POETRY QUESTIONS

ENGLISH POETRY
QUESTIONS

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For answers call Sir Abraham
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1.Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.(20 mks)

Song of Agony

I put on a clean shirt

And go to work

Which of us

Which of us will come back?

Four and twenty moons

Not seeing women

Not seeing my hand

Which of us

Which of us will die?

I put on a clean shirt

And go to work my contract

To work far away

I go beyond the mountain

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Into the bush

Where the roads end

And the rivers run dry

Which of us

Which of us will come back?

Which of us

Which of us will die?

Questions

a) Who is the persona in the poem? Explain(2 marks)

b) Briefly discuss the subject matter in this poem(3 marks)
c) Identify two stylistic devices in the poem and show their effectiveness.(4 marks)
d) Show how the persona and the others suffer in the poem. Illustrate your answer. (4 marks)
e) What is the dominant mood in the poem?(2 marks)
f) Is the title of this poem suitable? Explain(3 marks)

g)Identify and explain one economic activity practiced by the persona’s community.

2.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,

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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)

3..Read the poem below and answers the questions that follow (20 MARKS)
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

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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

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4.Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
(20 marks)
The inmates
Huddled together
Cold biting their bones
Teeth chattering from the chill,

The air oppressive,

The smell offensive
They sit and they reflect

The room self contained

At the corner the ‘gents’ invites
With the nice fragrance of ammonia,
And fresh human dung,
The fresh inmates sit thoughtfully

Vermin perform a guard of honour

Saluting him with a bite here
And a bite there
‘Welcome to the world, they seem to say’
The steel lock of the door
The walls insurmountable
And the one torching tortuous bulb
Stare vacantly at him
Slowly he reflects about the consignment
That gave birth to his confinement
Locked in for conduct refinement
The reason they put him in prison

The clock ticks

But too slowly
Five years will be a long time
Doomed in the dungeon
In this hell of a cell

a) Who is the persona in the poem? (1 mark)

b) Briefly explain what the poem is about. (2 marks)

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c) Identify and illustrate three aspects of style in the poem. (6 marks)
d) Give evidence from the poem which indicates the inmates are suffering. (3
marks)
e) Why is the fresh inmate in prison? (2 marks)
f) Identify and explain the mood of the new convict. (2 marks)
g) Explain the meaning of the following lines as used in the poem.
i) That gave birth to his confinement (1 mark)
ii) The room is self contained (1 mark)
h) What does the steel lock in the door and the insurmountable walls suggest? (2
marks)

5.Read the following poem and then answer the questions that follow.

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”

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6.Read the following poem and then answer the questions that follow.

THE PAUPER.
Pauper, pauper, craning your eyes
In all directions, in no direction!
What brutal force, malignant element,
Dared to forge your piteous fate?

Was it worth the effort, the time?

You limply lean on a leafless tree

Nursing the jiggers that shrivel your bottom
Like baby newly born to an old woman.
What crime, what treason did you commit
That you are thus condemned to human indifference?

And when you trudge on the horny pads,

Gullied like the soles of modern shoes,
Pads that even jiggers cannot conquer;
Does He admire your sense of endurance
Or turn his head away from your imprudent presence?

You sit alone on hairless goatskins,

Your ribs and bones reflecting the light
That beautiful cars reflect on you,
Squashing like between your nails.
And cleaning your nails with dry saliva.

And when He looks at the grimy coating

Caking off your emaciated skin,
At the rust that uproots all your teeth
Like a pick on a stony piece of land,
Does He pat his paunch at the wonderful sight?

Pauper, pauper, crouching in beautiful verandas

Of beautiful cities and beautiful people,
Tourists and I will take your snapshots,
And your M.P. with a shining head and triple chin
Will mourn your fate in a supplementary questions at question time.
(Adapted from poems from East Africa, by Cook and Rubadiri EDS)
i) Identify the persona in the poem above. (2 marks)

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ii) What evidence from the poem suggest that the subject is poor? (4 marks)
iii) Comment on the writer's use of imagery in stanza two. (3 marks)
iv) Apart from the imagery indentified in (iii) above, discuss any two other stylistic devices employed
in the poem. (4 marks)
v) What is the persona's attitude towards the M.P. (2 marks)
vi) Discuss one theme brought out in the poem. (2 marks)
vii) Explain the meaning of the following words and expression as used in the poem. (3
marks)
a) Emaciated .
b) Crouching.
c) Gullied like the soles of modern shoes.

