- Read the poem below and answer questions that follow.
The sweetest thing by Ibid.(Solved)
Read the poem below and answer questions that follow.
The sweetest thing by Ibid.
The sweetest thing by Ibid.
There is in this world something
That surpasses all other things
In sweetness.
It is sweeter than honey
It is sweeter than salt
It is sweeter than sugar
It is sweeter than all
Existing things.
This thing is sleep
When you are conquered by sleep
Nothing can prevent you
Nothing can stop you from sleeping
When you are conquered by sleep
And numerous millions arrive
Millions will find you asleep
(i) Identify and illustrate two sound patterns used in the poem.
(ii) Write down words from the poems that have the following sounds;
/ i: / …………………………………………
/ S / …………………………………………
/ D / ………………………………………..
Date posted: May 24, 2019.
- Read the poem and answer the questions that follow.
I SEE HIS BLOOD UPON THE ROSE by Joseph Plunkett
(Solved)
Read the poem and answer the questions that follow.
I SEE HIS BLOOD UPON THE ROSE by Joseph Plunkett
I see his blood upon the rose,
And in the stars the glory of his eyes,
His body gleams amid eternal snows,
His tears fall from the skies.
I see his face in every flower;
The thunder and the singing of the birds
Are but his voice - and carven by his power
Rocks are his written words
All pathways by his feet are worn,
His strong heart stirs the ever beating sea
His crown of thorns is twined with every thorn,
His cross is every tree.
i) Describe the rhyme scheme of the poem
ii) Which words would you stress in the last two lines of the last stanza and why?
iii) Apart from rhyme, identify and illustrate one sound device in this poem
iv) Give two effects of the above sound pattern
v) How would you say the last line of the poem
Date posted: May 23, 2019.
- Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow.
THAT OTHER LIFE(Solved)
Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow.
THAT OTHER LIFE
(By Everett M Standa)
I have only faint memories
Memories of those days when all our joyful moment
In happiness, sorrow and dreams
Were so synchronized
That we were in spirit and flesh
One soul;
I have only faint memories
When we saw each other’s image everywhere;
The friends, the relatives,
The gift of flowers, clothes and treats,
The evening walks where we praised each other,
Like little children in love;
I remember the dreams about children
The friendly neighbors and relatives
The money, the farms and cows
All were the pleasures ahead in mind
Wishing for the day of final union
When the dreams will come true
On that day final union
We promised each other pleasures and care
And everything good under the sun
As a daily reminder that you and me were one forever
QUESTIONS
a) What does the day of the final union mean to the persona?
b) What faint memories does the persona have, according to the poem?
c) What is the persona’s attitude towards their marriage?
d) Explain the following expressions as used in the poem
(i) Happiness, sorrow and dreams were so synchronized............
(ii) ....... praised each other like children in love
(iii) All were pleasures ahead in mind.
e) Identify two aspects of style used in this poem and explain their effectiveness.
f) What is the mood of the poem
Date posted: May 6, 2019.
- Read the poem below then answer the questions that follow.
Riding Chinese Machines(Solved)
Questions
(a) Briefly describe what the poem is about.
(b) Explain how the poet feels towards the beasts in the city.
(c) Identify two poetic devices employed by the poet in the poem.
(d) Explain the irony of the type of development described in the poem
(e) Explain the meaning of the following lines in the poem.
ii) The lions investigate and buried marvel rumbles squeezed for progress.
(f) Identify and explain one theme tackled in the poem.
(g) Explain the significance of the title to the poem.
Date posted: May 6, 2019.
- Read the oral poem below and then answer the questions that follows
'FAMINE'(Solved)
'FAMINE'
The owner of yam peels his yam in the house’s:
A neighbor knocks at the door
The owner of yam throws his yam in the bedroom:
The neighbor says, I just heard
A sound, ‘kerekere’, that is why I came,
The owner of the yam replies,
That was nothing, I was sharpening two knives.
