MTG EFAL P2p. POETRY. 19jan2015 - WEB

a p e r 2 : L it e r a t u r e
P
A d d it io n a l Language
st
E n g li s h F ir
Grade
Poetry
Study Guide 12
© Department of Basic Education 2015
This content may not be sold or used for An elementary school classroom in a slum by
commercial purposes. Stephen Spender was previously published in
New Collected Poems, by Stephen Spender,
Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement published by Faber and Faber, 2004. Copyright
(CAPS) Grade 12 English First Additional Language
Mind the Gap study guide for Poetry permission of the Estate of Stephen Spender.
ISBN 978-1-4315-1943-9
A prayer for all my countrymen by Guy Butler is
reproduced by permission of the National English
This publication has a Creative Commons
Attribution NonCommercial Sharealike license.
You can use, modify, upload, download, and share
Butler.
content, but you must acknowledge the Department
of Basic Education, the authors and contributors. If The birth of Shaka by Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali
you make any changes to the content you must send is reproduced by permission of the Academic
the changes to the Department of Basic Education. and Non-Fiction Authors’ Association of South
This content may not be sold or used for commercial Africa (ANFASA). Copyright Oswald Mbuyiseni
purposes. For more information about the terms of Mtshali.
the license please see: http://creativecommons. Auto wreck by Karl Shapiro is reproduced
org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/. by permission of Harold Ober Associates
Incorporated, United States of America.
Copyright © Department of Basic Education 2015
222 Struben Street, Pretoria, South Africa Every effort has been made to contact the
Contact person: Dr Patricia Watson copyright holder of Mementos 1, by W.D.
Email: watson.p@dbe.gov.za Snodgrass, but without success.
Tel: (012) 357 4502 The Department of Basic Education would be
http://www.education.gov.za grateful for any information that would enable it
Call Centre: 0800202933 to do so in the future.
Mind the Gap team

Series managing editor: Dr Patricia Watson
Production co-ordinators:
second edition, published in 2014, aligned these Authors: Abel Khatlake, Sylvester Mensah,
titles to the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Pila Mngqibisa, Nonhlanhla Mzila, Joanne Stielau
Statement (CAPS) and added more titles to the and Priscilla Vos
Expert readers: Jenny de Wet, Bulara Monyaki,
Mind the Gap study guide for
Poetry, ISBN 978-1-4315-1943-9 Editor:
Proof reader: Pat Tucker
Acknowledgements Designer: Nomalizo Ngwenya
The Department of Basic Education gratefully Illustrators: Michele Dean, Ivan Keir, Vusi Malindi,
acknowledges the permission granted to reproduce Khosi Pholosa and Kenneth Tekane
Series cover illustration: Alastair Findlay
Onsite writers’ workshop support: Wayne Cussons
Poetry.
Cheetah by Charles Eglington (from Under the
Horizon: Collected Poems of Charles Eglington,
Purnell, 1977) is reproduced by permission

iv INTRODUCTION Mind the Gap English First Additional Language: Paper 2 Literature
Ministerial foreword
The Department of Basic Education (DBE) has pleasure in releasing the second
edition of the Mind the Gap
guides continue the innovative and committed attempt by the DBE to improve the
(NSC) examination.
The study guides have been written by teams of exerts comprising teachers,
began in 2012, has shown that the Mind the Gap series has, without doubt, had
a positive impact on grades. It is my fervent wish that the Mind the Gap study
guides take us all closer to ensuring that no learner is left behind, especially as
we celebrate 20 years of democracy.
The second edition of Mind the Gap is aligned to the 2014 Curriculum and Matsie Angelina Motshekga, MP
Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS). This means that the writers have considered Minister of Basic Education
the National Policy pertaining to the programme, promotion requirements and
2014.
The Mind the Gap CAPS study guides take their brief in part from the 2013 National
offers simple explanations and examples of the types of questions learners can
expect to be asked in an exam. Marking memoranda are included to assist learners
past national exam papers and examination memos that are available on the
Department’s website – www.education.gov.za.
works included in Paper 2. These are Short Stories, Poetry, To Kill a Mockingbird,
A Grain of Wheat, Lord of the Flies, Nothing but the Truth and Romeo and Juliet.
Please remember when preparing for Paper 2 that you need only study the set
The study guides have been designed to assist those learners who have been
underperforming due to a lack of exposure to the content requirements of the
curriculum and aim to mind-the-gap between failing and passing, by bridging
the gap in learners’ understanding of commonly tested concepts, thus helping
candidates to pass.
_________________________________
Matsie Angelina Motshekga, MP

Minister of Basic Education
2015

Mind the Gap English First Additional Language: Paper 2 Literature INTRODUCTION v
Table of contents
Dear Grade 12 learner ..................................................................................................... viii
How to use this study guide .............................................................................................. ix
Top 7 study tips .....................................................................................................................x
On the exam day ................................................................................................................. xi
Overview of the English First Additional Language Paper 2: Literature exam ......... xii
What is a contextual question? ...................................................................................... xiii
What are the examiners looking for? ............................................................................ xiii
Question words ..................................................................................................................xiv
Literary features found in poems.....................................................................................xvi
Poem 1: Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare ................................................. 1
1. Themes .......................................................................................................................1
2. Type and form .............................................................................................................3
3. Analysis .......................................................................................................................3
4. Tone and mood ..........................................................................................................5
Activity 1 ...............................................................................................................................7
Poem 2: Death be not proud by John Donne .................................................. 9
1. Themes .......................................................................................................................9
2. Type and form .......................................................................................................... 11
3. Analysis .................................................................................................................... 11
4. Tone and mood ....................................................................................................... 13
Activity 2 ............................................................................................................................ 15
Poem 3: An elementary school classroom in a slum by Stephen Spender 18
1. Themes .................................................................................................................... 18
2. Type and form .......................................................................................................... 21
3. Analysis .................................................................................................................... 21
4. Tone and mood ....................................................................................................... 26
Activity 3 ............................................................................................................................ 28
Poem 4: Auto wreck by Karl Shapiro ............................................................. 30
1. Themes .................................................................................................................... 30
2. Type and form .......................................................................................................... 33
3. Analysis .................................................................................................................... 34
4. Tone and mood ....................................................................................................... 37
Activity 4 ............................................................................................................................ 39
Poem 5: On his blindness by John Milton ..................................................... 41
1. Themes .................................................................................................................... 41
2. Type and form .......................................................................................................... 43
3. Analysis .................................................................................................................... 44
4. Tone and mood ....................................................................................................... 45
Activity 5 ............................................................................................................................ 47
Poem 6: A prayer for all my countrymen by Guy Butler ............................... 50
1. Themes .................................................................................................................... 50
2. Type and form .......................................................................................................... 52
3. Analysis .................................................................................................................... 53
4. Tone and mood ....................................................................................................... 55
Activity 6 ............................................................................................................................ 57
Poem 7: The birth of Shaka by Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali ......................... 59
1. Themes .................................................................................................................... 59
2. Type and form .......................................................................................................... 61
3. Analysis .................................................................................................................... 62
4. Tone and mood ....................................................................................................... 64
Activity 7 ............................................................................................................................ 66

vi INTRODUCTION Mind the Gap English First Additional Language: Paper 2 Literature
Poem 8: The serf by Roy Campbell................................................................ 68

1. Themes .................................................................................................................... 68
2. Type and form .......................................................................................................... 70
3. Analysis .................................................................................................................... 70
4. Tone and mood ....................................................................................................... 72
Activity 8 .............................................................................................................................74
Poem 9: Mementos, 1 by WD Snodgrass ...................................................... 76
1. Themes .................................................................................................................... 76
2. Type and form .......................................................................................................... 79
3. Analysis .................................................................................................................... 79
4. Tone and mood ....................................................................................................... 82
Activity 9 ............................................................................................................................ 84
Poem 10: Cheetah by Charles Eglington ....................................................... 86
1. Themes .................................................................................................................... 86
2. Type and form .......................................................................................................... 89
3. Analysis .................................................................................................................... 90
4. Tone and mood ....................................................................................................... 93
Activity 10 .......................................................................................................................... 95

Mind the Gap English First Additional Language: Paper 2 Literature INTRODUCTION vii
Dear Grade 12 learner

This Mind the Gap study guide helps you to prepare for the end-of-year
Mind the Gap study guides which cover Papers

1, 2 and 3.
poetry. A Mind the Gap study guide is available for each of the prescribed
literature titles. Choose the study guide for the set works you studied in
This study guide focuses on the 10 prescribed poems examined in Paper

You will need to study all 10 poems for the exam:
1. Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare
2. Death be not proud by John Donne
3. An elementary school classroom in a slum by Stephen Spender
4. Auto wreck by Karl Shapiro
5. On his blindness by John Milton
6. A prayer for all my countrymen
7. The birth of Shaka by Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali
8. The serf
9. Mementos, 1 by WD Snodgrass
10. Cheetah by Charles Eglington

viii INTRODUCTION Mind the Gap English First Additional Language: Paper 2 Literature
How to use this study guide

There is one chapter for each poem. Each chapter includes a copy of the
poem and information about:
Look out for

these icons in the
study guide.
Tone and mood.
All the above information is contained in a one-page summary. Use the 10
summaries to help you hold the 10 poems clearly in your mind.
You can test your understanding of each poem by completing the activities,
then use the answers to mark your own work. The activities are based on
PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION
NB NB
Hints to help you

Pay special
PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION remember
HINT! a concept Activities with questions
NB attention hintNB or guide you in solving for you to answer
problems
HINT!
e.g. EG - worked examples
hint
Use
this study guide as a
exams
workbook. Make notes,
draw pictures and
highlight important
ideas.
exams
activity
ACTIVITIES boy
and girl-left and
right of page
activity
activity
ACTIVITIES boy
and girl-left and
right of page
comment
activity Step by step comment
Step by step comment comment

Mind the Gap English First Additional Language: Paper 2 Literature INTRODUCTION ix
Top 7 study tips

1. Break your learning up into manageable sections. This will help
your brain to focus. Take short breaks between studying one
section and going onto the next.
Try these
study tips to
make learning 2. Have all your materials ready before you begin studying a
section – pencils, pens, highlighters, paper, glass of water, etc.
easier.
3. Be positive. It helps your brain hold on to the information.
4. Your brain learns well with colours and pictures. Try to use them
whenever you can.
5. learn. Keep going over the work until you can recall it with ease.
6. Teach what you are learning to anyone who will listen. It is
7. Sleeping for at least eight hours every night, eating healthy food
and drinking plenty of water are all important things you need to
do for your brain. Studying for exams is like exercise, so you must
be prepared physically as well as mentally.

x INTRODUCTION Mind the Gap English First Additional Language: Paper 2 Literature
On the exam day

1. Make sure you bring pens that work, sharp pencils, a rubber
and a sharpener. Make sure you bring your ID document and
examination admission letter. Arrive at the exam venue at least an
hour before the start of the exam.
2. waste valuable time going to the toilet during the exam.
3. You must know at the start of the exam which two out of the four
Use the 10 minutes’ reading time to read the instructions

carefully.
4. Break each question down to make sure you understand what is

being asked. If you don’t answer the question properly you won’t
pages xiv and xv of this study guide.
5. Manage your time carefully. Start with the question you think
is the easiest. Check how many marks are allocated to each
question so you give the right amount of information in your
answer.
6. linked with something you have covered. If you feel stuck, move
on and come back if time allows. Do try and answer as many
questions as possible.
GOOD
LUCK!
7. Take care to write neatly so the examiners can read your answers
easily.

Mind the Gap English First Additional Language: Paper 2 Literature INTRODUCTION xi
Overview of the English First

Additional Language Paper 2:
Literature exam
In the Paper 2 Literature exam, you need to answer questions from two
sections. Choose the two sections that you know best:
Section A: Novel
Section B: Drama
Section C: Short stories
Section D: Poetry
A total of 70 marks is allocated for Paper 2, which means 35 marks for
each section you choose.
You will have two hours for this exam.
Here is a summary of the Paper 2 Literature exam

paper:
Question Title of novel Type of Number of
number question marks
Section A: Novel If you choose Section A, answer ONE question. Choose the
question for the book you have learnt.
1. To Kill a Mockingbird Contextual 35
2. Lord of the Flies Contextual 35
3. A Grain of Wheat Contextual 35
Section B: Drama If you choose Section B, answer ONE question. Choose the
question for the play you have learnt.
4. Romeo and Juliet Contextual 35
5. Nothing but the Truth Contextual 35
Section C: Short stories If you choose Section C, answer BOTH questions. You
will not know exactly which short stories are included until the exam. TWO
stories will be set. Answer the questions set on BOTH short stories.
6.1 Short story Contextual 17 or 18
6.2 Short story Contextual 17 or 18
Section D: Poetry If you choose Section D, answer BOTH questions. You will
not know exactly which poems are included until the exam. TWO poems will
be set. Answer the questions set on BOTH poems.
7.1 Poem Contextual 17 or 18
7.2 Poem Contextual 17 or 18
t:PVEPOUIBWFUPBOTXFSBMMUIFTFDUJPOTJO1BQFS
t#FGPSFUIFFYBNTUBSUTZPVNVTULOPXXIJDIUXPTFDUJPOTZPVBSFHPJOHUP
BOTXFS
t8IFOUIFFYBNTUBSUT ýOEZPVSUXPDIPTFOTFDUJPOT
t.BLFTVSFUPOVNCFSZPVSBOTXFSTDPSSFDUMZoBDDPSEJOHUPUIFOVNCFSJOH
TZTUFNVTFEJOUIFFYBNQBQFSoGPSUIFUXPTFDUJPOTZPVWFDIPTFO
t4UBSUFBDITFDUJPOPOBOFXQBHF

xii INTRODUCTION Mind the Gap English First Additional Language: Paper 2 Literature
What is a contextual question?

In a contextual question, you are given an extract from the poem. You then
have to answer questions based on the extract. Some answers you can
parts of the poem. Some questions ask for your own opinion about the
poem.
What are the examiners looking for?

Examiners will assess your answers to the contextual questions based on:
Your understanding of the literal meaning of the poem. You need to
identify information that is clearly given in the poem.
Your ability to reorganise information in the poem. For example, you
may be asked to summarise key points.
Your ability to provide information that may not be clearly stated in
the extract provided, using what you already know about the text as
a whole. This process is called inference. For example, you may be
of the poem as a whole.

Your ability to make your own judgements and form opinions about
aspects of the poem. This process is called evaluation. For example,
you may be asked if you agree with a statement.
Your ability to respond to the emotional level of a poem. This is called
appreciation. For example, you may be asked what you would have
done in the situation described in the poem. You may be asked to
discuss how the writer’s style helps to describe the tone and mood of
a poem.

Mind the Gap English First Additional Language: Paper 2 Literature INTRODUCTION xiii
Question words
Here are examples of question types found in the exam.
Question type What you need to do
Literal: Questions about information that is clearly given in the text or extract from
the text
Name characters/places/things ...

characters, places, etc.
State the facts/reasons/ideas … Write down the information without
any discussion or comments.
Give two reasons for/why … Write two reasons (this means the
same as ‘state’).
Identify the character/reasons/theme … Write down the character’s name,
state the reasons.
Describe the place/character/what Write the main characteristics of
happens when … something, for example: What does
a place look/feel/smell like? Is a
particular character kind/rude/
aggressive …
What does character x do when … Write what happened – what the
character did.
Why did character x do …
action according to your knowledge of
the plot.
Who is/did … Write the name of the character.
To whom does xx refer … Write the name of the relevant
character/person.
Reorganisation: Questions that need you to bring together different pieces of
information in an organised way.
Summarise the main points/ideas … Write the main points, without a lot of
detail.
Group the common elements … Join the same things together.
Give an outline of ….. Write the main points, without a lot of
detail.
Inference Questions that need you to interpret (make meaning of) the text using
information that may not be clearly stated. This process involves thinking about
understand the text.