7.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

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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? (3
marks)
f) Rewrite the following in your own words. (1 marks)
(‘They both took their go’)
g) Give a proverb which appropriately summarizes this poem. (2 marks)

8.Read the following oral poem and answer the questions that follow.
After a brief struggle I got myself
A job
My food was meat and banana
flour
A hundred cents a month and

soon I had some money.

Soon afterwards I bought myself

A beautiful girl
My heart was telling time this
was a fortune
So heart you were deceiving
me and I believed you
On a Saturday morning as I was
leaving work
I was thinking I was being

awaited at home
But on arrival I couldn’t find my bride

Nor was she in her parents home

I ran fast to the river valley;
What I saw gave me a shock.

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There was my wife conversing
with her lovers.

I sat and silently wept.

I realized there is no luck in this world.
People aren’t trustworthy and
will never be!
(a) Place this song in its appropriate genre. (2 Marks)
(b) State and illustrate two functions of this song. (4 Marks)
(c) What evidence is there to show that this is an Oral Poem? (4 Marks)
(d) Explain briefly what the poem is about. (2 Marks)
(e) Give any two character traits of the singer. (4 Marks)
(f) Identify and illustrate two economic activities practiced by the society in the song. (4
Marks)

9.Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
(20 marks)

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?

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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?
(2mks)
c) Identify and illustrate any two features of style used in the poem?
(4mks)
d) What is the tone of the persona in the poem?
(2mks)
e) What in the poem shows that death is indiscriminate in its manifestations?
(2mks)
f) Describe the political setting of the community from which the poem originates.
(2mks)
g) What is the mood of the poem?
(2mks)
h) Explain what the expressions below mean :
(3mks)
i) The earth does not get fat .
ii) Those who wear the head plumes
iii) Earth the sun is setting tightly

10.Read the poem below and then answer the question that follow.
AFRICA
Africa my Africa
Africa of proud warriors in the ancestral savannah’s
Africa my grandmother sings of
Beside her distant river
I have never seen you.

But my gaze is full of your blood.

Your black spilt over the field.
The blood of your sweat
The sweat of your toil
The toil of slavery
The slavery of your children.

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Africa, tell me Africa,
Are you the back that bends.
Lies down under the weight of humbleness?
The trembling back stripped red.

That says yes to the whips on the road of noon?

Solemnly a voice answers me

“Impetuous child, that young and sturdy tree.
That tree that grows.
There splendidly alone among white and faded flowers.
Is Africa, your Africa. It puts forth new shoots.

With patience and stubbornness pouts forth news shoots.

Slowly its fruits grow to have
That bitter taste of freedom.

1. Who is the persona

( 2mks)
2. What is the message of the poem?
(3mks)
3. Identify any three stylistic devices used in the poem. (6mks)
4. What is the tone of the poem?
(3mks)
5. From the above poem, explain the meaning of the following lines?
a)’ But the gaze is full of your blood. Your blood spilt over the field.’ (1mk)
b)’ Africa, my Africa
Africa of proud warriors in the ancestral Savannah’ (1mk)
6. But my gaze is full of your blood.
(1mk)
(Add an appropriate question tag)
7. What is the meaning of the following words? (3mks)
i) Solemnly
ii) Sturdy
iii) Toil

11. Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
20mks

POEM FOR MY SISTER

My little sister likes to try my shoes to strut them,

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Admire her spindle thin-twelve year-old legs
In this season’s style
She says they fit perfectly,
But wobbles
On their high heels, they’re
Hard to balance.

I like to watch my
little sister playing
hopscotch, admire the
neat hops-and –skips
of her, their quick
peck,
never missing their
mark, not over-
Stepping the line. She is competent at peever.

