harvest yet they grow fat- This is used to emphasize the contradictions in life and the injustices in the world.
ii)Symbolism – The cow represents those who are exploited / oppressed and the tick, those who rae opportunistic/ exploitative.
iii)Rhetorical questions –“ Where will they go?”
To demonstrate the futility of an easy life. In the end they will be destroyed.
d)The tone is sarcastic/ critical – The persona sarcastically refers to the robes worn by the preachers as angelic. They deceitfully tell the congregation to give alms to get blessings yet use the money to afford themselves extravagant lifestyles. “………yet they drive.”
e)
It is a prediction of their imminent doom because their source of wealth / fortune will eventually be taken away.
f)Meaning of expressions
i)Angelic robes – Clothes that make them appear holy / innocent
ii)Alms – Things ( clothes / food) given to the needy / poor
iii)Cast – Thrown
marto answered the question on February 26, 2021 at 11:03
- Read the oral poem below and then answer the questions that follow.(Solved)
Read the oral poem below and then answer the questions that follow.
THEY ARE ASKING FOR HER ALL OVER
They are asking her all over
Have you seen our girl
Has anybody come across Ciagitune?
The parents, the village mates and the clan elders
They are searching for her
Has anyone seen our daughter?
She is lost.
Some are saying that she went
Through the path to Mombasa
She was measured a dress at Chogoria
And the others at Kagoco
A girl has been taken away.
The daughters of Mbeere land
you have no behavior
Have you ever heard someone
Selling herself
Being picked with saliva like a flea!
A big person yet not mature in deeds
Big - for nothing girl!
a)Explain the kind of audience for this song.
b)i)Briefly outline what has happened to Ciagitune.
ii)Identify the various parties concerned about Ciagitune's contact.
c)Identify and illustrate any three literary devices which make this composition an oral poem.
d)Comment on the approach of the community to individual conduct.
e)Explain the meaning of "being picked with saliva like a flea"
Date posted: March 11, 2020. 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.
I FORGIVE YOU NYASAE By Tende Matende
I forgive you Nyasae
For creating me
When the once stretching fields
Have been turned into skyscrapers` and
The silvery water turned black with factory waste
Nyasae, I forgive you
For creating me
When the smile of moon and the glitter of the stars
Have been blurred by floodlights and neon lights.
I forgive you Nyasae
For denying me chance
To dance the throb of ngoma, ngoma dance in the open field.
Nyasae I forgive you
For creating me
When beautiful black girls
With soprano voices
Have become yellow with patches and blots
I forgive you Nyasae
For inviting me into the world
When the bull's flesh has been eaten
To lick the bones for a minutes satisfaction
a) (i)Who do you think Nyasae is?
(ii)What is he guilty of ?
b)What does the poet mean by:
.............have become yellow with patches and blots?
c)How do the last two lines of the poem summarize what the poem is really about?
d)Identify two stylistic devises used in this poem
e)Comment on the tone of the poem
f)I forgive you Nyasae.(Add a question tag)
Date posted: March 11, 2020. Answers (1)
- Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow.
(Solved)
Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow.
INTRODUCTION By Richard Ntiru
Perhaps it was his Ugil Shirt
The missing button
The unassertive collar;
Perhaps it was his knotty hair
That boosted little acquaintance with the comb;
Or maybe it was his usualness
-One more impersonal handshake
Along the constant street-
That induced the functional smile
And operated the mechanical handshake.His name didn't help either:
Mugabo Mugenge - you'd hear the name
In the out - patients attendance queue;
Not in the current Telephone Directory!
You certainly needed prompting
I said he was an old time friend
But you continued to wave to passing cars;
I added that he was a high placed man
And you promptly took your cue
-"A university teacher,author of several works"-
"Re-e-e-lly? Er- Um- oh!......"
And you became word and emotion perefct.
Like a dog that mistakes thief for a visitor
And remembers to bark at its masters coughing,
You renewed and pumped the handshake
-Reshaped your mouth to a proper smile
-Recalled his famous public talk
That you had regretfully missed..........