Explain how this idea links with the Identify the links to the theme.
theme x …
Compare the attitudes/actions of Point out the similarities and
character x with character y … differences.
What do the words … suggest/reveal State what you think the meaning is,
about /what does this situation tell you based on your understanding of the
about … text.
How does character x react when …. Write down the character’s reaction/
Describe how something affected … what the character did/felt.
State how you know that character x is …
What did character x mean by the Explain why the character used those
expression … particular words.
Is the following statement true or false? Write ‘true’ or ‘false’ next to the
question number. You must give a
reason for your answer.

xiv INTRODUCTION Mind the Gap English First Additional Language: Paper 2 Literature
Choose the correct answer to complete A list of answers is given, labelled

the following sentence (multiple choice A–D. Write only the letter (A, B, C or
question). D) next to the question number.
Complete Write the missing word next to the
in the missing words … question number.
Quote a line from the extract to prove your Write the relevant line of text using
answer. the same words and punctuation
you see in the extract. Put quotation
marks (“ ” inverted commas) around
the quote.
Evaluation Questions that require you to make a judgement based on your
knowledge and understanding of the text and your own experience.
Discuss your view/a character’s Consider all the information and
feelings/a theme ... reach a conclusion.
Do you think that … There is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer
Do you agree with … to these questions, but you must give
In your opinion, what … a reason for your opinion based on
information given in the text.
Give your views on …
Appreciation Questions that ask about your emotional response to what happens,
the characters and how it is written.
How would you feel if you were character There is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer
x when … to these questions, but you must give
Discuss your response to … a reason for your opinion based on
Do you feel sorry for … information given in the text.
Discuss the use of the writer’s style, To answer this type of question, ask
yourself: Does the style help me to
… feel/imagine what is happening/what
a character is feeling? Why/why not?

Mind the Gap English First Additional Language: Paper 2 Literature INTRODUCTION xv
Literary features found in poems

Diction The poet’s choice of words and how he/she organises
them.
Euphemism A mild or vague expression in place of a word that is
more harsh or direct.
First person The poem is written from the point of view of ‘I’ or ‘we’.
Hyperbole A deliberate exaggeration. For example, ‘a big’ plate of
food is described as ‘a mountainous’ plate of food
Irony A statement or situation that has an underlying
meaning that is different from the literal meaning.
Metaphor
Mood The emotions felt by the reader when reading the

poem.
Oxymoron A combination of words with contradictory meanings
(meanings which seem to be opposite to each other).
For example, ‘an open secret’
Pun A play on words which are identical or similar in sound.

It is used to create humour.
Rhyme
Rhythm A regular and repeated pattern of sounds.
Sarcasm An ironic expression which is used to be unkind or to
make fun of someone.
Simile
is used to make this comparison.
Symbol Something which stands for or represents something
else
Theme Themes are the main messages of a text. There are
usually a few themes in each poem.
Third person The poem is written from the point of view of ‘he’, ‘she’
or ‘they’.
Tone The feeling or atmosphere of the poem.
Sound devices:
Alliteration A pattern of sounds that includes the repetition of
consonant sounds. The repeated sound can be either
at the beginning of successive words or inside the word.
Assonance The vowel sounds of words that occur close together
are repeated.
Consonance A sound that occurs at the end of words that are close
together is repeated.
Onomatopoeia The use of words to create the sounds being described.

xvi INTRODUCTION Mind the Gap English First Additional Language: Paper 2 Literature
Poetry 1
Sonnet 116
by William Shakespeare
Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds was written by
William Shakespeare (1564-1616). He lived in England at the time of
Queen Elizabeth I and he is one of the most famous English writers. He
are sonnets which deal with themes of love, time, and their effect on
people and relationships.
1. Themes
The main theme of Sonnet 116 is love. Shakespeare is saying that nothing
can stop true love and that it never changes, no matter what happens in
life. True love can survive even during life’s problems and can guide you William Shakespeare
forever.
The poet is so sure of what true love is that he says that, if he is wrong,
then he has never written anything, including this poem! This is how he
concludes his argument that true love is constant and everlasting.
This poem is
written in Elizabethan
English. The glossary
after the poem gives the
words.

Mind the Gap English First Additional Language: Paper 2 Literature POETRY 1
1 Poetry
Sonnet 116
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
line 5
1st Admit impediments. Love is not love
quatrain Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O, no! it is an ever-fixèd mark,
2nd That looks on tempests and is never shaken; line 10
quatrain It is the star to every wand’ring bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
3rd
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
quatrain Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
Rhyming
If this be error, and upon me prov’d,
couplet I never writ, nor no man ever lov’d.
words to know
Line 1: let me not don’t allow me to

marriage union, unity, bond
Line 2: admit impediments
to get in the way
Line 3: alters changes
alteration a change
Line 4: remover
to remove to take away
Line 5: permanent, unchanging marker
Line 6: tempests storms, challenges
shaken moved
Line 7: wand’ring bark ship lost at sea
Line 8: worth value
taken measured
Line 9: fool servant
Line 10: sickle
compass
Line 11: brief short
Line 12: bears it out makes it last
edge of doom
Line 13: error mistake
Line 14: writ wrote

2 POETRY Mind the Gap English First Additional Language: Paper 2 Literature
Sonnet 116 1
2. Type and form vocab

Sonnet 116 is an Elizabethan sonnet. It has 14 lines in one verse that is Rhyme:8PSETBUUIFFOE
made up of: PGUIFMJOFTXIJDIIBWF
UIFTBNFTPVOE TVDIBT
iNJOETwBOEiýOETw
A rhyming couplet of two lines at the end of the poem.
The rhyming scheme for Sonnet 116 is abab cdcd efef gg.
3. Analysis Marriage
can also mean a
closeness or union
between two people
First quatrain (lines 1 – 4) who love each
other.
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
is not. Nothing
should get in the way (“impediments”) of people who are united
(perhaps by love or marriage) and have the same values (“true
minds”). People who have true minds share the same beliefs, values
and ideas. They may be close friends or family members, not only

1 Poetry
He celebrates this kind of love and explains that true love does not change
constant (steady or even) and stable and it does not weaken (“bend”) when
Notice how
“mark” and “bark”
rhyme, as do The poet emphasises that love which changes or weakens is not true love
“shaken” and
“taken”.
words suggest things that take love away or change love.
Second quatrain (lines 5 – 8)

O, no! it is an ever-fixèd mark line 5
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand’ring bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
In this quatrain, the poet suggest what love is. The poet explains that he
thinks the love of true minds is stable and permanent. His exclamation,
“O, no!” indicates how strongly the poet rejects the idea that anything
can change true love. The poet then uses metaphors based on ships and
sailing to tell us what love really is.
In the
perhaps like a lighthouse. It stays shining and constant as a guide even
during the worst storms (“tempests”). This metaphor tells us that true love
is faithful and steady and will help you to manage even the worst of life’s
problems.
Did you know? In the second metaphor, Shakespeare says that true love is the “star” that
guides a ship that has gone off course or got lost (“wand’ring bark”). This
star refers to the North Star, which was used by a ship’s captain to steer
a ship in the right direction as it is a constant star, always in the same
place in the sky. He is saying that true love is constant and never changes
its nature. It can be trusted to guide you through life, like the North Star
guides a “wand’ring bark” or a ship lost at sea.
*O4IBLFTQFBSFTEBZ TBJMJOH Shakespeare also says that, although the position of a star can be
TIJQTXFSFNBEFPGXPPE measured, we cannot know the worth or value of the star. In the same way,
5IFDBQUBJOTUFFSFEUIFTIJQ the value of true love is something which cannot be measured, so its worth
CZNFBTVSJOHUIFQPTJUJPOPG is “unknown” (line 8), although it can give us direction and meaning in life.
the stars to guide the ship
BDSPTTUIFTFB
Third quatrain (lines 9 – 12)

Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come: line 10
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
In the third quatrain, the poet tells us that such love is timeless – it cannot
be measured and lasts to the end of the world.

Sonnet 116 1
The passing of time has no effect on true love. The use of a capital letter
Did you know?
in “Time” tells us that this is , that Time is a person.
Shakespeare is writing about time as if it is a man, so he writes “his” not
“its”.
However, the speaker in the poem says that love is not the “fool” of Time.
He says that love is not a servant that has to obey Time’s rules and so,
although Time destroys youth and beauty (cuts down “rosy lips and cheeks”
with his “sickle”), love does not change. The poet says that love will last
forever, even until the end of the world (“the edge of doom”).
'BUIFS5JNFJTBMTPDBMMFE
UIF(SJN3FBQFSPS%FBUI
)FDBSSJFTBTJDLMFUPIBSWFTU
QFPQMF BTBGBSNXPSLFS
Rhyming couplet (lines 13 – 14) DVUTHSBTTXJUIBTJDLMF
If this be error and upon me prov’d, He destroys our youth and
I never writ, nor no man ever lov’d. CFBVUZTPUIBUXFHFUPMEBOE
XSJOLMFE
the poet ends the poem with a little joke. He says that if anyone can prove
that his views of love are wrong then it would mean that he didn’t write
anything and that no one has ever loved anyone.
This is a clever argument to end the poem with because we all know that
Shakespeare has written – we are studying one of his poems right now –
and of course people have loved before, and so what he says about love
must be correct.
4. Tone and mood

The tone of the poem is generally . Shakespeare believes so
strongly in love that he does not say love is “like” anything (a simile).
Instead, he uses metaphors to say that love IS that thing: love IS a “star”
vocab
In the third quatrain, Shakespeare’s tone is scornful of Time’s “brief hours Scornful:"OFYQSFTTJPOPG
and weeks” because true love is not affected by time. Time passes and we EJTHVTUUPXBSETTPNFPOFPS
grow old and die but love does not die. TPNFUIJOHUIBUJTTFFOBT
VOXPSUIZ
The tone of the rhyming couplet is persuasive. The poet or speaker wants
to persuade the reader to agree with his views about true love.
The mood of a poem is how it makes the reader feel. How does this poem
make you feel? For example, happy, sad, angry, or indifferent?
Have you
noticed that there
are no similes in
this poem, only
metaphors?

1 Poetry
summary
Sonnet 116 : Let me not to the marriage of true minds

1. Theme
Love is constant and everlasting.
Quatrain 1 About what love is NOT

a — Does not “admit impediments”.
b — Does not “alter when it alteration finds”.
a
— Does not bend “with the remover to remove”.
b
Quatrain 2 About what love IS

c — Love is “an ever-fixèd mark”.
d Metaphor
c
— Love is the “star” that guides.
d
Elizabethan Metaphor
sonnet:
14 lines
Quatrain 3 About love as TIMELESS
e — “Love’s not Time’s fool”
f Personification: Time is presented as a man.
e
— “But bears it out even to the edge of doom.”
f
Love lasts even until the end of the world.
Rhyming Argues that he’s confident he is right.

couplet — “If this be error and upon me prov’d,
g I never writ, nor no man ever lov’d.”
g
2. Type and form
3. Tone and mood

sTone: Confident, scornful, persuasive
sMood: How does this poem make you feel? Happy, sad, angry or indifferent? Always give
reasons for your answer.

Sonnet 116 1
Activity 1
1. Complete the following sentence by using the words provided in

the list below.
This is a typical (1.1) ... sonnet because of the three (1.2) ... and
the (1.3) ... that rhymes. (3)
vocab
Connotations: 8PSETXJUI
unity. (1) NFBOJOHTMJOLFEUPBLFZ
XPSE'PSFYBNQMF UIF
DPOOPUBUJPOTPGiNPSOJOHwBSF
minds”).
GSFTI OFX FBSMZ
To what do these words refer? (2)
Using your own words, explain the meaning of these lines. (2)
5. Choose the correct answer to complete the following sentence.
In line 5, the words “O, no ...” show that the speaker is ...
A uncertain.
B arrogant.
C doubtful.
D convinced. (1)
wand’ring bark”).
vocab
consecutive words to support your answer. Consecutive words: 8PSET
It is impossible to measure the value of love. (2) UIBUEJSFDUMZGPMMPXBGUFSPOF
BOPUIFS
How does the poet use the last two lines to make his argument
on true love convincing? (2)
10. Do you agree with the speaker’s view of love? Explain your
answer. (2)
[17]

1 Poetry
Answers to Activity 1
1. Elizabethan / quatrains / couplet (3)
2. “marriage” (1)
3. The union/ joining together of like-minded people/
people who think the same way/people who have the
same values. (2)
NB 4. NBlove does not change/ is constant
True when circumstances
change. (2)
5. D / convinced (1)
*O2VFTUJPO POF
HINT!
6. A ship that is lost/moving aimlessly or with no direction (1)
hint NBSLXJMMCFHJWFOJG
UIFýSTUQBSUPGUIF 7. True. “whose worth’s unknown” (2)
BOTXFS 5SVF
JTDPSSFDU5P
HFUNBSLT HJWFUIFDPSSFDU (1)
e.g.
BOTXFS"/%RVPUFUIFDPSSFDU
UISFFXPSET
EG - worked examples 9. If what he says about love is not true, then it is also true that he
did not write this poem. However, you are reading what he has
written. Therefore, he did write this poem and therefore what he
says about love is true. (2)
exams 10. Yes, I agree with the poet that love can last forever.
People who really love each other can overcome any
problems.
8IFOBRVFTUJPOBTLTGPSZPVS
08/WJFXPSPQJOJPO ZPVNVTU No, I disagree/ do not agree with the poet because
TBZJGZPVBHSFFPSOPU"/%
do not last. (2)
activity
UIFOHJWFBSFBTPOGPSZPVS
WJFXQPJOUUPHFUNBSLT
ACTIVITIES boy
[17]
and girl-left and
right of page
activity

Poetry 2
Death be not proud
by John Donne
This poem was written by John Donne (1572-1631) who lived at the same
time as Shakespeare. Donne had an adventurous early life. He travelled
by sailing ship on two expeditions to the New World (the United States).
He also ran away with his employer’s 16-year-old niece, Anne, whom he
became an Anglican priest and later the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in
1. Themes
The theme of this poem is death. The poet speaks directly to Death, in
person, and tells Death not to think that he is important and powerful
because Death is really just a kind of sleep – and rest and sleep are
pleasant. We all wake from sleep: even people who die will wake from John Donne
death – in heaven! The poet points out that actually death brings us
to be afraid of death.
This poem is based on the Christian paradox that in order to live forever
you have to die. In the Christian belief, physical death is the gateway to
vocab
eternal or everlasting life in heaven. A paradoxJTBTUBUFNFOU
NBEFPGUXPPQQPTJUFJEFBT
The poet makes a clever argument in this poem. His idea is set out like UIBUTFFNTUPNBLFOPTFOTF
this: CVUNBZCFUSVF
When we die, it looks as if we are asleep.
When we sleep, we will eventually wake up.
If death looks like sleep, then we will also wake up from death.
If we wake up from death, we cannot be dead.
Death is destroyed by eternal life.