I try to warn my little sister

about unsuitable shoes,
Point out my distorted feet, the
Callouses, odd patches of hard skin.
I should not like to see her
in my shoes.
I wish she would stay
Sure footed,
Sensibly should.

(by Liz Loch head in poems I’ ed. Celeste flower. Singapore: Longman 1995)

a) Why does the little sister try the persona’s shoes?

3mks

b) How do we know from the first stanza that the shoes do not fit?
1mk

c) Why does the persona like watching her younger sister play hopscotch? 4mks

d) In the third stanza, the persona gives us new reasons why her little sister should not wear her
shoes. What are these reasons?
2mks

e) What is the message of this poem?

5mks

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f) Describe the tone of the poem.
3mks

g) Explain the meaning of the following line.

2mks

“I should not like to see her in my shoes.”

(2 marks)

12.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

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POETRY QUESTIONS
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 ethe correct question tag. (1 mark)
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

13.Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow.
I WENT TO CHURCH.
I went to church today.
Yes I went and prayed for all
Friends and foes a like.
Dead and those alive.

I also prayed hard.

For the soul of that soldier.
Who got short.

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Fighting for our motherland
While I shot hot life into his wife.
And I prayed to God too
That I live long
To go and pray again

Questions.
a) What is the poem about?
(4 marks)
b) Identify and illustrate any two character traits of the speaker. (4
marks)
c) Identify and illustrate three poetic devices used in the poem. (6
marks)
d) What is the meaning of the following lines as used in the poem. (2
marks)
i) While I shot hot life into his wife.
ii) That I live long to go and pray again.
e) i) What is the tone of the poem
(2 marks)
ii) Explain the overriding mood of the poem.
(2 marks)

14.Read the poem below and then answer the question that follows. (20
mark)
THE PRESS
So What is the mountain deal?
About the minister’s ailing son
That makes boiling news?

How come it was not whispered?

When Tina’s hospital bed was crawled with maggots
And her eyes oozed pus
Because the doctors lacked gloves?

What about Kasajja’s only child

Who died because the man with the key
To the oxygen room was on leave?

I have seen queues

Of emaciated mothers clinging to
Babies with translucent skins
Faint in line
And the lioness of a nurse

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Commanding tersely
‘Get up or live the line’
Didn’t I hear it rumored that
The man with the white mane
Ushered a rape case out of court
Because the seven-year-old
Failed to testify?
Anyway, I only remembered these things
Ehen I drink
They indeed tipsyexplosions.
Susan Nalugwa Kiguli
Adopted By from: Echoes across the valley.
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

15.Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow. (20 marks)
Their City
City in the sun
without any warmth
except for wanaotosheka
and the tourists escaping
from civilized boredom
Sit under the Tree
any Saturday morning

and watch the new Africans,

the anxious faces
behind the steering wheels
in hire purchase cars
see them looking important
in a tiny corner
behind the chauffeur

We have seen them

in a nightmare,
the thickset directors

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of several companies;
we have seen them
struggling under the weight
of a heavy lunch
on a Monday afternoon
cutting a tape

to open a building,
we have seen them
looking over their
gold-rimmed glasses
to read a speech
And in the small hours
between one day and the next
we have strolled through
the deserted streets
and seen strange figures
under bougainvillea bushes

in traffic islands
figures hardly human
snoring away into
the cold winds of the night;
desperately dying to live.
(Lennard Okola)
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)
16.Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow. (20 marks)

Western civilization

Sheets of tin nailed to posts

driven in the ground

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make up the house

Some rags complete

The intimate landscape
The sun slanting through the cracks
welcomes the owner.

After twelve hours of slave

labour
Breaking rock
shifting rock
breaking rock
shifting rock
fair weather
wet weather
breaking rock
shifting rock

Old age comes early

a mat on dark nights
is enough when he dies
gratefully
of hunger
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

17.Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
Beggar in the three a piece.
My Jumbo
Shot its way
Across the sky
To distant lands
Across blue seas

I descended the ladder

To a waiting ribbon

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Of blood-red carpet
A quick glance at my
Three piece suit and the tie
That beautifully strangled my neck.