And observed, thoughtfully,
How unlike his photographs he looked
You were tuned-
Delved deep into his his latest novel
And wondered why his main characters
Do not walk on the solid earth
And fail to effect living communication
You'd have rumbled on, no longer looking at him,But he quipped:
"They are in god company."
And was about to add, when you knowledgeably
Interrupted,
"Society is a market stall
And men goods on display
Where the label is more important than the labelled
And the price more fascinating than the value."
And the price more fascinating than the value."
We parted hoping to meet again.
You went away rehearsing his name
But probably unremembering his face.
a)What happens in this poem?
b)Explain
i)".................boasted little acquaintance with the comb".
ii)"..........mechanical handshake."
c)Identify two stylistic character traits of "you"
d)Identify two stylistic devices used in this poem.
e)Explain how the following lines summarize the main message of the poem.
"society is a market stall
And men goods on display
Where the label is more important than the labelled.And the price more fascinating than the value."
f)What is the persona's attitude to the "you"
Date posted: March 11, 2020. Answers (1)
- Read the song below and answer the questions that follow.(Solved)
Read the song below and answer the questions that follow.
Tswi - tswiri!
I the person, I suspect!
What have you heard that makes you suspicious?
I heard things said,rumours of weaver birds;
They hate corn in Lesiba's field and finished it.
And when they left they sounded hummm-
They said , "Listen to the numerous weaver birds,
Sons of Mosima's family,
Children of the horse
that ate the courtyards and the times.
It is the numerous weaver birds,
The grey ones that go about in swarms,
Children with the little red beaks,
Children that make a noise in the mimosa trees.
Tupu - tupu!
The smoke comes out while the dew still glitters
Howaa! Sweaa! - is heard in the early morning
They are finishing the corn, the numerous weaver birds,
Children with the little red beaks.
At home it is yo! yo!
The children are crying,
Their mothers have gone to the fields to the birds,
It is the Zulus that have entered the country.
Take axes and lop the tree branches,
Yo! This year we shall eat fire,
We shall lack even a blue - tongued goat!
It is numerous weaver birds, the grey ones that go about in swarms.
a)Classify this song?
b) i)Identify two ideophones used in this song and state what makes the sound in each case.
ii)Identify and illustrate two other stylistic devices used in the song.
c)How are the weaver birds portrayed in the song.
d) i)Which phrase shows the people will suffer if the birds keep eating their crop?
ii)Other than causing food shortage, what other suffering do the weaver birds cause?
e)What is the singer's attitude to the Zulu?
f)Take axes and lop the tree branches.(replace the underlined word with a synonym.
Date posted: March 10, 2020. Answers (1)
- Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow.(Solved)
Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow.
The function by Richard Ntiru
This was her fourth function.
I will see her,
Unreturning the erect chauffeur's grin,
adjusting eyes behind sunglasses,
glancing unseeingly at her dazzling wrist,
Checking quickly with the goddess of status
-and breathing the sigh of a soul
sagging under the common grief.
Her heartfelt symphathy to the crippled
she read to the able - bodied audience,
urging the victims to build the nation
with more and more economic products
"like these you've given me".
As the tape - cutting fingers
rise with the solemn delicacy of a surgeon,
her well- protected photogenic gaze
eludes the flattered wooden gapes
and the tape misses the scissors
A crammed schedule curtails her pleasure.
A bouquet charmed her sight
and she uncovered her eyes
to confront beauty with beauty.
Suddenly she noticed the shrivelled,contorted form
behind the beauty of flowers
and collapsed into a heap
a)Recount what happens in this poem
b)Why is the woman wearing sunglasses?
c)What is implied by the following?
i)...glancing unseeingly at her dazzling wrist
ii)A crammed schedule curtailed her pleasure
d)i)Who is the persona in this poem?
ii)What is the person's attitude towards the woman in the poem?
e)Discuss two instances of irony in this poem.
f)A bouquet charmed her sight.(Rewrite in the passive)
Date posted: March 10, 2020. Answers (1)
- Read the song below and answer the questions that follow.(Solved)
Read the song below and answer the questions that follow.