2 Poetry
Death be not proud

by John Donne
Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so,
For those, whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow,
Octave
Die not, poor death, nor canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, line 5
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
line 10
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,
Sestet
And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die!
words to know
Line 1: thee you

Line 2: mighty powerful, strong
dreadful terrifying, tragic
art are
Line 3: thinks’t think
dost does
overthrow destroy
Line 4: canst can
Line 5: pictures copies, images, representations, likenesses
Line 6: come
Line 8: souls’ delivery
Line 9: Fate luck
chance accidents
Line 10: dwell live
Line 11: poppy drug
charms magic spells
as well just as well
Line 12: stroke attack
swell’st swell, grow big
Line 13: sleep death
wake eternally live forever

Death be not proud 2

NB
2. Type and form
The poem is an Italian or Miltonic sonnet. This is because its 14 lines are
made up of:
An octave i0DUPw JOoctave

HINT!
A sestet of six lines. The sestet is made up of one quatrain and a hint NFBOTFJHIUi4FTw
NFBOTTJY TPB
rhyming couplet at the end of the poem.
sestetIBTTJYMJOFT
The rhyming scheme in this sonnet is abba abba cddc ee.
3. Analysis
exams
First quatrain of the octave (lines 1 – 4)
Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so,
For those, whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
activity
ACTIVITIES bo
and girl-left a
of speech called . By personifying Death, and giving it a right of page
human quality – pride – the poet makes death less scary. Death then only
has the same power as people like you and me. activity
apostrophe –
no, not the punctuation mark! Apostrophe is when you speak directly to an
absent person or thing as if he or she was standing in front of you.
Step by step commen

2 Poetry
The poet orders Death not to be “proud” (arrogant) because people do

not really get defeated (“overthrown”) by Death. In fact, Death cannot kill
vocab anyone – not even the speaker. The poet explains in the rest of the poem
why Death cannot really “kill” anyone.
PoorDBONFBOýOBODJBMMZ
QPPSPSTPNFPOFEFTFSWJOH The poet, however, says that only “some” people consider death “mighty
QJUZ*OUIJTQPFN UIFXPSE and dreadful” (line 2). In line 3, he goes on to tell Death that people it
iQPPSwJTVTFETDPSOGVMMZ thinks it has destroyed do not die, and Death cannot kill him, the poet.
The poet does not really pity He mocks Death by pretending to be feel sorry for Death, calling it “poor
EFBUI death”.
The poet is using the word “poor” in an ironical way here, as he does not
really pity death.
Note how the

rhyme scheme here
is abba. “Be” rhymes Second quatrain of the octave (lines 5 – 8)
with “delivery” and 5
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and souls’ delivery.
People who die look like they are resting and sleeping – both rest and
sleep are enjoyable (they give us “much pleasure”). Death is just a copy of
these pleasant experiences.
The poet continues to mock Death by saying that if sleep is great and
death is like a big sleep – then what an even greater pleasure death must
be. Even more, the quicker people die, the better for them (“soonest our
best men with thee do go” in line 7)!
The poet gives his evidence for this in lines 7 and 8, where he says the
“best men”, those with true faith, welcome death because it rests their
The rhyme in
the sestet is
Third quatrain (sestet and rhyming couplet, lines 9 – 14
cddc ee. Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men, 10
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell.
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die!
The speaker continues to criticise Death. He says that Death does not have
the power to kill people on his own. Death is a servant (a “slave”) to many
horrible “masters” such as destiny (“Fate”) and accidents (“Chance”),
which may kill us. Death also works for “desperate men” – this would
be men who may rob and murder. Death also has to live (“dwell”) with
very nasty companions that will do the actual killing: “poison, war, and
sickness” (line 10).

NB
The poet Death as a slave who has no freedom to act on his

ConnotationsPG
HINT!
own. He is used by other forces which cause death. The poet uses capital
hint BXPSEBSFFYUSB
NFBOJOHTPSUIF
Death is their slave. BTTPDJBUJPOTXJUIUIBUXPSE
In line 12, the poet reminds Death that even simple sleeping drugs (opium, #ZVTJOHUIFXPSEislavew
made from the “poppy”) and charms (“magic”) can make us “sleep” better
than Death can (“…better than thy stroke”). The poet asks: if these things
e.g.
UIFQPFUJTTBZJOHUIBU%FBUI
EG - worked examples
JTOPUGSFFBOEIBTOPDPOUSPM
do the same work as Death, why is Death is so full of self-importance, PWFSIJTMJGF
“why swell’st thou then?” There is an expression “swell with pride” that
exams
a proud, arrogant person pushing his chest out to look big and important!
The poet suggests that Death has nothing to be proud of.
Rhyming couplet (lines 13 – 14)

13 activity
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die! 14 ACTIVITIES boy
and girl-left an
right of page
activity
The last two lines of the poem are a rhyming couplet. Although the words
“eternally” and “die” do not seem to rhyme – they would have rhymed in
the English accent of that time.
Notice that now the speaker uses a small “d” for death in the last line of
Step by step comment
the poem (line 14). Death is not important anymore and does not get the
capital “D” of a proper noun.
4. Tone and mood

The poet’s tone in the poem is scornful and mocking in the way that he
gives orders to Death, which is often considered a terrifying mystery. The
tone is also critical of death.
In the end, the speaker uses a triumphant tone because he has won a
victory over Death, as Death is conquered and destroyed by eternal life.
make you feel? For example, happy, sad, angry, or indifferent.

2 Poetry
summary
Death be not proud

by John Donne
1. Theme
Death is not a terrifying mystery, but a force without real power.
2. Type and form
— “Death be not proud”

Personification
Quatrain 1
a — Speaking to an absent “person” as if he or she
b was in front of you.
b Apostrophe
a — “Poor death”
Irony
Octave
8 lines
Quatrain 2 Argument that death has no power:

a — Death is just like “rest and sleep”.
b — Rest and sleep bring us “much pleasure”.
b — It is best to die “soonest” for the “rest of their
a bones” and “soul’s delivery”.
Italian or
Miltonic sonnet: Quatrain 3 — “Thou art slave to Fate and Chance”
14 lines and rhyming Personification (of Death, Fate and Chance)
couplet — “Poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well”
Sestet
c Death is no more powerful than other things that
6 lines d can make us sleep.
d
c
e — “And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt
e die!” The small “d” shows that death has been
stripped of respect and power.
3. Tone and mood

sTone: Scornful, mocking, triumphant
sMood: How does this poem make you feel? Happy, sad, angry or indifferent? Always give
reasons for your answer.

Activity 2
1.
NB
2. 5PFYQMBJOUIJT
HINT!
3. Which three words from the list below could be used to describe hint ýHVSFPGTQFFDI
UIJOLPGIPXBOE
Death? (3)
XIZUIFQPFUUBMLTUP%FBUI
BTBQFSTPO
4 e.g. EG - worked examples
Everyone fears Death.
Quote ONE word from the poem to support your answer. (2) exams
8SJUFEPXOFJUIFSTrue or
5. Complete the following sentences by using the words provided
FalseBOEUIFOZPVS0/&
in the list below. Write down only the words next to the question
XPSEBOTXFS3FNFNCFS
number.
UIBUUIJTJTBRVPUFTPNBLF
TVSFZPVTQFMMUIFXPSE
FYBDUMZBTJUJTJOUIFQPFN
The poet says that “rest and sleep” are “pictures” of Death, activity
meaning they only (5.1) ... like death. However, people rest and ACTIVITIES bo
and girl-left an
sleep for (5.2) ... (2) right of page
activity
in the poem. (3)
7.
Explain the meaning of these words as they are used in the
poem. (1) Step by step commen
8.
effect as Death. (2)
9. Write down the correct tone word in brackets for each of the
lines below:
A “Death be not proud for, thou art not so” (lines 1- 2)
(triumphant/critical/ mocking)
B “Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men”

(line 9) (triumphant/critical/mocking)
C “And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well, And better

than thy stroke” (lines 11-12)
(triumphant / critical / mocking)
D “Death, thou shalt die.” (line 14)
(triumphant/critical/mocking) (4)

2 Poetry
10. In the last two lines (13–14) the speaker’s tone is ...
A triumphant and victorious
B submissive and angry.
C sad and disappointed.
D thoughtful and fearful. (1)
11. Discuss the message the poem has for its readers. (2)
[23]
To get
2 marks, you
must give TWO
points.

(1)
order to mock/poke fun at/ridicule/laugh at Death/

to show that Death is like an ordinary human/mortal/
not powerful
NB
Apostrophe: He addresses Death as if Death is present/
in front of him. (2)
3. arrogant /proud (3)
4. False. “some” (2) *ORVFTUJPO B
HINT!
5.1. look (1) hint NBSLJTBXBSEFE

POMZJG#05)QBSUT
5.2. relaxation (1) PGUIFBOTXFSBSFDPSSFDU
'BMTFBOEiTPNFw
6. You are destined to die in a certain way (Fate). PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION
You can die in an accident (Chance).

e.g.
NB EG - worked examples
Your death can be ordered by kings/powerful people.

You can die in a war. exams "OZ5)3&&PG
HINT!
You can be murdered. hint UIFTFBOTXFSTBSF

BDDFQUBCMF
You can kill yourself/ suicide.
You can die by taking poison.
You can die from illness/disease. (3) e.g. EG - worked examples
activity
ACTIVITIES bo
and girl-left an
swollen with pride. (1) exams right of page
8. “poppy” and “charms” (2) activity

9. A critical
B critical
C mocking
activity
Step by step
commen
D triumphant (4) NB ACTIVITIES bo

and girl-left an
10. A / triumphant and victorious (1) right of page
11. You should not be afraid to die. activity

"OZ580PGUIFTF
HINT!
Death has no power.
hint BOTXFSTBSF
Death is temporary/does not last forever. BDDFQUBCMF
There is life after death. (2) Step by step commen
[23]
exams

3 Poetry
An elementary
school classroom
in a slum
by Stephen Spender
This poem was written by Stephen Spender (1909-1995). He was a modern

English poet and writer.
Much of his writing is about human rights and social justice. He was
politically left-wing and was a member of the Communist Party in Britain
in the 1930s. He was actively involved in the anti-Nazi and anti-Fascist
politics of that time.
1970s.
1. Themes
The two main themes are a protest against social inequality and against
Stephen Spender
poor quality education.
vocab
The poet describes some children in a classroom in a very poor area.
Most of them look unhealthy and unhappy. The pictures on the walls of
*OUIFUJUMFPGUIFQPFN BO
the gloomy classroom show an interesting world outside the slum, but the
“elementary schoolwJTB children are trapped in a world of poverty and may never experience a
QSJNBSZTDIPPM HSBEFTUP better life unless something is done to change their future.

"islumwJTBWFSZQPPS The poet calls upon the people responsible for education to free these
BSFBPGBDJUZPSUPXOXJUIGFX children from their poverty and give them the opportunity to live a better
GBDJMJUJFTPSTFSWJDFT life.

An elementary school classroom in a slum 3
An elementary school classroom in a slum

by Stephen Spender
Stanza 1 Far far from gusty waves, these children’s faces. 1

Like rootless weeds, the hair torn around their pallor.
The tall girl with her weighed-down head. The paper-
seeming boy, with rat’s eyes. The stunted, unlucky heir
Of twisted bones, reciting a father’s gnarled disease, 5
His lesson from his desk. At back of the dim class
One unnoted, sweet and young. His eyes live in a dream
Of squirrel’s game, in the tree room, other than this.
Stanza 2 On sour cream walls, donations. Shakespeare’s head,

Cloudless at dawn, civilised dome riding all cities. 10
Belled, flowery, Tyrolese valley. Open-handed map
Awarding the world its world. And yet, for these
Children, these windows, not this world, are world,
Where all their future’s painted with a fog,
A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky, 15
Far far from rivers, capes, and stars of words.
Stanza 3 Surely, Shakespeare is wicked, the map a bad example

With ships and sun and love tempting them to steal –
For lives that slyly turn in their cramped holes
From fog to endless night? On their slag heap, these children 20
Wear skins peeped through by bones and spectacles of steel
With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones.
All of their time and space are foggy slum.
So blot their maps with slums as big as doom.
Stanza 4 Unless, governor, teacher, inspector, visitor, 25

This map becomes their window and these windows
That shut upon their lives like catacombs,
Break O break open, till they break the town
And show the children to green fields and make their world
Run azure on gold sands, and let their tongues 30
Run naked into books, the white and green leaves open
History theirs whose language is the sun.

3 Poetry
words to know
Stanza 1
Line 1: gusty windy
Line 2: weeds unwanted plants
pallor pale, unhealthy skin colour
Line 4: stunted undeveloped
heir receiver
Line 5: reciting repeating
gnarled twisted, crooked
Line 6: dim almost dark, badly lit
Line 7: unnoted unnoticed
Line 8: squirrel small, tree-climbing animal
Stanza 2
Line 9: donations gifts (usually for charity)
Line 10: dawn sunrise
dome
Line 11: Tyrolese Austrian tyrol (mountains)
open-handed generous
Line 12: awarding giving
Line 14: sealed closed up
lead dull, grey
Line 15: capes land going out into the sea
Stanza 3
Line 19: slyly secretly, sneakily
cramped small, crowded
Line 20: fog thick mist
slag heap coal mine dump
Line 21: peeped looked shyly
Line 22: blot mark
doom bad future
Stanza 4
Line 25: governor, inspector people in charge of running schools
Line 27: catacombs underground burial chambers for the
dead
Line 30: azure bright blue
Line 31: white leaves books
green leaves nature

2. Type and form

This poem is divided into four stanzas of eight lines each. It is written in an
informal style with no words that rhyme at the ends of the lines, which is
typical of modern poetry.
Rhyming
This is known as free verse. lines of poetry
end in words that
sound the same.
3. Analysis
Stanza 1 (lines 1 – 8)
Far far from gusty waves, these children’s faces.
Like rootless weeds, the hair torn around their pallor.
The tall girl with her weighed-down head. The paper-
seeming boy, with rat’s eyes. The stunted, unlucky heir
Of twisted bones, reciting a father’s gnarled disease, 5
His lesson from his desk. At back of the dim class
One unnoted, sweet and young. His eyes live in a dream
Of squirrel’s game, in the tree room, other than this.
In stanza 1, the poet describes some of the children in the classroom.

The opening lines of the poem are not complete sentences and have an
unusual word order:
Far far from gusty waves these children’s faces
Like rootless weeds, the hair torn round their pallor. (lines 1 and 2)

3 Poetry
faces are far, far from gusty waves and they look like rootless weeds....” By
A simile is a
direct comparison changing the word order, the poet repeats “Far far” to start the poem. This
between two things emphasises the poet’s frustration about how far the children’s environment
using ‘like’ or ‘as’. is from what it should be. His tone is angry. The words “gusty waves” (line
1) suggest wind and sea – a healthy, fresh and beautiful place, unlike the
gloomy slum they are living in.
In a simile, the poet compares the children to “rootless weeds” (line 2).
Weeds are small, unwanted plants. The word “rootless” gives us an even
more powerful image of how weak the children are: plants cannot grow
without roots to take in water and nutrients, and without roots, they do not
even seem to belong in one place in the ground. The simile “like rootless
weeds” suggests these children are thin, weak and underfed, but also that
they do not have a place in the world. The children’s “pallor” (line 2) makes
them look pale and sickly, while the metaphor “torn hair” (line 2) suggests
that their hair is messy and they are not well cared for.
The poet goes on to describe some of the children in the class. One girl
vocab
is tall for her class, but instead of standing tall and proud, she hangs her
head (“weighed-down head” in line 3). This suggests she is thin and her
Hyperbole:"OPWFSTUBUFNFOU
head feels too heavy for her body, or that she feels depressed and is not
VTFEGPSFNQIBTJT)FSF UIF concentrating on the lesson. A boy is “paper-seeming” (line 3 and 4). This
CPZJTOPUSFBMMZBTUIJOBTB metaphor suggests that he is as pale and thin as a piece of white paper.
QJFDFPGQBQFS The poet uses hyperbole here to emphasise how thin the boy is.
The metaphor “rat’s eyes” (line 4) paints a picture of little eyes moving
quickly around, like a rat’s – perhaps always looking for danger or a way to
survive. Some rats have red eyes, so perhaps the boy has an eye disease,
or has been crying. The image of this boy is of a thin, pale, frightened,
unhealthy child.
A metaphor
is a way of comparing A third boy suffers from a disease he has inherited from his father that has
two things without left him undeveloped (“stunted”) with “twisted bones” (line 5). To “recite”
using the words “like”
or “as”. is to repeat something and learn it off by heart. The poet uses irony by
saying the boy “recites” his “disease”, instead of his schoolwork. The poet
could be suggesting that the child will repeat the disease by passing it on
to his own children one day. The emphasis is on the repetition of disease
and ill health.
We are also given the impression that the children are taught to learn
things off by heart, without really understanding what they are learning
about.
contrast. The last
child mentioned, sitting at the back of the dull, poorly-lit room, is different
from the others and looks younger than they do. “Sweet and young” (line
7) suggests he is innocent and has not yet been as badly affected by slum
life as the other children and still has dreams of something better. Instead
of listening to the lesson, he is dreaming of playing in a different place,
somewhere outside in nature (“tree room”). A squirrel is a little animal with
bright eyes and a bushy tail that runs freely up and down trees. The child
perhaps imagines playing as freely as a squirrel in a beautiful place.