On my left hand hang

My beaded knob kerry
On my right I clutched
My rusty inter- nation Begging Bowl
On my face I wore humility and need
And of course dignity.

Sir, the dearth of food

Had rendered my people thin
And hungry
Scoop us a little
You know
Just little
To keep them till next rains.

But Sir, beggars

In three piece
Are a rare sight
But your suit is beautiful
Honestly.

Now my suit
Which cost me a fortune
In a Parisian Texture
Has denied me a fortune
And my countrymen, life.
By. L.O. Sunkuli.
(a) Who is the persona in the poem? (3 marks)
(b) What is the subject matter of this poem? (4 marks)
(c) Explain the satire in this poem and comment on its effectiveness. (4 marks)
(d) Describe the tone of this poem. (3 marks)
(e) Explain what the last stanza implies. (3 marks)
(f) Explain the meaning of the following liens as used in the poem. (3 marks)
i) My Jumbo
Shot its way
Across the sky
ii) That beautifully strangled my neck.
iii) To keep them till next rains.

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18. Read the poem below and answer questions that follow.
White child meets black man

She caught me outside a London

Suburban shop, I, like a giraffe
And she a mouse. I tried to go

But felt she stood

Lovely as light on my back

I turned with hello

And waited. Her eyes got
Wider but not her lips.
Hello I smiled again and watched.

She stepped around me

Slowly, in a kind of dance,
Her wide eyes searching
Inch by inch up and down:
No fur no scales no feathers
No shell. Just a live silhouette,
Wild and strange
And compulsive
Till mother came horrified

'Mummy is his tummy black?'

Mother grasped her and swung
Toward the crowd. She tangled
Mother’s legs looking back at me
As I watched them birds were singing.
James Berry (Jamaica)

QUESTIONS
(a) Briefly explain what the poem is about. (3mks)
(b) Explain what the reaction of the white child makes the persona feel. (4mks)
(c) Compare and contrast the reactions of the mother and daughter to the black man. (6mks)
(d) Identify and explain any two figures of speech used in this poem. (4mks)
(e) Explain the significance of the last line of the poem. (3mks)

19.Read the Poem below and answer the questions that follow:
(20 Marks)

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The Twist
In a little shanty town
Was on a night like this

Girls were sitting down

Around the town
Like this

Some were young

And some were brown
I even found a miss

Who was black and brown

And really did

The twist

Watch her move her wrist

And feel your belly twist
Feel the hunger thunder
When her hip bones twist

Try to hold her, keep her under

While the juke box hiss
Twist the music out of hunger
On a night like this

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)

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20.Read the poem below and then answer the question that follow.
(20 marks)
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,

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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)

21.Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow.
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;

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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)

22.Read the poem below and answer the questions below. (20 marks)
Theme for English B.

The instructor said,

Go home and write a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you.
Then, it will be true.

I wonder if it is that simple?

I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.

I went there, then Durham, then here
To this college on the hill above Harlem,
I am the only colored student in my class.
The steps from the hill lead down into Harem,
Through a park, then I cross St Nicholas,
Eighth Avenue, seventh, and I come to the Y
The Harlem BranchY, where I take the elevator
Up to my room, sit down, and write this page:

It’s no easy to know what is true for you or me

At twenty-two, my age. But I guess I’m what
I feel and see and hear. Harlem, I hear you:

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Hear you, hear me-we two-you, talk on this page.
(I hear New York, too) me- who?
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn and understand life.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
Or records- Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn’t make me not like
The same things other folks like who are other races.

So will my page be colored that I write?

Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be A part of you, instructor.
You are white
Yet a part of me, as I am part of you.