Let the enemy come, ah
They came with guns,
From the West,
Look, look,look
There they arrive,
They attacked us in our land,
They attacked us at Kivachenje,
In our land at Chevambe,
We fought and we were arrested, ah
There our war started,ah
It was Ngutoka, son of Watila,
Kituyi, son of Namuyonga, ah
With youthful zest and energy,
They fought them, ah,
They defended our people
They fought
Like Wabomba son of Kalenda,
The brother of Nasurutia, ah
Our peoeple's secrets vexes the herat
Ah,vexes the heart
Clansmen,
There was a traitor from Wanga, ah,
Murunga was his name
There was a traitor from Wanga, ah,
Murungi was his name
There was a traitor from Wanga,ah
Mumia, son of Shikundu
Oh,fam is a curse
Wangamati son of Wawire,
Circumsiced in 1840's,ah
He fought at Bhukolo
We fouht, ah
With their machine guns from the west,
We fought them
Ah,we fought them.
a)What type of song is this?
b)What is the singer's attitude towards
i)The heroes
ii)The enemy
c)Identify and illustrate two features common to oral songs in this song.
d)State and illustrate two element of culture of the singer's people.
e)Explain one thing that this community abhors
f)Write a synonym for each of the following words.
i)Zest
ii)Revealing
Date posted: March 10, 2020. 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.
DEMOLITION by K.E Kasu
High up in his cabin
Hard - hatred
Gloved hands,
Extensions of levers,
The driver-
Unseeing
Down there
The woman
Pleading
And dragging out
Boxes
Bedding
Babies
And the blade chews up her meagre shelter
Scrapes away the heartstones
Leaving a nice smooth surface
High up in the cabin
He could not perhaps
Have heard her please
Above the din of machine
Could not possibly have seen her
Through the thick goggle darkness,
Small as she was
Or was busy perhaps
Thinking
About his family of five
Boxed in one room
Council house
Not far off
a)Waht is the poem about?
b)Identify and illustrate two sound patterns in the poem.
c)What is the effect of repeating the words 'nice smooth surface'?
d)Identify the irony in the poem.
e)Pick out an instance of personification and comment on its effectiveness.
f)Explain the mood of the poem.
g)Identify one theme from the poem.
Date posted: March 9, 2020. 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.
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
Date posted: March 9, 2020. 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.
ILLEGAL BREW by Dr Noah Ndosi
He was a man
of favoured health
whose speech was clarity
a successful player
in the mysterious game
of fluctuating life
The beginning
was only a few sips;
but each time he hit the fullness
of bulging calabashes
Time pulled on ;
His head entered a pot
adn remained
firmly stuck in;
his head flooding
with intoxicating
currents of alcohol,
he is now the last
to leave the beer markets.
Despite floods of warnings
from families and friends,
he firmly transplanted
his young life
on the lip burning
illegal brew
Of late, his bowels have become
visibly distended;
his breathe short
and shallow
he also drags thickly
swollen limbs.
Beyond despair,
he sees the leveller coming
to add him to a list
like some heedless neihgbour
who perished the same way.
a)What is the poem about?
b)Explain how the victim got hooked to alcoholism
c)What are the effects of illegal alcohol to the victim's body?
d)Identify an instances of contrast in the poem.
e)What is the writer's attitude towards the subject matter in the poem?
f)Identify the tone of the poem
g)Give the meaning of these words as used in the poem.
i)fluctuating
ii)bulging
iii)leveller
Date posted: March 9, 2020. 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 I see the beauty inon my beloved's face by Okot P' Bitek
When I see the beauty on my
Beloved's face,
I throw away the food in my hand;
Oh sister of the young man, listen;
The beauty on my beloved's face
Her neck is long, when I see it
I cannot sleep one wink;
Oh, the daughter of my mother- in -law
Her neck is like the shaft of the spear.
When I touch the tattos on her back;
I die;
Oh, sister of the young man, listen;
The tattoos on my beloved's back.
When I see the gap on my beloveds teeth
Her teeth are white like dry season simsim;
Oh, daughter of my father in law, listen,
The gap on my beloved,s teeth.