On sour cream walls, donations. Shakespeare’s head,
Cloudless at dawn, civilised dome riding all cities. 10
Belled, flowery, Tyrolese valley. Open-handed map
Awarding the world its world. And yet, for these
Children, these windows, not this world, are world,
Where all their future’s painted with a fog,
A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky, 15
Far far from rivers, capes, and stars of words.
Imagine some
In the second stanza, the poet describes the classroom. The colour of the connotations of “sour
classroom walls is “sour cream” (line 9). The connotations of this are of cream”. They may
cream that has gone bad, which suggests the walls are dull and not very include “rotten”,
clean. “horrible taste” or
“old”.
The walls are decorated with what the poet calls “donations” (line 9) – which
are gifts to the school, but these gifts may not improve the children’s lives.
Ironically, these gifts suggest a world that the children may never be able to
experience because of their poverty. The speaker uses a bitter tone when he
tells us that these children have a life which is a contrast to these pictures.
Their world is dirty, polluted, grey and without much freedom.
irony of these “donations”:
A picture of Shakespeare: he represents the world of culture, of
theatres and plays that, ironically, the children may never see. The
phrase “cloudless at dawn” (line 10) suggests a new day, a new life,
and contrasts with the grey skies of the slum outside the classroom
window. “Civilised dome” (line 10) may refer to Shakespeare’s bald
head in the shape of a dome. It could also refer to buildings with
domes in cities that suggest other cultures and faraway places.
A poster of the Tyrol: The Tyrolean mountains in Austria have beautiful
graze and wear bells around their necks. Many tourists travel there on vocab
holiday, but these children may never get a chance to do that. Irony"TUBUFNFOUXJUIBO
A map of the world: This seems “open-handed” (generous), as if VOEFSMZJOHNFBOJOHEJGGFSFOU
it offers the children the whole, exciting world with its wonderful GSPNJUTTVSGBDFNFBOJOH
opportunities, but most of them may never leave the slum in which
they live.
The poet’s tone is sad when he says, “these windows, not this world, are
world” (line 13). “These windows” refer to the classroom windows that look
out on the slum. They do not look out on “this world”, which is the wonderful
the windows.
The speaker goes on to describe the slum outside the classroom and what
it means for the lives of the children. The “narrow” street suggests that the
area is built up and crowded. It is “sealed” (line 15) or closed in by the grey,
cloudy, heavy (“lead”) sky. The words “lead”, which is a heavy grey metal,
and “sealed” make it seem almost as if the children are trapped in a lead
alliteration of the “s” sound that links the words “street/sealed/
sky” adds to the trapped, closed-in feeling.

3 Poetry
As he did at the start of the poem, the poet uses the repetition, “Far far
...” (line 16) to emphasise how the children are cut off from nature and the
beautiful world beyond the slum. The metaphor “stars of words” (line 16) is
interesting. The stars are beautiful and represent dreams, great ambitions
think not only of a beautiful night sky, but also of the wonderful ways words
can be used: words express wisdom and knowledge, they can inspire us,
they can empower us. But perhaps these children have no experience of
words used in this way.
Notice that in this stanza, the word “world” is repeated four times, each time
with a slightly different meaning or connotation.

Surely, Shakespeare is wicked, the map a bad example
With ships and sun and love tempting them to steal –
For lives that slyly turn in their cramped holes
From fog to endless night? On their slag heap, these children 20
Wear skins peeped through by bones and spectacles of steel
With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones.
All of their time and space are foggy slum.
So blot their maps with slums as big as doom.
In this stanza, the poet uses an indignant tone. His anger about injustice
increases when he thinks about the children’s future.
“Wicked” (line 17) seems a very strange word to use to describe a great and
inspiring writer like Shakespeare, and how, we may wonder, can a map be
literature, maps of the world, together with a life of travel and adventure
(ships) in warm, sunny places belong to a life these children may never have
– unless they turn to crime to escape from their poverty. The poet’s diction
(his choice of words, such as “wicked/bad”) and the strong rhythm of these
lines show how strongly he feels. The poet’s unhappiness is shown again
in the next two lines when he describes what the future holds for these
children. Their homes are “cramped holes” (line 19) and their lives are dull
(“fog”) and without a bright future (“endless night”).
seen a place where coal is mined, you will have seen the slag heaps which
are huge dumps of black waste from the coal mines. The children in the
poem do not literally live on a slag heap (although their slum may be close to
one) but this strong metaphor tells us that their lives are not pleasant, and
are without joy or hope.
The poet uses in “wear skins peeped through by bones” (line
20) to emphasise how thin the children are. Their bones are “peeping” or
looking through their skin. This is also an example of hyperbole as the bones
would not actually be sticking out through the skin. The children who wear
the broken glasses cannot even see properly – “With mended glass, like
bottle bits on stones” (line 21). This simile may refer to the children’s future

as well as their physical condition. Is the future they see ahead of them as
broken as their glasses? They have nothing good to look forward to as “All
their time and space are foggy slum” (line 23).
The last line of stanza 3 shows how angry the poet feels about the future
to which these children are condemned. He speaks in a direct, angry and
accusing tone to us and all those people in authority. He says that we may
as well condemn the children to endless unhappiness and paint the “map”
of their future with a picture of a huge slum, “as big as doom” (line 24). Read this
line out loud and hear
You met the word “doom” in the Shakespeare sonnet, when it meant how it expresses the
0the end of time/the world, the Day of Judgement. Here “doom” has the poet’s anger: “So blot
connotation of being condemned to suffering and death from which there is their maps with slums
as big as doom”.
following one another, almost like beats of a drum - “So blot their maps with
slums as big as doom”.

Unless, governor, teacher, inspector, visitor, 25
In the last stanza, the poet introduces hope to a hopeless situation. He calls
on those in authority to change these children’s lives and give them a better
future. He calls on the school governor (many South African schools have
The poet
governing bodies), teachers, school inspectors and visitors to take action. does not mean the
To express his excited tone about what he wants to happen, the poet has authorities must literally
written this stanza as one long sentence that builds to a climax. However, to break the windows.
He means they must
make it easier to discuss, it will be divided into two.
help to open
Unless, governor, teacher, inspector, visitor, 25 up the children’s minds
and lives.
classroom wall should no longer be a “temptation” to steal, but become an

offer of real opportunities for the children. It should be a “window” (line 26)
windows for the children and offer them a different future.

At present they are imprisoned as if they were in a grave (“catacomb”). The
poet emphasises the need to free the children from this future by his urgent
tone
he wants the children to be able to escape their dull and lifeless future and
even the town itself.

3 Poetry
In the last four lines, the poet’s tone is a passionate plea for the authorities
to give the children a different life and a better environment. He wants them
to enjoy the green countryside and nature, to play freely and explore the sea
and the beach (“run azure on gold sands”) – in other words, they need to
experience an unlimited world. He wants them to discover the joy of reading
books, which are a source of knowledge, delight and wisdom. He uses
the metaphor “their tongues run naked” (line 30 and 31), which suggests
drinking up the contents of books the way we drink water if we are thirsty.
The poet wants them to show the same enthusiasm for books and knowledge
that are relevant and make sense to them. Here the poet makes it clear
that it is only through a good education and a better environment that the
children will have the opportunities that at present they do not have. He
wants them to have access to “white” leaves (a leaf also means a page, so
white leaves are the pages of books) and “green leaves” (nature, the wider
world) so that they will have a different future.
The poem reaches its climax in the last line with a powerful metaphor: the
new “history” of their lives should be written in the “language of the sun”
(line 32). The sun is the source of life, warmth, brightness, energy. These
are the qualities that should be part of these children’s lives.
notes Contrasts
Notice all the colours used in the final stanza: azure (bright
blue), gold, white, green, and the colour suggested by the sun.
Consider how these contrast with the colours suggested by the
images used earlier in the poem: “pallor”, “sour cream”, “fog”,
“lead”, “holes”, “endless night”, “slag heap”, “catacombs”.
How does this contrasting group of images show two different
kinds of life? The earlier colours are dull and gloomy, lifeless,
even deathly, like the lives of the children in the slum; the later
ones are bright and beautiful, the way their lives ought to be – a
movement from darkness into light.
4. Tone and mood

In stanza 1, the tone is angry and frustrated because of the hardship the
children face.
In stanza 2, the speaker uses a bitter and sad tone when he contrasts the
pictures on the classroom wall with the hard realities the children face.
In stanza 3, the tone is indignant and accusing about the injustice the
children face in the future.
In stanza 4, the tone is excited and urgent about the need to improve the
passionate plea to do so.

summary
An elementary school classroom in a slum

by Stephen Spender
1. Theme
A protest against social inequality and against poor quality
education.
— “Like rootless weeds”

2. Type and form
Simile
— “hair torn around their pallor”
Metaphor
Stanza 1
8 lines — “The paper-seeming boy, with rat’s eyes”
Two metaphors;hyperbole
— “At back of the dim class
One unnoted, sweet and young”
Contrast
— “On sour cream walls”

Connotations of rot
— “Donations” of Shakespeare’s picture, poster, map
Stanza 2 Irony
8 lines — “A narrow street sealed in with a lead sky”
Free verse: Alliteration (repeated “s”)
No formal rhyme — “stars of words”
scheme Metaphor
— “slag heap”
Metaphor
Stanza 3 — “wear skins peeped through by bones”
8 lines Personification;hyperbole
— “With mended glass, like bottle bits on stones”
Simile
— Written as one long sentence

Creates poem’s climax
Stanza 4 — Windows must “Break, O break open”
8 lines Figurative (not literal)
— “language of the sun”
Metaphor
3. Tone and mood

Tone: Moves from angry, frustrated, bitter, sad, indignant and
accusing; to excited, urgent and passionate.
Mood: How does this poem make you feel? Happy, sad, angry or
indifferent? Always give reasons for your answer.

3 Poetry
Activity 3

number (1 - 3).
NB NB
The setting (background) of the poem is a (1) ... school in a (2) ...
area. There are very few (3) ... in the classroom. (3)
6TFZPVS08/ 2. Using your own words, describe the children in the classroom.
HINT!
hint XPSETIFSFEPOPU
RVPUFEJSFDUMZGSPN
UIFQPFN'PSNBSLT HJWF
UISFFQPJOUT In your OWN words, say how this child is different from the rest
e.g. EG - worked examples of the children in his class. (1)
exams for your answer. (2)

8IFOZPVBSFBTLFEUPHJWF
BSFBTPO UIFSFBTPONVTUCF
CBTFEPOUIFQPFN
activity
ACTIVITIES boy
and girl-left and
right of page consecutive words to support your answer.
activity The children’s homes are large and comfortable. (2)
7. Choose the correct answer to complete the following sentence:
In stanza 4, the speaker’s tone shows that he is ...

Step by step comment comment critically.
A commenting
B pleading passionately.
C complaining bitterly.
8IFOBTLFEGPSZPVSWJFX D demanding forcefully. (1)

UIFBOTXFSSFRVJSFTZPVS
FNPUJPOBMSFTQPOTFBOE
VOEFSTUBOEJOHPGUIFQPFN Name ONE experience the speaker wishes the children
'PSNBSLT NBLF0/&QPJOU to have. (1)
BCPVUUIFTQFBLFSTGFFMJOH
NBSL
BOEUIFOHJWF580 9. In your view, how does the speaker (poet) feel about the
SFBTPOT NBSLT
children? Using your OWN words, give TWO reasons for your
answer. (3)
[19]

NB
1. 1 = primary (3)
2. They are malnourished/ underfed/ very thin. "OZ5)3&&PG
HINT!
They are pale. Their hair is untidy.
Some children are handicapped/ did not grow properly/ are too
hint UIFTFBOTXFSTBSF
BDDFQUBCMF
small for their age. Some have darting, suspicious, hungry
eyes. The girl’s head seems too big for her body. The boy has
NB
red eyes. Some have diseases/ inherited diseases.
They have broken glasses. (3)
3. He is a dreamer. / He has an active imagination. / He is

unassuming. / He is almost invisible. / He looks younger/ "OZ0/&PG
HINT!
more innocent. / He is not affected by his circumstances exams
as much as the others. (1) hint UIFTFBOTXFSTJT
BDDFQUBCMF
4. He is against the donations because they show a world that the
children have no experience of. /The donations may tempt
the children to steal/ their circumstances will not allow them to
experience what the donations offer. (2)
5.1. Metaphor (1) activity

ACTIVITIES bo
5.2. He compares their circumstances to a lead sky/ a narrow exams and girl-left a
street. right of page
The poet suggests that the children are trapped/ caught/ cannot activity
escape and that they are heavily burdened/ very poor/ live in bad
circumstances. (2)
6. False. “cramped holes” (2)
activity
Step by step commen
7. pleading passionately (1) ACTIVITIES bo
and girl-left a
8. He wishes them to get out of the slum. right of page
To get 3
activity
marks for question 9,
you must say what the
speaker is feeling (1
He wishes them to read/experience literature/be exposed mark) and give TWO
to books/good education. (1) reasons to support your
answer (2 marks).
9. He feels sorry for them. Step by step commen
AND
He describes the conditions in which they live/ their appearance
vividly./ He objects to the so-called donations./ He is concerned
that they might resort to stealing./ He appeals to the authorities
to make a difference/ to intervene/ to help/ to save the
children.
He is unsympathetic/ he does not care.

AND
He is merely making a social point/criticising a bad education
system./ His description of the children is cold and detached/
unemotional./ This is just a typical protest poem. (3)
[19]

4 Poetry
Auto wreck
by Karl Shapiro
Auto wreck was written by Karl Shapiro (1913-2000). He was an American
had them published. He wrote Auto wreck in 1941, during the war.
supermarkets and this car crash. Shapiro was awarded the Pulitzer Prize
1. Themes
Karl Shapiro The main theme of the poem is death, and the uncertainty of life.
NB NB
The poem shows how uncertain and insecure life can be. None of us
knows when and how we will die. The people in the cars were probably not
thinking at all about life and death when suddenly the crash happened. In
"OiBVUPXSFDLwJT
HINT! a moment, their lives have been changed by horrible injuries, or have been
hint IPX"NFSJDBOTSFGFS
UPBDBSDSBTI
taken away altogether. The poet has no reasonable explanation for this.
exams
activity
ACTIVITIES boy
and girl-left and
right of page
activity

Auto wreck 4
Auto wreck
by Karl Shapiro
Stanza 1 Its quick soft silver bell beating, beating,

And down the dark one ruby flare
Pulsing out red light like an artery,
The ambulance at top speed floating down
Past beacons and illuminated clocks 5
Wings in a heavy curve, dips down,
And brakes speed, entering the crowd.
Stanza 2 The doors leap open, emptying light;

Stretchers are laid out, the mangled lifted
And stowed into the little hospital. 10
Then the bell, breaking the hush, tolls once,
And the ambulance with its terrible cargo
Rocking, slightly rocking, moves away,
As the doors, an afterthought, are closed.
Stanza 3 We are deranged, walking among the cops 15

Who sweep glass and are large and composed.
One is still making notes under the light.
One with a bucket douches ponds of blood
Into the street and gutter.
One hangs lanterns on the wrecks that cling, 20
Empty husks of locusts, to iron poles.
Stanza 4 Our throats were tight as tourniquets,

Our feet were bound with splints, but now,
Like convalescents intimate and gauche,
We speak through sickly smiles and warn 25
With the stubborn saw of common sense,
The grim joke and the banal resolution.
The traffic moves around with care,
But we remain, touching a wound
That opens to our richest horror. 30
Stanza 5 Already old, the question Who shall die?