That’s American.
Sometimes perhaps you don’t want to be part of me.
Nor do I often want to be part of you.
But we are, that’s true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me- Although you are older- and white- And somewhat more free.
This is my page for English B.
(Langstone Hughes)

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?
2mks
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. (2mks)
g) In what ways is the speaker and the addressee similar and different? (2mks)
h) Describe the relationship between the persona and the addressee (2mks)
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)

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23.Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow
THE WAR LORD
Cut, thrust, plunge
Slash, slit, stab
Starve, maim, shoot
Torch, burn, scar

The trumpets herald you with regal glory

Epaulettes glisten and medals gleam

Plunder, loot and steal

Blind, brand, rape
Curse, crush, kidnap
Smash, torture, kill

Your arrival is welcomed with carpets of steel

Ramrod backed your subjects hail you

Bind, bludgeon, bury

Garotte, impale, castrate
Order, imprison, enslave
Censor, cajole and destroy
Your scarlet cape billows as you sense fresh converts
Ever more shrill their praises grow.
Barren, bleak, blackened

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Shattered, sterile, stricken
Torn, poisoned, defiled
Bloodied, emtombed, rotting

The prize presented on some stolen silver

A maggot riddled remnant of a once serene world.

Questions
(a) Briefly explain what the poem is talking about. (3mks)
(b) What is the attitude of the persona to the warlord? Elaborate your answer. (2mks)
Explain the relevance of having separated words for stanza one, three, five and seven.
(3mks)
(c) Explain the irony in the poem. (3mks)
(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. (2mks)
(ii) The prize presented on some stolen silver.
A maggot riddled remnant of a once serene world. (2mks)
(e) Apart from irony, which other stylistic device has been used in the poem? (2mks)
(f) Identify one thematic concern of the poem. (3mks)

24.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.

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Thus u shall die: not that I care
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)
g) How will the persona’s death come about? (2 marks)
h) Give the poem another title. (1 mark)

25.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

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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)

26.Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow:
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

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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? (2 marks)

27.Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow. (20 marks)

Old and New

She went up the mountain to pluck wild herbs,
She came down the mountain and met her former husband,

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She knelt down and asked her former husband,
“What do you find your new wife like?”
“My new wife, although her talk is clever,

Cannot charm me as my old wife could,

In beauty of face there is not much to choose,
But in usefulness they are not at all alike,
My new wife comes in from the road to meet me,
My old wife always came down from her tower.*
My new wife is clever at embroidering silk;
My old wife was good at plain sewing.
Of silk embroidery one can do an inch a day;
Of plain sewing, more than five feet.
Putting her silks by the side of your sewing,
I see that the new will not compare with the old.”
Anonymous 1st Century B.C.

Questions
a. What is the poem about? (3 marks)
b. With illustrations identify one similarity and difference in the two wives. (4 marks)
c. Comment on any two poetic devices used in the poem. (6 marks)
d. Explain the meaning of the following lines.
“My new wife, although her talk is clever, cannot charm me as my old wife” (3 marks)
e. Identify aspects of social life noticeable in the poem. (3 marks)
f. What is the tone of the poem? (3 marks)

28.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;

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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?
(3 marks)
b) What faint memories does the persona have, according to the poem? (3marks)
c) What is the persona’s attitude towards their marriage?
(2marks)
d) Explain the following expressions as used in the poem
(i) Happiness, sorrow and dreams were so synchronized............
(2marks)
(ii) ....... praised each other like children in love
(2 marks)
(iii) All were pleasures ahead in mind.
(2marks)
e) Identify two aspects of style used in this poem and explain their effectiveness. (4
marks)
f) What is the mood of the poem
(2 marks)

29.Read the poem bellow and answer the question that follows
My grandmother by Elizabeth Jennings
She kept an antique shop-or it kept her.
Among Apostle spoons and Bristol glasses,
The faded silks, the heavy furniture,

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She watched her own reflection in the brass
Salvers and silver bowls, as if to prove
Polish was all, there was no need for love.

And I remember how I once refused

To go out with her, since I was afraid.
It was perhaps a wish not to be used
Like antique objects .Though she never said
That she was hurt, I still could feel the guilt
Of that refusal, guessing how she felt.

Later, too frail to keep a shop, she put

All her best things in one long, narrow room.
The place smelt old, of things too long kept shut,
The smell of absences where shadows come
That can’t be polished. There was nothing then
To give her own reflection back again.