The neighbor says again, I still heard
Something like ‘bi’ sound behind the door.
The owner of the yam says,
'I merely tried my door with a mallet.'
The neighbour says again,
'What about his huge fie burning on your hearth?'
The fellow replies,
'I am merely warming water for my bath.'
The neighbour persist,
'Why is your skin all white, when this is not the Harmattan season'
The fellow is ready with his reply,
I was rolling on the floor when I heard the death of Agadapidi.”
Then the neighbour says, 'Peace be with you.'
The owner of the yam start shut,
'There cannot be peace'
Unless the owner of food is allowed to eat his own food!'
Questions.
(a) Briefly explain what the poem is about.
(b) What does the neighbor hope to achieve by being so persistent?
(c) Using illustrations, describe any two character traits of the owner of the yam.
(d) Identify the ideophones words in the poem.
(e) How do we know that the neighbor is observant?
(f) Describe the tone of the owner of the yam.
(g) The neighbor says, 'peace be with you.' Why is this statement ironic?
(h) What lesson can we learn from this poem?
Date posted: May 6, 2019.
- Read the oral poem below and then answer the questions that follows.(Solved)
Read the oral poem below and then answer the questions that follows.
Today I did my share
In building the nation
I drove a permanent Secretary
To an important urgent function
In fact a luncheon at the Vic.
The menu reflected its importance
Cold Bell beer with small talk,
Then friend chicken with niceties
Wine to fill the hollowness of the laughs
Ice-cream to cover the stereotype jokes
Coffee to keep the PS awake on return journey.
I drove the Permanent Sectretary back.
He yawned many times in the back of the car
Did you have any lunch friend?
I replied looking straight ahead
And secretly smiling at his belated concern
That I had not, but was smiling!
Upon which he said with a seriousness
That amused more than annoyed me,
Mwananchi, I too had none!
I attended to matters of state
Highly delicate diplomatic duties you know,
And friend, it goes against my grain,
Causes me stomach ulcers and wind.
Ah, he continued, yawning again,
The pains we suffer in buiding the nation!
So the PS had ulcers too!
My ulcers I think are equally painful
Only they are caused by hunger,
Not sumptuous lunches!
So two nation builders
Arrived home this evening
With terrible stomach pains
The result of building the nation -
- Different ways.
Henry Barlow
1. Identify two voices in the poem
2. Explain what the poem addresses
3. Identify and illustrate the use of any two poetic devices uses in the poem and explain their effectiveness
4. Describe the tone in the poem
5. How would you describe the attitude of the permanent secretary towards the persona?
6. Describe the rhyme scheme in stanza one
7. i) 'He yawned many times in the back of the car.' Add a question tag
ii) ' I drove the permanent secretary back.
Write in passive voice
Date posted: May 6, 2019.
- Read the oral piece below and answer the questions that follow(Solved)
Read the oral piece below and answer the questions that follow
Blood iron and trumpets
Blood iron and trumpets
Forward we march
(others fall on the way)
Blood iron and trumpets
We shall hack kill and cure
Blood iron and trumpets
Singers of the datsun blue
Forward we drive breaking the records
Blood iron and trumpets
Let bullets find their targets and the earth be softened
Blood iron and trumpets
Let the dogs of war rejoice
And the carrion birds feed
We are reducing population sexplosion
Blood iron and trumpets
The uniformed machines are around
Put on your helmet iron and rest
Blood iron and trumpets
Only through fire can be baptized to mean business
So once again
Blood iron and trumpets
We shall always march along
Blood iron and trumpets
Blood iron and trumpets
Blood alone
(a) Classify the oral piece above
(b) What are the functions of the oral piece above?
(c) Identify two features of oral poetry evident in the oral item.
(d) What two issues is this oral poem talking about?