Becomes unspoken Who is innocent?
For death in war is done by hands;
Suicide has cause and stillbirth, logic;
And cancer, simple as a flower, blooms, 35
But this invites the occult mind,
Cancels our physics with a sneer,
And spatters all we knew of denouement
Across the expedient and wicked stones.

4 Poetry
words to know

Line 2: ruby red
bright light warning of danger
Line 3: pulsing throbbing
artery main blood vessel
Line 5: beacons
illuminated lit up
Line 9: stretchers beds for carrying the injured
mangled badly injured
Line 10: stowed packed away
little hospital ambulance
Line 11: hush quiet
tolls sound a bell makes
Line 12: cargo load of victims of the crash
Line 14: afterthought something remembered later
Line 15: deranged very upset, confused, disturbed
Line 16: composed calm
Line 18: douches washes away
ponds large pools
Line 20: wrecks crashed cars
cling stick to
Line 21: husks outside covering
locusts large insects like grasshoppers
Line 22: tourniquets bandages wrapped very tightly to cut off blood supply and so stop
bleeding
Line 23: splints something stiff that is tied against a broken bone to stop it
moving
Line 24: convalescents people recovering from illness
intimate close
gauche awkward
Line 25: sickly weak
Line 26: stubborn determined
saw wise saying
Line 27: grim gloomy
banal ordinary, of little importance, stereotyped
resolution conclusion, decision

Auto wreck 4
words to know

Line 32: innocent not guilty
Line 34: suicide killing oneself
stillbirth baby born dead
logic reason
Line 36: occult magic, the supernatural
Line 37: cancels stops
physics science
sneer mocking look
Line 38: spatters splashes
denouement ending of a story that explains everything
Line 39: expedient useful
stones the road
2. Type and form

This is a descriptive poem that deals with thoughts and feelings, so it could
be classed as a lyric poem.
The poem is written in free verse, a form of poetry that has no set rhyming
pattern. The structure is informal: lines and stanzas may be of different
lengths and usually there is no regular use of rhyme, or even no rhyme at
all.

4 Poetry
3. Analysis
Its quick soft silver bell beating, beating,
And down the dark one ruby flare
Pulsing out red light like an artery,
The ambulance at top speed floating down
Past beacons and illuminated clocks 5
Wings in a heavy curve, dips down,
And brakes speed, entering the crowd.
These lines describe the arrival of the ambulance at the scene of the
car crash (auto wreck). In the 1940s, when this poem was written,
words create a pleasant feeling with the description of the ambulance

siren as a “soft silver bell”. Notice how the alliteration of the ‘s’ gives a
gentle sound. The repetition of “beating, beating” to describe the strokes
vocab of the bell is a harsh contrast.
Flare: A light that a ship as the red light on top of the ambulance approaches. The use of the word
TFOETPVU MJLFBýSFXPSL UP “dark” instead of “night” helps to make the scene feel more grim and full
TIPXUIBUJUJTJOEBOHFSBOE of danger.
OFFETIFMQ
The poet then shocks us out of any comfortable feelings we have by using
the simile “Pulsing out red light like an artery” in line 3 to describe the
blood vessel. This comparison makes us feel that the accident may involve
serious injuries, even death. The ambulance speeds along, passing the
lights of the signs and clocks on buildings in an ordinary street. The poet
compares the ambulance that races to the accident to a large bird coming
down to land in the metaphor “Wings... dips down” (line 6). The vehicle
brakes and slows to a stop among the crowd of bystanders who always
gather at the scene of an accident.

The doors leap open, emptying light;
Stretchers are laid out, the mangled lifted
And stowed into the little hospital. 10
Then the bell, breaking the hush, tolls once,
And the ambulance with its terrible cargo
Rocking, slightly rocking, moves away,
As the doors, an afterthought, are closed.
These lines describe how the accident victims are loaded into the
ambulance and driven away. The poet shows the speed and urgency of the
paramedics with the of the doors that “leap” or jump open,
the way, probably, that the paramedics jump quickly out of the ambulance.

Auto wreck 4
Many words the poet uses in stanza 1 – “quick”, “top speed”, “brakes
speed”, “leap” – help to give a sense of emergency and haste to the scene.
The scene is lit up by the light from inside the ambulance and we see that
the victims are extremely badly injured as they are described as being
vocab
“mangled” (line 9). The word “stowed” (line 10) means “packed away” and Mangled: 5XJTUFEBOE
could suggest that these people are hurriedly packed into the ambulance CSPLFO
as if they are just things or bodies, not living people.
The metaphor “little hospital” (line 10) tells us that the ambulance is
equipped to care for the injured. The poet now uses the word “tolls” (line
11) to describe the ambulance bell. This reminds us of a funeral, when
the church bell is “tolled” and we suspect that some of the victims may
be dying or even dead. This idea is supported when the poet refers to the
victims, describes the injured people in the ambulance as “terrible cargo”
(line 12).
The ambulance drives off before the doors are closed. This also gives
a sense of urgency to the scene as it needs to hurry to save lives. The The poet
vividly describes the
movement of the
suggest that lives may be also be lost (“closed” in line 14). The ambulance ambulance by using
now almost becomes a hearse, a vehicle that transports the dead.
“dips”, “rocking”.

We are deranged, walking among the cops 15
Who sweep glass and are large and composed.
One is still making notes under the light.
One with a bucket douches ponds of blood
Into the street and gutter.
One hangs lanterns on the wrecks that cling,
Empty husks of locusts, to iron poles.
The crowd is still wandering around at the scene. “Deranged” literally

means ‘mentally disturbed’, which shows how much the accident has
upset the onlookers. Note that the poet uses the informal word “cops”
instead of ‘police’. In contrast to the onlookers, who are very upset, the
policemen are calm as they carry out their duties. Could this be because
the police are trained to be calm in an emergency and are used to accident
scenes? One policeman washes the blood away with water (“douches”),
another makes notes and a third one hangs warning lights (“lanterns”) on
the remains of the crashed cars.
The hyperbole, “ponds of blood” (line 18), indicates that much blood has
been spilled and tells us how badly the victims have been hurt – but notice
how easily the signs of pain and suffering are removed with buckets of
water. The broken wrecks of the cars are wrapped around the street poles.
The metaphor comparing the wrecked cars to “empty husks of locusts” vocab
(line 21) shows how badly the cars are damaged. The images of the husk Husk: 5IFESJFEPVUDPWFSJOH
POBQMBOUMJLFBNFBMJF
the same way that an accident can happen quickly and cars can become
wrecks.

4 Poetry
This Stanza 4 (lines 22 – 30)

stanza shows Our throats were tight as tourniquets,
how shocked the
onlookers Our feet were bound with splints, but now,
are. Like convalescents intimate and gauche,
We speak through sickly smiles and warn 25
With the stubborn saw of common sense,
The grim joke and the banal resolution.
The traffic moves around with care,
But we remain, touching a wound
That opens to our richest horror.
This stanza focuses on the feelings and reactions of the onlookers. The
poet uses medical metaphors to describe the way they feel. Their throats
feel as if they are tightly tied up by tourniquets. The shock and horror of
the accident makes them unable to move freely, as if their bones have
been broken and tied to splints to keep them from moving. These medical
metaphors suggest that the onlookers, too, have been hurt (but in their
minds, not their bodies). The metaphor “convalescents” (line 24) shows
them slowly beginning to recover from the shock, but their smiles are
“sickly” and false as they try to hide their horror. They try to make contact
(“be intimate”) with one another in an awkward (“gauche”) way.
Some “warn/ With the stubborn saw of common sense” (line 26) –
make “grim jokes” (line 27). Still others make a “banal resolution”, saying
stereotypical things and perhaps using clichés such as, ‘You never know
vocab more carefully in future.

Oxymoron:%FMJCFSBUFMZQVUT There are a number of oxymorons in stanza 3. The onlookers make
UXPXPSETXJUIPQQPTJUF “grim jokes” (line 27) and they cannot stop thinking about and looking
NFBOJOHTUPHFUIFSi(SJNw
NFBOTIPSSJCMFPSGSJHIUFOJOH
XIJDIJTOPUTPNFUIJOHXF
BTTPDJBUFXJUIKPLFTi+PLFTw fear of death or dreadful injury.
IBWFUIFDPOOPUBUJPOPG
MBVHIUFSBOEGVO

Already old, the question Who shall die?
Becomes unspoken Who is innocent?
For death in war is done by hands;
Suicide has cause and stillbirth, logic;
And cancer, simple as a flower, blooms, 35
But this invites the occult mind,
Cancels our physics with a sneer,
And spatters all we knew of denouement
Across the expedient and wicked stones.

Auto wreck 4
In the last stanza, the poet thinks about the mystery of death and its
causes. None of us knows how or when we will die, or who will die next:
this is the “old ... question” that is in the minds of the onlookers. But this
reminds them of another silent question: “Who is innocent?” (line 32). vocab
This rhetorical question asks who is responsible for the accident and why Rhetorical question: A
those particular people should have been the victims. The poet – and the RVFTUJPOUIBUEPFTOUSFBMMZ
onlookers – cannot answer the question. Death in an accident like this OFFEBOBOTXFS
one does not seem to have a reasonable explanation and is confusing to
ordinary people.
The poet thinks there are reasons for other forms of death that we can
Diseases like cancer are shown by the simile comparing the way cancer
The poet feels the only explanation is an “occult” one: only fate – or
think we can explain everything through science and reason (“physics”),

but such accidents make our science useless and mock it (“cancels our
physics with a sneer” in line 37). We like to think that life should be like a
story in which everything is explained at the end (the “denouement”), but
an accident like this is different, and has no easy explanation.
metaphor the poet shows us that the idea of a “denouement”
is destroyed, “spattered” like the blood of the victims all over the road. The
description of the road (“stones”) is, as we all know, useful (“expedient”),
(line 39) perhaps because without roads and cars there would be no car
accidents.
4. Tone and mood

In stanzas 1, the tone is urgent and matter-of-fact as the cleaning up of
the accident is described.
In stanza 2, 3 and 4, the tone is confused and as the spectators
realise how terrible the accident was.
In stanza 5, the tone is confused and uncertain at the uncertainties of life
and death.

4 Poetry
summary
Auto wreck
by Karl Shapiro
1. Theme
Death and the uncertainty of life.
2. Type and form

— “soft silver bell”
Alliteration (repeated “s”)
— “Pulsing out red light like an artery”
Simile
— “Wings in a heavy curve, dips down”
Metaphor
— “The doors leap open”

Personification
— “quick”, “top speed”, “brakes speed”
Createsense of emergency
— “little hospital”
Metaphor
Free verse:
- No formal rhyme — “ponds of blood”
scheme Hyperbole
- Stanzas of different — “empty husks of locusts”
lengths Metaphor
— “Our throats were tight as tourniquets”

Metaphor
— “Like convalescents”
Simile
— “grim jokes”
Oxymoron
— “Who is innocent?”
Rhetorical question
— “And cancer, simple as a flower, blooms”
Simile
— “expedient and wicked stones”
Personification
3. Tone and mood

Tone: Urgent, matter-of-fact, confused, horrified, fearful, uncertain
Mood: How does this poem make you feel? Happy, sad, angry or indifferent?
Always give reasons for your answer.

Auto wreck 4
Activity 4
1. Complete the following sentences by using the words provided in

the list below. Write only the words next to the question number
(1.1–1.3)
This poem describes how the (1.1) … rushes to the scene of the
(1.2) … The (1.3) … are picked up and taken to hospital. (3)
When the
question asks you to
refer to a stanza, go
2.1. At what time of the day does this incident happen? (1) back to that stanza in
2.2. In lines 4-6 (“The ambulance at ... and illuminated clocks”) the answer.
ambulance is compared to a bird. Quote TWO separate words
that support this idea. (1) (2)

Write only the answer (A-D).
The word “mangled” in line 9 tells us that ...
A The vehicles are badly damaged.
B Some of the bystanders are very upset.
C The policemen are emotionless.
D The accident victims are seriously injured. (1)
Quote TWO separate words that show the difference in the

reactions of the speaker and the policemen. (2)
Explain why the onlookers have “sickly smiles”. (2)
Using your own words, name TWO things that the onlookers
are concerned about. (2)

the list below.
In the last stanza, the speaker argues that there is always a

(7.1) ... for Suicide, while stillbirth is (7.2) ... However, a car crash
(7.3)... the minds of ordinary people. (3)
8. Explain why the poet mentions war, suicide, stillbirth and cancer
in a poem about a road accident. (2)

NB NB
4 Poetry
9.
*ORVFTUJPOTBOE
HINT!
relevant today?
hint ZPVBSFBTLFE
GPSZPVSPXOPQJOJPO Discuss your view. (2)
4VQQPSUZPVSWJFXXJUIB
SFBTPO 10. Has this poem changed your understanding of the causes of
road deaths? Discuss your view. (2)
[22
exams
1.1. Ambulance
1.2. Accident
1.3. Injured (3)
activity
2.1.
ACTIVITIES boy
At night / in the evening. (1)
PAY SPECIAL ATTENTIONand girl-left and
(2)
NB right of page
NB
activity 3. D/the accident victims are seriously injured. (1)
4. “deranged” and “composed” (2)
"OZ580PGUIF
HINT!
5. It is a pretence/ a coping mechanism/ false appearance.
hint BCPWFBOTXFSTUP
RVFTUJPOBOE
To hide their true feelings/ horror
comment
(2)
BSFBDDFQUBCMF 6. Who has died/ who will die (next)/ who is responsible
for this/ other accidents. (2)
7.3. Confuses (3)

exams 8. All these are logical reasons for death.
He is able to understand the cause of death for each of
these, but not for road accidents./ No logical reasons are
given for road accidents. (2)
lost because of road accidents.

activity
ACTIVITIES boy No. There are many measures in place to reduce accidents.
and girl-left and
right of page It is easy to establish the cause of accidents nowadays. (2)
activity drivers and pedestrians.
No, sometimes road deaths cannot be explained because

they are often beyond human control. (2)
Step by step comment comment [22]

Poetry 5
On his blindness
by John Milton
On his blindness was written by John Milton (1608-1674). He was a deeply

religious English poet. He studied at Cambridge University. As a young man
he travelled around Europe and learnt many European languages.
In his later life, there was a civil war in England between King Charles I
and Oliver Cromwell and his supporters, who wanted England to become a
republic. Milton supported Cromwell and became very politically active. He
had to go into hiding when the new king, King Charles II, came into power.
At the age of 44, Milton went blind. Most of his best-known poems were
written after this. He composed poems in his head and recited them to his
daughters so they could write them down.
John Milton
1. Themes
The main themes in this poem are serving God, blindness (disability) and
using one’s talents. Did you know?
The poet struggles with the fact that he is no longer able to see. He is 5IJTQPFNJTCBTFEPOUIF
QBSBCMFPGUIFUBMFOUTJOUIF
#JCMFo.BUUIFX WFSTFT
work and that accepting his blindness and being patient (“stand and wait”)

5 Poetry
On his blindness
by John Milton
When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide,
Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bent
Octave
To serve therewith my Maker, and present line 5
My true account, lest He returning chide,
‘Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?’
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, ‘God doth not need
Either man’s work or his own gifts; who best line 10
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Sestet
Is kingly: thousands at his bidding speed
And post o’er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait.’
words to know
Did you know?