And when she died I felt no grief at all,

Only the guilt of what I once refused.
I walked into her room among the tall
Sideboards and cupboards-things she never used
But needed: and no finger-marks were there,
Only the new dust falling through the air.

a) Identify the persona in the above poem. (2mks)

b) In note form, summarize what each stanza is talking about (4mks).

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c) Identify and briefly explain the use of any two images in the poem (4mks)
d) What does the persona feel towards the subject matter? (2mks)
e) What do the following lines mean in the poem? (2mks)
“too frail to keep a shop”
“Only the new dust falling through the air”
f) Describe the tone the persona uses in the poem above (2mrks)
g) Explain the paradox in the line: (2mks)
-things she never used
But needed:
h) Explain the persona’s sense of guilt? (2mrks)

30.Read the poem below then answer the questions that follow.
Riding Chinese Machines
There are beasts in this city
they creak and they crank
and groan from first dawn
when their African-tongued masters wake
to guide them lax and human-handed
through the late rush
when they‘re handled down and un-animated
still as we sleep, towering or bowing
always heavy

We pour cement through the cities

towns, through the wild
onwards, outwards
like fingers of eager hands
stretched across the earth
dug in

The lions investigate

and buried marvel rumbles
squeezed for progress
By Liyou Mesfin Libsekal

Questions
(a) Briefly describe what the poem is about. (3mks)
(b) Explain how the poet feels towards the beasts in the city. (2mks)

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(c) Identify two poetic devices employed by the poet in the poem. (4mks)
(d) Explain the irony of the type of development described in the poem (3mks)
(e) Explain the meaning of the following lines in the poem. (4mks)
i) When their African-tongued masters wake to guide them.
ii) The lions investigate and buried marvel rumbles squeezed for progress.
(f) Identify and explain one theme tackled in the poem. (2mks)
(g) Explain the significance of the title to the poem. (2mks)

31. Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
“Sympathy”
I know what the caged bird feels, alas!
When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;
When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass
And the river flows like a stream of grass;
When the first bird sings and the first bud opes,
And the faint perfume from its petals steals –
I know what the caged bird feels!

I know why the caged bird beats its wing

Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;
For he must fly back to his perch and cling
When he rather would be on the branch a –swing;
And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars
And they pulse again with a keener sting –
I know why he beats his wing!

I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,

When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,
When he beats his bars and would be free;
It is not a song of joy or glee,
But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core,
But a plea, that upward to heaven he fings –
I know why the caged bird sings!

(Adapted from the poem by Laurence Donbar in ‘American

Negro

Poetry’ edited by ArnaBomtemps. New York: Hill and Waug 1974)

Questions

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POETRY QUESTIONS
Explain briefly what the poem is about. (3 marks)
b) What does the poet focus on in each of the three stanzas? (6 marks)
c) How would you describe the persona’s feelings towards the caged bird? (4 marks)
d) What can we infer about the persona’s own experiences? (3 marks)
e) Identify a simile in the first stanza and explain why it is used. (2 marks)
f) Explain the meaning of the following lines:
(i) And the faint perfume from the petals steals (1 mark)
g) Supply another suitable title for this poem. (1 mark)

32.Read the oral poem below and then answer the questions that follows;-
“FAMINE”
The owner of yam peels his yam in the house’s:
A neighbour knocks at the door
The owner of yam throws his yam in the bedroom:
The neighbour 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 neighbour 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. (2 marks)

(b) What does the neighbor hope to achieve by being so persistent? (3 marks)

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(c) Using illustrations, describe any two character traits of the owner of the yam. (4 marks)
(d) Identify the ideophones words in the poem. (2 marks)
(e) How do we know that the neighbour is observant? (3 marks)
(f) Describe the tone of the owner of the yam. (1 mark)
(g) The neighbour says, “peace be with you.” Why is this statement ironic? (3 marks)
(h) What lesson can we learn from this poem? (2 marks)

33.Read the oral poem below and then answer the questions that follows;-
BUILDING THE NATION
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!