The daughter of the bull confuses my head ,
I have to marry her;
True , sister of the young man, listen;
The suppleness of my beloved's waist.
i)Identify the speaker
b) Identify and illustrate three poetic devices used by the poet
c)Pick out 3 that the people fro where the poem is set use to define beauty in women.
d)What solution does the speaker have to resolve the crisis he is in?
e)What is the effect of repetition in the poem?
f)Give the meaning of these words as used in the poem.
i)shaft
ii)suppleness
Date posted: March 9, 2020. 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.
SYMPTOMS OF LOVE
Love is a universal migraine
A bright stain on the vision
Blotting out reason.
Symptoms of true love
Are leanness, jealousy,
Laggard dawns;
Are omens and nightmares-
Listening for a knock.
Waiting for a sign:
For a touch of her fingers
In a darkened room,
For a searching look
Take courage,lover!
Could you endure such pain
At any hand but hers?
a)What is the poem about?
b)Identify and illustrate any two stylistic devises used by the poet.
c)Which three words used in the poem show that true love is painful.
d)What concrete evidence should a lover look for in true love?
e)Identify the solution the speaker gives to the lover?
f)Who is being addressed in this poem?Give evidence from the poem.
g)Give the meaning of these words as used in the poem.
i)migraine
ii)laggard
iii)endure
Date posted: March 9, 2020. Answers (1)
- Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow. AFTER A WAR The outcome? Conflicting rumours.....
As to what (Solved)
Read the pom below and answer the questions that follow.
AFTER A WAR
The outcome? Conflicting rumours
As to what faction murdered
The one man who, had survived
Might have ruled us without corruption
Not matters now:
We're busy collecting the dead
Counting them, hard though it is
To be sure what side they were on
Whta 's left of their bodies and faces
Tells of no need but for burial
And mutilations was practices
By right left and centre alike
As for the children and women
Who knows that they wanted
Apart from the usual things?
Food is scarce now, and men are scarce
Whole villages burnt to the ground
New cities in disrepair
The war is over, somebody must have won
Somebody will have won.When peace is declared
a)What is the poem about?
b)Outline four results of war
c)Describe the mood of the poem
d)How can we infer that corruption will continue to manifest itself in the society in the poem?
e)What points out that the killing were extremely inhuman?
f)What were the poets feelings towards war?
g)Give the meaning of these words as used in the poem
i)faction
ii)mutilations
iii)Scarce
Date posted: March 9, 2020. Answers (1)
- Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.(Solved)
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
Ocol rejects the old type
He is in love with modern woman,
He is in love with a beautiful girl
Who speaks English
But only recently
We would sit close together, touching each other!
Only recently I would play
On my bow harp
Singing praises to my beloved
Only recently he promised
That he trusted me completely
I used to admire him speaking in English
Ocol is no longer in love with old type;
He is in love with a modern girl.
The name of the beutiful one
Is Clementine
Brother ,when you see Clementine!
The beautiful one aspires
To look like a white woman.
Her lips are red - hot
Like glowing charcoal,
She resembles the wild cat
That has dipped its mouth in blood,
Her mouth is like raw rays
It looks like an open ulcer,
Like the mouth of a fiend
Tina dusts powder on her face
And it looks so pale;
She resembles the wizard
Getting ready for the midnight dance.
She dusts her ash - dirt all over her face
And when little sweat
Begins to appear on her body
She looks like the guinea fowl!
The smell of carbolic soap
Makes me sick
And the smell of powder
Provokes the ghosts in my head;
It is then necessary to fetch a goat from my mother's brother.
The sacrifice over.
The ghost- dance drum must sound
The ghost be laid
And my peace restored.
I do not like dusting myself with powder
The thing is good on pink skin because it is already pale,
But when a black woman has used it
She looks as if she has dysentery;
Tina looks sickly
And she is slow moving
She is a piteous sight.
a)Classify the genre above
b)Identify the speaker
c)Identify and illustrate two stylistic devices used by the writer.
d)What is the speakers altitude towards the modern woman?
e)Pick out three things the speaker feels an African woman should not do.
f)What remedy does the speaker have for problems brought to her by the modern woman?
g)Describe two character traits of the speaker
h)Give the meaning of the following words as used in the text.
i)resemble
ii)piteous
Date posted: March 9, 2020. Answers (1)
- Read the following poem and then answer the questions that follow.(Solved)
Read the following poem and then answer the questions that follow.