5IFUJUMFPGUIJTQPFNXBT Line 1: consider think about
OPUXSJUUFOCZ.JMUPO*UXBT light ability to see
HJWFOUPUIFQPFNNVDIMBUFS
spent
CZ#JTIPQ/FXUPO XIPXBT
SFGFSSJOHUP.JMUPOTCMJOEOFTT Line 2: ere before (old English)
5IBUJTXIZJUJTDBMMFEi0Ohis wide wild (old English)
CMJOEOFTTw SBUIFSUIBOi0O Line 3: talent ability / skill
NZCMJOEOFTTw Line 4: lodged kept in a safe place/ placed
more bent
something
Line 5: therewith with that
Line 6: account report/ record/ explanation
chide scold/ show anger/ blame
Line 7: doth does
exact expect/ demand
day-labour work
light denied sight taken away
Line 8: fondly foolishly
Line 9: murmur quiet complaint
Line 11: mild gentle
yoke the rope and wood collar which goes
around the neck of an ox to pull a cart
state position/ situation
Line 12: bidding request/ command
Line 13: post o’er travel over (old English)

On his blindness 5
2. Type and form

The poem is an Italian or Miltonic sonnet. This is because its 14 lines are
made up of:
An octave of eight lines made up of two quatrains. This is where the
A sestet of six lines. This is where the problem is resolved.

The rhyming scheme in this sonnet is abba abba cdecde.

5 Poetry
3. Analysis
The octave (lines 1 – 8)
When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide,
Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present 5
My true account, lest He returning chide,
‘Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?’
I fondly ask.
In the octave, the problem is presented. The speaker feels depressed

Did you know?
when he thinks (“consider” in line 1) about his problem – the problem
is that he is going blind “ere half my days” – before he is even half way
A “talent”XBTBDPJOJO talent”, which has been
UIFUJNFPGUIF#JCMF+FTVT “lodged” (given to him) to use but it is “useless” (line 4) because he cannot
VTFEUIFJEFBPGBAUBMFOUBT see to write any more.
TPNFUIJOHWBMVBCMF BTLJMM
HJWFOCZ(PE5PVTFPOFT The poet uses a metaphor to refer to his eyesight. He calls it his “light”
UBMFOUPSTLJMMXBTBXBZPG (line 7). This is an effective comparison because our eyes are important.
TFSWJOH(PE)JEJOHPOFT
AUBMFOUXPVMECFBOJOTVMUUP
(PE has connotations of brightness and happiness. This contrasts with the life
without light – the “dark world” in line 2.
The poet (or speaker) describes his problem in the octave in one long
sentence that ends in the middle of line 8. In this sentence, he lists all
Note how
the things he is worried about and what may happen as a result of his
the poet contrasts blindness. He is frustrated
light and dark in with me”) is “useless” (line 4). He is also frustrated because his soul is
the poem.
and he cannot do this if he cannot see.
talent so it would be “death to hide” it (line 3). Milton wants to serve his
Maker and use his writing talent so that at the end of his life he can present
(become cross with) him for not using the talent to serve Him (line 6).
The poet is also confused
same time make him blind (“light denied”) and therefore unable to work.
Although the poet is frustrated, fearful and a little angry, it is important
has a plan we may not know.

On his blindness 5
The sestet (lines 9 – 15)

But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, ‘God doth not need
Either man’s work or his own gifts; who best 10
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly: thousands at his bidding speed
And post o’er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait.’
The sestet is where the problem set out in the octave is resolved. The
speaker begins to answer the question in line 8 starting with the word
“But”:
But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies… (lines 8 and 9)
“Patience” (which is a good human quality of being able to wait) seems

to appear to him
form). Notice how Patience is named with a capital ‘P’ – like a proper noun.
When Patience appears to him, it is as if the poet’s own mind speaks to
him and reassures him.
Patience speaks to stop the poet’s “murmur” (complaints) and explains
“bear his mild yoke” (obey his gentle commands/ carry a small burden).
is kingly” – lines 11 and 12) and that there are “thousands” of others who
can serve him in many other places and in many different ways.
accepting what happens – “who only stand and wait” (line 14). He realises
4. Tone and mood

In the octave of this sonnet, the speaker goes through many feelings and
frustrated, fearful, worried and confused.
In the sestet, the tone changes. It becomes more accepting and gentle.

5 Poetry
summary
On his blindness
by John Milton
1. Theme
The main themes are serving God, blindness (disability) and using one’s talents.
2. Type and form
3. Tone and mood
Octave: — “When I consider how my light is spent”

8 lines Problem of blindness
a — “And that one talent which is death to hide”
b Problem of being unable to serve God with his
b talents
a
— “Light denied”
a
b Metaphor
Miltonic sonnet: b — “my light is spent…in this dark world”
14 lines a Contrasts
Sestet:
6 lines — “But Patience, to prevent that murmur, soon
c
replies”
d
e Personification; resolving the problem
c — “They also serve who only stand and wait”
d Resolving the problem
e
Tone: In the octave it is frustrated, fearful, worried and confused. In the

sestet, it is accepting and gentle.
Mood: How does this poem make you feel? Happy, sad, angry or
indifferent? Always give reasons for your answer.

On his blindness 5
Activity 5

(1.1–1.3) PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION
NB
This poem is a Miltonic (1.1) … The octave gives the reader the
(1.2) … and the sestet gives the reader the (1.3) … (3)
The contrasting
HINT!
hint XPSETIBWFPQQPTJUF
NFBOJOHTUPFBDI
Quote TWO contrasting words that best describe the poet’s PUIFS
concern. (2)
“eyesight”. (1)
exams
3.2. Why do you think he uses this word? (2)
Remember
that a why question
Why does the poet consider his talent to be useless? (2) requires “because”
in the answer.
denied?”). activity
5.1. What is the poet’s fear in these lines? (1) ACTIVITIES b
and girl-left
right of page
5.2. Why does he have this fear? (1)
activity
Step by step comme

7. How does the poet’s mood, or how do his feelings change
in the course of the poem?
Choose two words from the box below to complete this

sentence:
At the start of the poem the poet feels 7.1… but at the end
of the poem the poet experiences 7.2… (2)
serve him best”.
Choose the correct word in brackets:

5 Poetry
8.2. “they” is a pronoun referring to (blind people/ all people). (1)
8.3.1.
A Simile
B Metaphor
(1)
8.3.2.
complete the sentence below.
to:
A donkey pulling a cart
A small burden or job
A kind joke (1)

Write only the answer (A–D).
The word which best describes the poet’s feeling in lines 9-14
(“That murmur, soon … stand and wait”) is:
A acceptance.
B anger.
C depression.
D joy. (1)
10.
NB NB
and quote TWO consecutive words to support your answer. (2)
The poet feels that our burdens are not heavy.
5IFMBTUUXP 11. Consider the poem as a whole.

HINT!
hint RVFTUJPOTNVTUCF
ZPVSPXOPQJOJPO
11.1. Do you feel sorry for the poet? Discuss your view. (2)
CBTFEPOXIFUIFSZPVSJOJUJBM 11.2. Do you think a disabled person should be expected to perform
BOTXFSXBT:&4PS/0 at the same level as an able person? Discuss your view. (2)
[28]
exams
activity
ACTIVITIES boy
and girl-left and © Department of Basic Education 2015
right of page
On his blindness 5
1.1 Sonnet
1.2 Problem
1.3 Solution (3)
NB
and “dark” (2)
(1)
3.2 Joy/ hope/ clarity/ visibility/ warms/ shining/ inspiration (2)
"OZ580PGUIFTF
HINT!
4. The poet’s talent is that he can write and he will not be
able to use this talent if he is blind.
hint BOTXFSTXJMMFBSO
ZPVNBSLT
He is unable to see. Therefore, he cannot write poetry/

use his gift. (2)
with what he has done. (1)
not use his talent well./ He did not do a full day’s work. (1) exams
(1)
his conscience.
Patience becomes a person who is answering his question.

activity
(2) ACTIVITIES bo
and girl-left a
7.1 Frustration right of page
7.2 Acceptance (2)

activity
(1)
8.2 “They” is a pronoun referring to all people. (1)
8.3.1 Metaphor (1)
Step by step commen
8.3.2 The speaker is comparing the “mild yoke” to a small
burden or job. (1)
9. A/acceptance (1) Always
support a YES
10. True. “Mild yoke”. (2) or NO answer
11.1 Yes. He has a talent and he cannot use it. with a strong
reason.
No. I admire him for accepting his blindness. (2)
11.2. Yes. Disabled people often perform better than those without
disabilities and tend to feel insulted if you make allowances for
them.
No. You have to make concessions to accommodate disabled

people as they have barriers to overcome. (2)
[28]

6 Poetry
A prayer for all my
countrymen
by Guy Butler
from 1952 to 1987.

He helped South African English literature achieve recognition and argued
for integrating European and African elements in writing. When he wrote
poetry in English he gave his writing an African feel.
of life in South Africa during the time of apartheid. This poem was written
in 1987 during the darkest days of apartheid and meditates on racial
1. Themes
Guy Butler As the title suggests, the theme is that South Africans need God’s help to
escape the tragedy of apartheid.
The poet says most people cannot see an end or solution to South Africa’s
problems (under apartheid) or imagine life after apartheid has ended. He
people will behave and speak in such a way that they will keep (and live up
to) their faith in Him.
The poet then says that, in spite of all their suffering, some people have
been able to remain kind and good, to smile bravely through their troubles
and to think clearly. This gives him hope that there will be a better future.

A prayer for all my countrymen 6
A prayer for all my countrymen

by Guy Butler
Stanza 1 Though now few eyes

can see beyond
this tragic time’s
complexities,
dear God, ordain line 5
such deed be done,
such words be said,
that men will praise
Your image yet
when all these terrors line 10
and hates are dead:
Stanza 2 Through rotting days,

beaten, broken,
some stayed pure;
others learnt how, line 15
to grin and endure;
and here and there
a heart stayed warm,
a head grew clear.
words to know
Line 1: now referring to apartheid times

Line 2: beyond further than
Line 3: tragic extremely sad
Line 4: complexities
Line 5: ordain order, make something happen/also
religious term meaning holy order
Line 6: deed action
Line 9: Your
Line 12: rotting bad/corrupt
Line 14: pure good/innocent
Line 16: grin smile
endure cope with, accept, put up with
Line 19: clear open, thinking clearly

6 Poetry
2. Type and form

There are two stanzas in this poem:
The
The second stanza is shorter (8 lines) and tells us that some people
have stayed good in spite of injustice and suffering.
vocab The lines in the poem are short. Most have 4 syllables, although one has
3 and another has 5 syllables. The short lines add to the effect of a prayer
Syllable: 5IFTPVOEPGB
WPXFM B F J P V
XIFO
and also simplify and make each phrase stand out, since the poet believes
QSPOPVODJOHBXPSE
full rhyme (“said”/”dead”), but many half
rhymes. Half rhymes are words that almost rhyme but do not quite rhyme,
which often give a poem a rather sad feeling as they are less musical.
In the second stanza there is one full rhyme: “pure” / “endure” which is
more pleasant to listen to and links the more positive ideas contained in
these words.

3. Analysis
Though now few eyes
can see beyond
this tragic time’s
complexities,
dear God, ordain 5
such deed be done,
such words be said,
that men will praise
Your image yet
when all these terrors 10
and hates are dead:
country. It is written as one long sentence.
situation about which the poet is writing. The problems (“complexities”

in line 4) of South Africa are so great that only a few of the people who
suffer can imagine a time when apartheid will be over. Notice that the word
“complexities” is in a line of its own (line 4), emphasising the size of the
problems facing the country. Using what you have learnt about apartheid,
you can decide why the poet calls it a “tragic time” (line 3).
Notice how the alliteration of the “t” sound in “tragic time’s” emphasises
poem. It begins with the word “Though” (line 1), meaning that even though “Tragic time”
makes us think of the
few people can see past the time of apartheid a time will come when it suffering most South
ends. This suggests that, even with all the suffering, hope is possible. Africans had to go
through during
In the remaining seven lines of stanza 1, the poet tells us what he is praying apartheid.
tone, even desperately,
“ordain” also has a religious meaning. (A priest is “ordained” when he is
makes happen, is good and holy. It also conveys a sense of future promise.
The use of repetition in “such deeds / such words” (lines 6 and 7) shows
us how important the things are that the poet prays for. He prays that men
will retain enough kindness to remain capable of speaking and acting with
humanity (ubuntu), and not in ways that would cause them to lose all faith
Once the struggle to end apartheid is over, he hopes that people will have
in lines 8 and 9) to enable them to make a better society possible for all.
The use of the word “yet” (line 9) refers again to his hope that people will,

6 Poetry
an image of Him for themselves. He might also be referring to the verse in
The “hates” and “terrors” (lines 10 and 11) refer to the negative effects of
the evil system of apartheid. The last line of this stanza (line 11) contains
the poem’s only use of . The words “are dead” suggest that
the poet does believe that apartheid will end, that he has hope.
suggesting that the words arise spontaneously in the poet’s consciousness
expect the second stanza to complete his thoughts.
as similes or metaphors. The simple diction (choice of words) makes it

suitable for a prayer and emphasises the poet’s sincerity – the prayer
comes from his heart.

Through rotting days,
beaten, broken,
some stayed pure;
others learnt how 15
to grin and endure;
and here and there
a heart stayed warm,
a head grew clear.
In this stanza, also written as one long sentence, the poet says that in spite
Connotations of the harsh, cruel times, some people have still stayed good, brave and
of a word are the
meanings that that word
kind.
suggests. “Pure” has
connotations of (or suggests)
goodness, innocence punctuation (the use of commas and semi-colons at the end of the lines).
and honesty. The poet lists examples of what people have experienced.
metaphor. Apartheid
connotations of being forced to live

in a poor, miserable area with no resources or services, and even of the
decaying bodies of the people killed because of apartheid. It also suggests
that the apartheid system is no longer fresh, but is old and rotting and it is
time to throw it away.
The people were “beaten, broken” (line 13) as a result of the physical
violence done to them. But people were also “beaten, broken” in spirit
as a result of the injustice and cruelty of apartheid. Notice the use of the
sound device in line 13 – the alliteration of “b” in “beaten, broken”, a
harsh sound that echoes the heavy sound of blows falling on a body.

But in spite of their suffering, some people “stayed pure” (line 14): they
remained good and were not made angry or bitter by the system. “Pure”
also has a religious connotation, suggesting that these people were
Other people learnt to bear their suffering bravely and with a smile (“grin
and endure” in line 16) and did not feel sorry for themselves. Some
remained kind and warm-hearted, while still others learnt to think about
the situation clearly and wisely: their heads “grew clear” (line 19). People
with clear minds, the ability to think clearly and rationally, were necessary
if a solution to the problems was to be found and a better future built.
As some people have been able to rise above their problems and suffering,
the poet feels hopeful that a better future will be possible.
4. Tone and mood

The general tone of the poem is reverent, sincere and hopeful, as it is a
prayer.
It makes It makes
the poem it easier to hear
really come
alive! like onomatopoeia
and alliteration
Reading a
too.
poem aloud helps
you understand
it better.

6 Poetry
summary
A prayer for all my countrymen

by Guy Butler
1. Theme
South Africans need God’s help to escape the tragedy of apartheid.
2. Type and form
Stanza 1
11 lines
— Written as one long sentence
— “tragic time”
Alliteration (repeated “t”)
Free verse: — “such deeds / such words”
— Most lines are short with Emphasises importance of prayer
4 syllables — “when all the terrors and hates are dead”
— Two full rhymes in the Personification
poem
— Many half rhymes
Stanza 2
8 lines
— “Through rotting days”
Metaphor
— “beaten, broken”
Alliteration (repeated “b”)
3. Tone and mood

Tone: Reverent, sincere and hopeful.