(e) Cite one social and one economic activity of the community from which this oral poem is taken
(f) Who would be the most suitable audience for the oral poem? Give reasons for your answer
(g) 'The uniformed machines are around” Explain the meaning of this statement.
(h) Describe the mood of the poem.
Date posted: May 6, 2019.
- Read the poem below and answer the questions below.
Advise to my son(Solved)
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. 2 marks
b) In what circumstances do many young people die? Illustrate your answer from the poem. 4 marks
c) What do heaven and hell symbolize? 2 marks
d) Identify items in the poem that represent life’s necessities on one hand and life’s luxuries on the other. 2 marks
e) Identify and illustrate the use of the paradox in the poem. 3 marks
f) What does the persona mean by ‘marry a pretty girl after seeing the mother?2 marks
g) The stomach craves stronger sustenance.(Rewrite using (What) 1 mark
h) Give two meanings of each of the following words. 2 marks
-Last
-Fast
i) Give the meaning of the last two lines 2 marks
Date posted: May 6, 2019.
- Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
Your Cigarette Burnt the Savannah Grass(Solved)
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
Your Cigarette Burnt the Savannah Grass
Come
Listen to a boiling pot
torch its heart and tell me
What do you hear?
the sun sent down sowers of it
that burnt to cinder your eddying conscience
the earth at the touch of your fingers
cracked
Colour melts at your stare
Orange white blurred and all
are the same to you
Your cigarette burnt the savannah grass
The scorpion bit me and I cried.
Charles Owuor
i) Identify and illustrated any three appeals the persona puts across to his adversary (3 marks)
ii) What is the subject matter of this poem? (3 marks)
iii) Identify and explain any three aspects of style and explain their functions. (6 marks)
iv) Explain the meaning of the following lines. (4 marks)
(a) ‘Come
Listen to a boiling pot’
(b) ‘ the sun sent down showers of it that burnt to cinder your eddying conscience!
(v) What is the mood of the poem? (2 marks)
(vi) What is the persona’s attitude towards his adversary? (2 marks)
Date posted: May 3, 2019.
- Read the poem below and then answer the questions that follow. (20 marks)
A TAX DRIVER ON DEATH BED. (By Timothy Wangusa(Solved)
Read the poem below and then answer the questions that follow. (20 marks)
A TAX DRIVER ON DEATH BED. (By Timothy Wangusa
When with prophetic eye I peer in to the future
I see that I shall perish upon this road
Driving men that I do not know
This metallic monster that I now dictate,
This docile elaborate horse,
That in silence seems to simmer and strain
Shall surely revolt some tempting day.
For any man’s journey,
Nor for proprietors gain
Nor yet for the love of my own.
Not for these do I attempt the forbidden limits.
For those deft the traffic - man and the cold cell,
Risking everything for the little little more.
They shall say, I know, who pick up my bones
‘Poor chap, another victim to the ruthless machine”
concealing my blood under the metal.
Questions.
a) What is this poem about? (3 marks)
b) What is the attitude of the persona toward his fate? (2 marks)
c) With illustration identify the persona in the poem. (2 marks)
d) What is the irony in the poem? (2 marks)
e) With illustrations identify and comment on any other two stylistic devices used in the poem. (6 marks)
f) Comment on the following line.
‘poor chap, another victim to the ruthless machine? (2 marks)
) How will the persona’s death come about? (2 marks)
h) Give the poem another title. (1 mark)
Thus u shall die: not that I care
Date posted: May 3, 2019.
- Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow
THE WAR LORD(Solved)
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)
Date posted: May 3, 2019.
- 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.
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Read the Poem below and answer the questions that follow: (20 Marks)
The Twist(Solved)
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.
- Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow. (20 marks)
Western civilization(Solved)
/
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.
- Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow. (20 marks)
Their City(Solved)
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.
- Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow.
THE PRESS(Solved)
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.
- Read the following poem and respond to the questions appropriately.
‘STILL I RISE’(Solved)
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.