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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 mks)

2. Explain what the poem addresses (4 mks)
3. Identify and illustrate the use of any two poetic devices uses in the poem and explain their
effectiveness ( 6 mks)
4. Describe the tone in the poem (2 mks)
5. How would you describe the attitude of the permanent secretary towards the persona?(2 mks)
6. Describe the rhyme scheme in stanza one (2 mks)
7. i) “He yawned many times in the back of the car.” Add a question tag (1 mk)
ii) “ I drove the permanent secretary back.” Write in passive voice

ORAL LITERATURE
34.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

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Blood iron and trumpets
Blood iron and trumpets
Blood alone

(a) Classify the oral piece above (2 Marks)

(b) What are the functions of the oral piece above? (3 Marks)
(c) Identify two features of oral poetry evident in the oral item. (3 Marks)
(d) What two issues is this oral poem talking about? (4 Marks)
(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
(2 Marks)
(g) “The uniformed machines are around” Explain the meaning of this statement. (1 Mark)
(h) Describe the mood of the poem. (2 Marks)

35.Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow
SECOND OLYMPUS
From the rostrum they declaimed
On martyrs and men of high ideals
Whom they sent out
Benevorent despots to an unwilling race
Straining at the yoke
Bull dozers trampling on virgin ground
In blatant violation
They trampled down all that was strange
And filled the void
With half digested alien thoughts
They left a trail of red
Whatever their feet had passed
Oh, they did themselves fine
And struttled about the place
Self proclaimed demi- gods
From a counterfeit Olympus
One day they hurled down thunder bolts
On toiling race of earthworms
They might have rained own pebbles
To pelt the brats to death
But that was beneath them
They kept up the illusion
That they were fighting foes

Killing in the name of high ideals

At the inquest they told the world
The worms were becoming pests
Moreover, they said
They did not like wriggly things

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Strange prejudice for gods.

Questions
1) Who is being talked about in this poem? Give evidence. (2 marks)
2) With two evidences, discuss the poet’s general attitude towards the subject of the poem.(3
marks)
3) What do you understand by the following three lines?
“they trample down all that was strange
And filled the void with half digested alien thoughts?”
4) Who are reffered to as “toiling race of earthworms” and why? (3 marks)
5) Discuss two stylistic devices used in the poem. Give their effectiveness
6) Explain the significance of the title. (2 marks)
7) What is the tone of the poem? (1 mark)

36.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.

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 POETRY QUESTIONS
But son,
Always serve wine
(Peter Meinke)
a) Who is the speaker in the poem. Illustrate your answer. 2marks
b) In what circumstances do many young people die? Illustrate your answer from the poem.
4marks
c) What do heaven and hell symbolize? 2marks
d) Identify items in the poem that represent life’s necessities on one hand and life’s luxuries on
the other. 2marks
e) Identify and illustrate the use of the paradox in the poem. 3marks
f) What does the persona mean by ‘marry a pretty girl after seeing the mother”?2marks
g) The stomach craves stronger sustenance.(Rewrite using (What”) 1mark
h) Give two meanings of each of the following words. 2marks
-Last
-Fast
i) Give the meaning of the last two lines 2marks

37.Read the poem below and then answer the questions. (20mks)

BACK HOME
And one day I went back home:
Back home to the old homestead
With a ring of old huts
Surrounding a wide compound:

Swept clean for children to play

And yell and laugh and cry.
I walked briskly, thinking of home
Smoke rising from the huts
Filtered through the thatched roofs:

Dripping wet after a shower of rain;

Moist ground in the compound,
Grandpa sitting on his stool
and sipping from his gourd;
Birds singing in the mango tree:

And then finally I reached home:

The air heavy with silence
Huts, down in dry heaps of dilapidation
Shoots of scorched elephant grass:
Growing piously in the compound:

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 POETRY QUESTIONS
A carpet of mango leaves
Falling on the mound of earth
Under which was buried but the tip
Yes, only the tip of grandpa’s walking staff
Could be seen peeping from under the earth:

Pointing down to where the owner lay;

The lasting indication
Of his inability to talk again
Except by echoes of silence
Telling me I went back too late:
Jwani Mwaikusa.