Activity 6
1. What is the “tragic time” referred to in line 3? (1)
2. Complete the following sentences by using the words provided in the

list below. Write down only the words next to the question number
(2.1-2.3).
This poem is written as a (2.1) ... for all the (2.2) ... of (2.3) ... (3)
To whom do the “few eyes” belong? (1)
4. Choose the correct answer to complete the following sentence:
In line 4, the word “complexities” means ...

A hardships and shortages. NB

B hardships and answers.
C answers and solutions.
The “speakerw
HINT!
hint SFGFSTUPUIFQPFU
Explain why the poet wants his countrymen to behave as

described in these lines. (2) To getEG - worked examples
e.g.
full marks for your
answer to question 10,
dead”). you must give a reason
why you agree or
Use ONE word to describe how the speaker feels about disagree with the
exams statement.
the future. (1)
alliteration used. (2)
activity
people reacted at that time. (3) ACTIVITIES bo
and girl-left a
right of page
activity
Quote a line to support your answer.
The speaker was one of the few people who enjoyed the
period of time described in this poem. (2)
Step by step commen
10. At the present time in our history do you think the poet’s
prayer has been answered? Discuss your view. (2)
[18]
6 Poetry
1. Apartheid (1)
2.1. Prayer
2.2. People
2.3. South Africa (3)
NB NB
3. The people or comrades who can see beyond the suffering. (1)
(1)
5. He wants them to act and speak responsibly in a way that will
"OZUISFFPG
HINT!
(2)
hint UIFTFBOTXFSTJO
RVFTUJPO BOE 6. Hopeful/ positive/ optimistic (1)
BSFBDDFQUBCMF
7. “tragic time’s”

“deed be done”
“beaten, broken”
“some stayed pure” (2)
exams 8. Some did not change/ some remained loyal.
Some pretended to cope/ be happy/ grinned and endured.
Some were balanced in their outlook/ remained hopeful/clear-
headed and warm-hearted.
PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION Some became clear-headed/ rational. (3)

NB activity 9.
NB
False. “Through rotting days” (2)
ACTIVITIES boy
10. and
and girl-left Yes, some people have remained warm-hearted and clear-
right of page
headed according to stanza two. These people help people in
activity
5PHFUGVMMNBSLT
HINT!
need.
hint GPSUIJTBOTXFSZPV
OFFEUPBOTXFSCPUI No, reconciliation and forgiveness are not truly evident even
QBSUTPGUIFRVFTUJPO"OTXFS after 1994. There is still a lot of racial prejudice. (2)
iZFTw03iOPwBOEHJWFB [18]
comment
e.g.
SFBTPOGPSZPVSBOTXFS
Step
EG - by step examples
worked comment
exams
activity
ACTIVITIES boy
and girl-left and
right of page
activity

58 POETRY Step by step comment comment Mind the Gap English First Additional Language: Paper 2 Literature
Poetry 7
The birth of Shaka
by Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali
The birth of Shaka was written by Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali. Mtshali was
born in KwaZulu-Natal in 1940. He travelled to Johannesburg as a young
man of 18 and many of his poems are based on life in Soweto. He has
published in both Zulu and English.

Some of his poetry criticises the way black people were forced to live during
apartheid, but other poems, such as The birth of Shaka, are intended to
remind black people of their proud culture and history.
1. Themes
Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali
The theme is the power of African culture. It is something Africans must
feel proud of. The poet praises Shaka’s power and strength as well as
his wisdom. The poet’s intention was to remind the Zulu people of their
proud heritage at a time when they were being oppressed and made to feel
worthless during apartheid.
Did you know?

5IF;VMVLJOH4IBLBXBTCPSOJOBOEXBTBTTBTTJOBUFECZIJTIBMGCSPUIFST
%JOHBOFBOE.IMBOHBOB JO)FXBTUIFTPOPGBDIJFGBOEIJTNPUIFSXBTDBMMFE
/BOEJ)JTQBSFOUTXFSFOPUNBSSJFE"TBCPZIFXBTPGUFONPDLFECFDBVTFIFiIBE
OPGBUIFSw
4IBLBXBTBHSFBUXBSSJPS)FEFWFMPQFEUIF;VMVUSJCFJOUPBNJHIUZOBUJPO%VSJOH
IJTSFJHOTPNFPGUIFýSTUXIJUFTFUUMFSTBSSJWFEGSPN&OHMBOEBOEMBOEFEJOXIBUJT
OPX,XB;VMV/BUBM)JTIBMGCSPUIFS%JOHBOFCFDBNFLJOHBGUFSNVSEFSJOH4IBLB CVU
IFSFJHOFEGPSPOMZZFBSTVOUJMIFXBTEFGFBUFECZXIJUF"GSJLBOFSTBUUIF#BUUMFPG
#MPPE3JWFSJO

7 Poetry
The birth of Shaka

by Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali
Stanza 1 His baby cry

was of a cub
tearing the neck
of the lioness
because he was fatherless. line 5
Stanza 2 The gods

boiled his blood
in a clay pot of passion
to course in his veins.
Stanza 3 His heart was shaped into an ox shield line 10

to foil every foe.
Stanza 4 Ancestors forged

his muscles into
thongs as tough
as wattle bark line 15
and nerves
as sharp as
syringa thorns.
Stanza 5 His eyes were lanterns

that shone from the dark valleys of Zululand line 20
to see white swallows
coming across the sea.
His cry to two assassin brothers:
Stanza 6 ‘Lo! you can kill me line 25

but you’ll never rule this land!’
words to know
Line 2: cub baby lion

Line 3: tearing biting, wounding
Line 4: lioness female lion, Shaka’s mother Nandi
Line 5: fatherless he did not live with his father
Line 8: passion very strong feeling
Line 9: course in his veins
Line 11: foil stop
foe enemy

The birth of Shaka 7
words to know
Line 12: forged made
Line 14: thongs leather strips
Line 15: wattle bark outside covering of a wattle tree
Line 18: syringa tree with big, sharp thorns
Line 19: lanterns lamps you can carry
Line 21: swallows
Line 23: assassin person who kills to take over
political power
Line 24: lo! look!, see!
2. Type and form

This poem is a modern praise poem or izibongo.
It has six stanzas. They all have different line lengths and have no rhyming
words.

7 Poetry
3. Analysis
His baby cry
was of a cub
tearing the neck
of the lioness
because he was fatherless. 5
The lion is known as the “King of the Beasts” because of its strength,
The metaphor comparing the cry of baby Shaka to that of a baby lion tells
mother, the lioness (line 3).
It may suggest that Shaka was aggressive towards his mother, Nandi,
Remember because his parents were not married and he grew up without a father.
that children mocked For example, Shaka’s behaviour as a baby gives us a clue to how he will
Shaka about not having
a father when he was behave when he is a grown man.
a child.
The gods
boiled his blood
in a clay pot of passion
to course in his veins.
This metaphor tells us that Shaka was not just an ordinary person but
someone special, whose nature was made by the gods, which means they
gave him some supernatural powers, beyond ordinary human life. In the
metaphor, Shaka’s blood is being compared to something specially cooked
by the gods.
“Passion” (line 8) refers to very strong feelings such as love or hatred. If you
are passionate about something you are very enthusiastic about it and put
vocab great energy into it. This metaphor tells us of Shaka’s energy, enthusiasm
and devotion to his work as a warrior (great soldier) and leader, as well as
5IFFYQSFTTJPOiNZCMPPE his anger. The poet tells us a “clay pot” (line 8) was used when making
CPJMTwNFBOTUPCFWFSZBOHSZ Shaka’s “blood boil”, to emphasise his African cultural roots.


His heart was shaped into an ox shield 10
to foil every foe.
A shield is used to protect yourself from injury, which tells us that in war
Shaka would not be hurt but, in fact, would defeat his enemies. This
metaphor also tells us he was protective of his people and was strong-
hearted, meaning he was brave and determined.
We are reminded of how Shaka represents Zulu culture, as Zulu shields
were made from the skin of an ox. Notice the alliteration of “foil ... foe”
(line 11) which emphasises that he defeated his enemies.

Ancestors forged
his muscles into
thongs as tough
as wattle bark 15
and nerves
as sharp as
syringa thorns.
Shaka’s strength did not come only from the gods but also from the
ancestors. This is another reminder of African culture, in which the ancestors
are believed to guide and help their descendants (family members who
come after them). In this metaphor we are told the ancestors “forged”
(line 13) Shaka’s muscles. Metals such as iron and steel are shaped by
being “forged” – heated until they are very hot and can be beaten or forced
into different shapes. This suggests that Shaka was extremely strong, both
physically and mentally. There are
many images related
The simile “thongs as tough/ as wattle bark” (lines 14 and 15) also shows to African culture in
how tough and strong Shaka was, as his muscles were like leather and the poem – the clay
pot, the ox shield and
mentally he was strong and determined. The poet then uses another simile,
the ancestors.
comparing his nerves to the sharp thorns of a syringa tree. In English, if
you say someone is “sharp” you mean they are clever and do not miss
anything. In addition, sharp thorns can hurt you, so as well as being clever,
Shaka was also cruel.

His eyes were lanterns
that shone from the dark valleys of Zululand 20
to see white swallows
coming across the sea.
His cry to two assassin brothers:

7 Poetry
This is a very interesting stanza that shows Shaka’s wisdom, understanding

and ability to see into the future.
Shaka’s eyes are compared to “lanterns” (line 19) that light up the
darkness. Here darkness suggests that the Zulu people did not know what
their future would be. But Shaka was able to see what the arrival of the
“white swallows” (line 21) would mean for his people. Swallows are birds
that migrate, moving from Europe to Africa to escape the cold winters.
In this metaphor, the “white swallows” refer to the white settlers (both the
British and, originally, the Afrikaners), who came from Europe and who
called Natal. As well as referring to the settlers, “white swallows” could

also remind us of the white sails of a sailing ship, in which the settlers
travelled in those days.
vocab Note that up to this point the tone of the poem has been one of admiration
Prophetic: )BWJOHLOPXMFEHF and praise. Now the tone is more quiet and prophetic, as if Shaka can see
PGUIFGVUVSF far into the future.

‘Lo! you can kill me 25
but you’ll never rule this land!’
This stanza is Shaka’s “cry” to the two half-brothers who murdered him.
These lines are also Shaka prophesying what will happen to his country in
the future. The land will be taken over by the white settlers and the Zulu
people will be ruled by them. These lines are the climax of the poem.
The diction (poet’s choice of word) is unusual here when Shaka exclaims,
the old English translation of the Bible, which makes Shaka sound like a
prophet.
The tone changes again now. He speaks to his brothers in a tone of strong
as the land will be taken over by the settlers.
4. Tone and mood

The poem begins with a tone of admiration and praise. In stanza 5, it
changes to become more quiet and prophetic
becomes .

summary
The birth of Shaka

by Mbuyiseni Oswald Mtshali
1. Theme
The theme is the power and pride of African culture.
2. Type and form
Stanza 1
— “His baby cry / was of a cub”
Metaphor
Stanza 2
— “The gods /boiled his blood /
— In a clay pot of passion”
Metaphor
— “clay pot”
African culture
Stanza 3
— “His heart was shaped into an ox shield”
Metaphor
— “ox shield”
Modern praise poem African culture
or izibongo: — “foil every foe”
— Stanzas are different Alliteration (repeated “f”)
lengths
— No rhyming words Stanza 4
— “his muscles into / thongs as tough as
wattle bark / and nerves as sharp as
syringa thorns.”
Simile
— “Ancestors”
African culture
Stanza 5
— “His eyes were lanterns”
Metaphor
— “white swallows”
Metaphor
3. Tone and mood
Tone: At first admiring and praising; Stanza 6
becomes quiet and prophetic in Stanza 5; — “Lo!”
ends defiant. Diction: Biblical; suggests Shaka is a
prophet
Mood: How does this poem make you feel? Climax of poem
Happy, sad, angry or indifferent? Always give
reasons for your answers.

7 Poetry
Activity 7

number (1.1 - 1.3).
In this poem Shaka, the Zulu king, is (1.1) ... . He was a (1.2) ...
man, but a brave (1.3) ... (3)

NB To NB
whom does the word “lioness” refer? (1)
4.1. In your own words, explain how the gods created Shaka. (1)
In yourHINT!
own
hint wordsNFBOTXSJUF
EPXOZPVSPXO
4.2. State ONE of Shaka’s characteristics suggested by the use
of the words “clay pot”. (1)
VOEFSTUBOEJOHPGXIBUUIF
QPFNUFMMTVT%POPURVPUF 5. Choose the correct answer to complete the following sentence:
e.g.
GSPNUIFQPFN EG - worked examples
In line 11, the words “to foil every foe” mean to ...
A free every prisoner.
B betray every enemy.

exams
When you
C stop every enemy.
are asked to ,
it means you need to
D kill every prisoner. (1)
and write them down
directly.
What does the use of the word “forged” in these lines tell the
activity reader about Shaka’s physical abilities? (2)
ACTIVITIES boy
and girl-left and
right of page
Quote TWO separate words to prove that Shaka was both

activity physically and mentally strong. (2)

support your answer.
Shaka could see what was going to happen in the future. (2)

admiration. Describe the tone in the last stanza

(lines 24–25) (1)
10. What, in your view, are the qualities of a good leader? (2)
[19]
1. 1.1. Praised
1.2. Cruel
1.3. Warrior (3)
2.1. Metaphor (1)
2.2. It compares baby Shaka to a lion cub.
To show that although Shaka was still a (newborn) baby,

(2)
(1)
4.1 They gave him an emotional/ passionate nature.
They used a clay pot to boil his blood. (1)

4.2. He was only human/ fragile/ not perfect.
A clay pot represents strength and could mean that the

ancestors/gods made him strong. (1)
5. C / stop every enemy (1)
6. Steel/ metal is normally forged by heating and then
shaping it.
This tells the reader that Shaka is very strong and has
exceptional strength. (2) PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION
NB
7. “Tough” , “sharp” (2)
8. True. “His eyes were lanterns” (2)
9. It becomes one of sadness. / It becomes a warning/
HINT!
(1) "OZ0/&PGUIFTF
hint BOTXFSTUPRVFTUJPO
10. A good leader must have vision/ foresight/ must have a good
XJMMFBSOZPVNBSL
reputation.
A good leader must not be concerned about popularity/ must

(2)
[19]
exams

8 Poetry
The serf
by Roy Campbell
The serf
Campbell was critical of the white colonial rulers of South Africa because
he felt that they were arrogant and would not accept any ideas except their
own.
1. Themes
The theme of the poem is power and oppression.
The poet watches a poor farm worker (a serf
Roy Campbell
to change his life or job and works patiently and slowly. This man was once
the proud warrior of a great tribe that lived on this land. Now he works on
land belonging to a rich farmer.
The poet suggests that this worker’s close relationship to the land and his
vocab
slow patience will mean that one day the land will belong to him again and
he will defeat the powerful people who have taken his land.
Serf: 5IFMPXFTUMFWFMPGGBSN
XPSLFSJONFEJFWBM&VSPQF
UIoUIDFOUVSZ
4FSGT
XFSFUSFBUFEMJLFTMBWFT

The serf 8
The serf
by Roy Campbell
His naked skin clothed in the torrid mist
That puffs in smoke around the patient hooves,
The ploughman drives, a slow somnambulist,
And through the green his crimson furrow grooves.
Octave
His heart, more deeply than he wounds the plain, line 5
Long by the rasping share of insult torn,
Red clod, to which the war-cry once was rain
And tribal spears the fatal sheaves of corn,
Lies fallow now. But as the turf divides
I see in the slow progress of his strides line 10
Over the toppled clods and falling flowers,
Sestet The timeless, surly patience of the serf
That moves the nearest to the naked earth
And ploughs down palaces, and thrones, and towers.
words to know
Line 1: torrid very hot, scorching heat