LIFE VARIETY
Why do we grumble because a tree is bent?
When in our streets, there are even men who are bent?
Why do we complain that the new moon is slanting?
Can anyone reach the sky to straighten it?
Can't we see that some cocks have combs on their heads?
but no plums in their tails?
And some have plumes in their tails, but claws on their toes?
And other have claws on their toes, but no weapon 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.
The Owa has everything but a horse's stable
Some scholars of Ifa cannot tell the way to Ofa
Others know the way to Ofa, but not alien of Ofa
Great eaters have no food to eat,
And great drinkers no wine to drink
Wealth has coat of many colors
i)State the intonation at the end of lines 3 and 8.
ii)Describe the oral performance devise you would use to deliver this poem.
iii)Explain two qualities of a good story teller.
Date posted: March 5, 2020. Answers (1)
- Read the following and answer the questions that follow.(Solved)
Read the following and answer the questions that follow.
"Too many cooks spoil the broth"
i)Classify the above genre.
ii)Give another example from the same genre with a similar meaning
iii)Give another example from same genre that contrasts it.
iv)Cite an incident where the above genre can apply.
Date posted: March 5, 2020. Answers (1)
- Read the item below and answer the questions that follow.(Solved)
Read the item below and answer the questions that follow.
LAZY MAN
When the cock crows
the lazy man smacks his lips and says;
So it is daylight again, is it?
And before he turns over heavily,
before he even yawns,
the farmer has reached the farm,
the water carriers have arrived at the river,
the spinners are spinning their cotton
the weaver works on his cloth,
and the fire blazes in the blacksmith's hut.
The lazy one knows where the soup is sweet.
He goes from house to house,
I f there is no sacrifice today,
his breastbone will stick out!
but when he sees the free yam,
he starts to unbutton his shirt, he moves close to the celebrant.
Yet his troubles are not few,
When his wives reach puberty,
rich men will help him marry them.
i)Classify the above oral poem
ii)Identify and explain any two stylistic devices used in the poem.
Date posted: March 5, 2020. Answers (1)
- Read the song below and answer the questions that follow.(Solved)
Read the song below and answer the questions that follow.
Where is she eee
Where is the bride?
We want to pamper her
We want to pamper her x 2
We advise you, we advise you
When you get there, respect your husband
When he calls you respond to his call.So that your marriage can last.
Both of you may live in peace
Both of you may live in peace x 2
i)State the words which can be stressed in line two and explain why?
ii)What is lost when the above song is written down?
iii)If you were reading the song aloud in class, how would you ensure that those listening to you get the message?
Date posted: March 4, 2020. Answers (1)
- Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.(Solved)
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
Sampan
Waves lap lap
Fish fins clap clap
Brown sails flap flap
Chop sticks tap tap
Up and down the long green river
Ohe! Ohe! Lanterns quiver
Willow branches brush the river
Ohe! Ohe! Lanterns quiver
Waves lap lap
Fish fins clap clap
Brown sails flap flap
Chop sticks tap tap
Questions:
1. Describe the rhyme scheme of the above poem.
2. Identify and illustrate any sound devices used in the poem.
3. Provide another word that is pronounced the same way as the ones provided below.
i) Key –
ii) One –
iii) Passed –
iv) Come –
v) Read
Date posted: October 15, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.(Solved)
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
Questions:
1. Describe the rhyme scheme of the above poem.
2. Identify and illustrate any sound devices used in the poem.
3. Provide another word that is pronounced the same way as the ones provided below.
i) Key –
ii) One –
iii) Passed –
iv) Come –
v) Read
Date posted: October 14, 2019. Answers (1)
- Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.(Solved)
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
a) Who is the persona in the poem.
b) Identify the imagery used and show its effectiveness.
c) Explain the meaning of the following sentences:-
1) Seeing only a bun on some sky-high shelf.
2) Your stomach is a den of lions
Roaring day and night
d) What is the attitude of the persona towards the boy?
e) What is the meaning of the following words?
1) Chiseled
2) Glazed
3) Taut
4) Confetti
f) What is the mood of the poem?
Date posted: October 14, 2019. Answers (1)