Questions
(a) Describe the setting in this poem. (2
marks)
(b) Who is the persona in the poem? (2
marks)
(c) Where is grandpa? Give reasons for your answer. (2
marks)
(d) What is the effect of the alliteration in line 17? (2
marks)
(e) Giving two examples, show the effect of contrast as used by the poet.
(4 marks)
(f) Identify and illustrate the two different moods prevailing in this poem.
(4 marks)
(g) Explain the meaning of the following lines as used in the poem.
(4 marks)
(i) ‘A carpet of mango leaves
Falling on the mound of earth”
(ii) ‘Of his inability to talk again
Except by echoes of silence”

38 Read the poem below carefully and answer the questions that follow.

Pedestrian to passing Benz-man

You man, lifted gently

Out of the poverty and suffering

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 POETRY QUESTIONS
We so recently shared; I say
Why splash the muddy puddle onto
My bare legs as if, still unsatisfied
With your seated opulence
You must sully the unwashed
With your diesel-smoke and mud-water
and force him buy, beyond his mean
A bar of soap from your shop?
A few years back we shared a master
Today you have none, while I have
Exchanged a parasite for something worse
But maybe a few years is too long a time.

(a) Briefly explain what is happening in the poem. (3 marks)

(b) With two illustrations from the poem, describe the economic condition of the persona.
(4 marks)

(c) Explain the significance of the following images in the poem. (6 marks)

(i) Muddy puddle/mud-water.

(ii) Diesel smoke.
Parasite.
(d) What is the importance of the last line in relation to the rest of the poem. (4 marks)

(e) Explain the tone of the poem. (3 marks)

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

I wonder by the edge

Of this desolate lake
Where wind cries in the sledge
Until the axle break
That keeps the stars in their round
And hands hurt in the deep
The banners of east and west
And the girdle of light is unbound,
Your breast will not lie by the breast
Of your beloved in sleep

(i) Describe the rhyme scheme of the poem. (2mks)

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 POETRY QUESTIONS
(ii) Indentify and illustrate any two sound pattern used in the poem (4mks)
(iii) How would you say the last two lines of the poem? (2mks)
(iv) Give homophones for the following words used in the poem (2mks)
Wonder –
Break-
40.Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.

From Song of Prisoner

Where is my gold pen?

I want to write letters
To my children
And send them money.

I will not tell them

I am here
I don’t want them
To know that I am
A prisoner,
I want them to grow up
Without suffering,
I want them to pass
Their examinations
And get good jobs
And buy land,
Houses,
Cars …

I do not want my children

To get shocked
I do not want them
To feel sad and sorry
And cry for me,
I do not want them to know
That my hands and feet
Are tied with ropes
And I am sitting
On the naked thigh
Of the stone floor …

There is an empty chair

In the cabinet room,
The occupant is on leave,
He is alone
Buried in soft cotton wool

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 POETRY QUESTIONS
Thoughts of hope
Filled with poisoned needles
Of hopelessness …

Where is my writing pad?

I want to write
To my parents,
I want to send a fat cheque
To my old mother
And another fat cheque
To my old father …
But how can I tell them
That I am shoeless,
That my feet are swollen,
Blistered and bleeding?
How can I tell
My mother that I am
Naked and bruised
All over?

Okot p’ Bitek

QUESTIONS

a) Who is the persona in the poem? (2mks)

b) What is the poem about? (4mks)

c) What is the persona’s attitude towards his family? (2mks)

d) Identify instances of repetition in the poem and comment on their effectiveness. (2mks)

e) Apart from repetition, describe TWO other features of style in the poem and their effectiveness.
(4mks)

f) Describe the mood of the poem in the second stanza. (2mks)

g) Explain the meaning of the following words and phrases.

i. Fat cheque.

ii. Blistered.

iii. Cry for me (3mks)

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 POETRY QUESTIONS
h) Suggest another title for this poem. (1mk)

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