Line 3: drives pushes forward like a machine
somnambulist a person who walks while asleep
Line 4: green refers to the grass
crimson deep purplish red
furrow a line cut in the soil
grooves a long narrow cut into the soil
Line 5: plain
Line 6: rasping scraping, scratching
share (also called a tool for making furrows or grooves in
a ploughshare) the soil so that seeds can be planted
insult abuse, humiliation
Line 7: clod a lump of soil, clay or mud
Line 8: sheaves stems of maize or corn
Line 9: fallow empty, no crops planted
Line 10: strides long steps or paces
Line 12: surly bad-tempered, rude

8 Poetry

NB NB
2. Type and form

The form of this poem is a Miltonic sonnet (also known as a Petrarchan or
*OFYBNRVFTUJPOT
HINT!
Italian sonnet). It has 14 lines made up of:
hint iGPSNwJTTPNFUJNFT
DBMMFEUIFiTUZMFw
An octave of eight lines (which describes the problem).
PSiUZQFwPGQPFN"MMUISFF A sestet (six lines at the end of the poem which give the solution).
UFSNTEFTDSJCFUIFMBZPVUPG The rhyme scheme is abab abab ccdeed.
e.g.
UIFQPFNPOUIFQBHF
3. Analysis
exams
Octave (lines 1 – 4)
His naked skin clothed in the torrid mist
That puffs in smoke around the patient hooves,
The ploughman drives, a slow somnambulist,
And through the green his crimson furrow grooves.
activity
ACTIVITIES boy
and girl-left and
right of page
The octave introduces the problem of the poem as he describes the hard
activity life of the serf. The poet uses a metaphor to describe the ploughman. In
line 1, the ploughman is “clothed” in a “torrid mist”. There is so much dust
coming from the feet of the animal pulling the plough that it is compared
to a “mist” (a cloud) which makes it hard to see the ploughman. The dust
is also compared to clothes as it falls onto his skin (line 3).
The poet says that the ploughman is a “slow somnambulist” (line 3). He
compares the way the ploughman walks to the way people walk when they

The serf 8
are asleep – slowly, as if they are in a dream. This is emphasised by the

use of alliteration – the repeated “s” sounds in the words. The “s” sound vocab
also appears for emphasis in line 10, “the slow progress of his strides”. Metonomy: "ýHVSFPG
TQFFDIJOXIJDIBUIJOHPSB
DPODFQUJTOPUDBMMFECZJUT
cuts a line, “grooves”, into the earth and turns the red soil to the top of
PXOOBNF CVUCZUIFOBNF
the “furrow” (line 4). The poet’s use of “green” in line 4 is an example of
PGTPNFUIJOHBTTPDJBUFEXJUI
metonomy. JUJONFBOJOH)FSF UIFQPFU
VTFTUIFXPSEiHSFFOwUPSFGFS
UPUIFHSBTT
Octave (lines 5 – 8)
His heart, more deeply than he wounds the plain, 5
Long by the rasping share of insult torn,
Red clod, to which the war-cry once was rain
And tribal spears the fatal sheaves of corn,
Lies fallow now.
Poets use
alliteration for two
poet explains that, not only is the ploughman poor and doing hard labour, reasons: to emphasise
certain words; and to
rasping share of insult” (lines 5-6). These insults would have been all the create the actual sound
horrible things done to the ploughman and his people – losing his land, that the thing they are
writing about
being forced to work like a slave, losing his pride. makes.
In two metaphors (lines 5-6), “His heart, more deeply than he wounds the
through the soil is compared to wounding. It cuts the ground and the
red soil which is brought up by the plough is the colour of blood. The
ploughman’s heart is compared to the ground that he ploughs – his heart
has been hurt and wounded by “insult” (line 6). This metaphor compares
the ploughman’s heart to the red soil.
(line 9) with no crops planted. The poet also uses a metaphor to explain
how the ploughman was once a great warrior – the cries of war that were
good for his heart are compared to rain, which is good for the “clod” (soil),
in which seeds will be planted, and once, instead of “sheaves” of corn (line
8), this man had spears.
vocab
The poet uses an oxymoron, “fatal sheaves” in line 8. The word “sheaves”
Oxymoron: $PNCJOFTUXP
XPSETUIBUTFFNUPDPOUSBEJDU
resulting in death. This may mean that the planting of crops caused the PSPQQPTFFBDIPUIFS
end of a way of life for the warriors who used to hunt for their food.

8 Poetry
Sestet (lines 9 – 14)

But as the turf divides
I see in the slow progress of his strides 10
Over the toppled clods and falling flowers,
The timeless, surly patience of the serf
That moves the nearest to the naked earth
And ploughs down palaces, and thrones, and towers.
In the octave, the poet has told us the problem: the ploughman is tired,
oppressed, working on land he does not own, and no longer a mighty
warrior.
In the sestet, he now gives us the solution to this problem. As he watches
the grass (“turf”) cut through by the blade of the ploughshare, the poet has
a vision of the future. He believes that the slow, steady, patient “strides”
(line 10) of the ploughman, who belongs to the land and to nature (the
“naked earth”), will defeat his oppressors and break down their symbols
of wealth and power: “palaces, and thrones, and towers” (line 14). The serf
will one day be free again and own the land he works on.
The poet uses another oxymoron in line 10 – “surly patience”. Surly means
means to quietly wait and endure what you are experiencing.

Note the alliteration
emphasises how steadily and certainly the serf walks forward — towards
making history turn to favour his people again.
4. Tone and mood

In the octave, the tone is despairing and depressing as it describes the
hard labour and losses of the serf. The tone changes to become more
urgent and hopeful in the sestet.

The serf 8
summary
The serf
by Roy Campbell
1. Theme
Power and oppression.
2. Type and form Octave: Lines 1 - 4

— “His naked skin clothed in the torrid
mist”
Metaphor
— “slow somnambulist”
Octave: Alliteration (repeated “s”)
8 lines — “green”
a Metonomy
b
a
b
Octave: Lines 5 - 8
a
b — “His heart, more deeply than he wounds
a the plain”
b Metaphor
— “Long by the rasping share of insult torn”
Miltonic sonnet: Metaphor
14 lines — “And tribal spears the fatal sheaves of
corn”
Metaphor
— “fatal sheaves”
Oxymoron
Sestet:
6 lines
c Sestet: Lines 9 - 14
c — “surly patience”
d
e Oxymoron
e — “falling flowers”
d Alliteration (repeated “f”)
3. Tone and mood

Tone: In the octave: despairing and depressing; in the sestet: urgent and
hopeful.

8 Poetry

Activity 8
NB NB
5IFLFZXPSEIFSF
HINT!
hint is hot-PPLGPSB
TZOPOZN BXPSE
UIBUIBTUIFTBNFNFBOJOH

The serf is forced to work in very hot conditions. (2)
GPSiIPUwJOUIFýSTUMJOFPGUIF
e.g.
QPFNUPBOTXFSUIFRVFTUJPO
EG - worked examples 2. In your own words, explain the meaning of line 4. (2)
exams

In line 6 the words “rasping share of insult” refer to the ...
A Ploughshare breaking the earth.
activity B Serf wounding the earth.
ACTIVITIES boy
and girl-left and
C Inhuman treatment of the serf.
right of page
D Serf insulting his master. (1)
activity
and towers”).
Discuss the speaker’s warning in these lines. State TWO points. (2)
Step by step
6.comment Complete
comment the following sentences by using the words provided in
(6.1–6.3)
This poem is about a farm (6.1) … who (6.2) … the earth. The serf
for human (6.3) ... (3)

7. Consider the poem as a whole. Do you feel sorry for the serf?
Discuss your view. (2)

for this poem. (2)
NB 9.
NB
Is this poem a South African poem? Quote two consecutive
words from the poem to support your answer. (2)
10. The word “naked” is used twice in the poem. Complete the
:PVNVTUHJWFFJUIFS
HINT! sentence below quoting phrases from the poem.
hint Bi:FTwPSi/Pw
BOTXFSBOEUIFO
The word naked has been used negatively to show that the serf
is poor because he has only his “naked...(10.1) “ and it has been
HJWFBSFBTPOUPCBDLVQZPVS
used positively to show that he belongs to the land and to nature
WJFX
the “naked...(10.2)” (2)
[21]
exams
The serf 8
1. True, “torrid”. (2)
2. The “green” grass is turned over as the ploughshare is
pushed through it and the red colour of the soil is turned
to the top. (2)
3.1. Metaphor (1)
3.2. His heart is being compared to a red clod/ soil.
The poet shows that both his heart and the earth are damaged/
broken.
broken/he has been hurt. (2)

4. C / inhuman treatment of the serf. (1)
5. The speaker is warning the oppressors, the rich people in power
at the time, that their wealth and power will be broken down and
the serf will slowly defeat the oppressors and be free.
A revolution is coming because the labourers will revolt.
Danger is coming because the labourers will revolt. (2)

6.1. labourer
6.2. ploughs
6.3. freedom (3)
7. YES, because he is tired (“somnambulist”) and it is hot (“torrid”)/ Answers
to questions 3.2,
7 and 8 are based
without ‘rain’). on your own
interpretation.
NO, he is patient (“surly patience”) and freedom will come to These are
him one day and he will overthrow the oppressors (“break down examples.
palaces”) and have his land again.
NO, many people earn a living in a hard way. He should be

grateful he has a job. (2)
8. Serfs were poor and this worker has only a “naked skin”/ They
It is appropriate because “serf” means that you are owned by

your master and subjected to hard labour, just as the serf in the
poem is subjected to hard labour.
He is not allowed to leave/ seen as a possession/ not paid for his

hard work. (2)
9. Yes. “tribal spears” (2)
10. The word “naked” has been used negatively to show that the serf
is poor because he has only his “naked skin” and it has been
used positively to show that he belongs to the land and to nature,
the “naked earth” . (2)
[21]
9 Poetry
Mementos, 1
by W.D. Snodgrass
This poem was written by W.D. Snodgrass (1926-2009). He was an

American poet who won a number of prizes for his work. He also wrote
retiring in 1994.
He is best known for writing very personal poems about his own life and
loves. His poems are often about the pain of life that we do not show to
one another when we meet in our busy lives: the pain of love lost, divorce,
death, unsatisfying jobs and dreams which are not achieved.
Snodgrass wrote another poem, called Mementos, 2, which is why this
poem is called Mementos, 1.
1. Themes
W.D. Snodgrass
The theme of this poem is memory, and the power that mementos (such
as photographs) have to bring back feelings and memories from the past.
The poet is looking through a collection of old papers when he comes
Mementos are
small objects that we
keep to remember our
friends and special times very pretty. He remembers how that picture had helped him cope with his
in our lives. Examples are fear during the war, but then he feels bitter as he remembers how their
photographs or marriage failed and ended in divorce.
letters.
However, he puts the photograph back to look at it again one day, which
may mean that he still has some feelings for his wife. In this poem, he
addresses his words to “you” — referring to the person in the photograph.

Mementos, 1 9
Mementos, 1
by W.D. Snodgrass
Stanza 1 Sorting out letters and piles of my old

Canceled checks, old clippings, and yellow note cards
That meant something once, I happened to find
Your picture. That picture. I stopped there cold,
Like a man raking piles of dead leaves in his yard line 5
Who has turned up a severed hand.
Stanza 2 Still, that first second, I was glad: you stand

Just as you stood – shy, delicate, slender,
In that long gown of green lace netting and daisies
That you wore to our first dance. The sight of you stunned line 10
Us all. Well, our needs were different, then,
And our ideals came easy.
Stanza 3 Then through the war and those two long years
Overseas, the Japanese dead in their shacks
Among dishes, dolls, and lost shoes; I carried line 15
This glimpse of you, there, to choke down my fear,
Prove it had been, that it might come back.
That was before we got married.
Stanza 4 Before we drained out one another’s force

With lies, self-denial, unspoken regret line 20
And the sick eyes that blame; before the divorce
And the treachery. Say it: before we met. Still,
I put back your picture. Someday, in due course,
I will find that it’s still there.
words to know
Line 2: canceled checks old cheques that have been paid up, no longer of value
clippings cuttings from newspapers and magazines
Line 4: cold frozen, still
Line 5: raking using a rake to collect leaves
Line 6: severed cut off from the body
Line 8: delicate small
slender slim, thin
Line 9: gown dress
lace netting delicate fabric
daisies

9 Poetry
words to know
Line 10: stunned amazed

Line 12: ideals ideas of perfection / can also mean beliefs, goals
Line 13: the war reference to World War 2
Line 16: glimpse sight (the photo)
choke hold back
Line 19: drained emptied
force energy, life
Line 20: self-denial give up something, deny yourself something you want
regret feel sorry
Line 22: treachery disloyalty, unfaithfulness
Line 23: in due course later on

Mementos, 1 9
2. Type and form

This poem is of the type known as confessional poetry, in which the poet
confesses or shares very personal and private thoughts and feelings. In
One of the formal elements in the poem’s structure is that there are four
stanzas of six lines each and the lines are similar in length.
The poet uses some rhyme, but in no set pattern. For example, look at
“old” and “cold” in stanza 1, or “force, divorce and course” in the last
stanza.
He also uses half-rhymes, which are words that almost rhyme, but not
quite. For example, look at “years / fear” in stanza 3.
3. Analysis
Sorting out letters and piles of my old
Canceled checks, old clippings, and yellow note cards
That meant something once, I happened to find
Your picture. That picture. I stopped there cold,
Like a man raking piles of dead leaves in his yard 5
Who has turned up a severed hand. PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION
NB
his ex-wife. He is sorting out old papers, probably to throw away what he no
longer needs. There are “Canceled checks” which are old cheques that /PUFUIBU
HINT!
have been paid and returned by the bank. hint “Canceled checksw
JT"NFSJDBOTQFMMJOH
There are also pieces cut out from old newspapers or magazines that had XFXPVMEXSJUFiDBODFMMFE
interested him at the time, and old note cards which have turned yellow DIFRVFTw
with age. Note how the words “canceled / old/ yellowed” (line 2) tell us
e.g.
NB
EG - SPECIAL
PAY worked examples
ATTENTION
important to him (“meant something”) long ago.
about it, for he is shocked. Notice the short, sharp punctuation in line 4, exams
FontNFBOTUIF
HINT!
with two full stops in four words: “Your picture. That picture. I stopped
there cold”. The short phrases and full stops make us stop short so that hint UZQFPGQSJOUPS
XSJUJOHVTFE5IFSF
we experience the shock that the poet feels when he sees the picture. The
BSFUISFFNBJOGPOUUZQFT
italics used in “That picture” are for emphasis. We realise that he knows
TUBOEBSE CPMEBOEJUBMJDT
this photograph and it is a special picture of someone who was once very
important to him. e.g.
#PMEJTVTFEGPSFNQIBTJT
activity
ItalicsBSFBMTPVTFEGPS
The poet’s use of the word “cold” in line 4 helps to describe his shock at FNQIBTJTBOEGPSXPSET ACTIVITIES bo
seeing the picture. He then explains how he feels with a horrifying simile: XIJDIDPNFGSPNBOPUIFS and girl-left a
right of page
MBOHVBHF
exams
among the dead leaves, a “severed hand” (lines 4 and 5). activity

Step by step commen
activity
9 Poetry

Still, that first second, I was glad: you stand
Just as you stood – shy, delicate, slender,
In that long gown of green lace netting and daisies
That you wore to our first dance. The sight of you stunned 10
Us all. Well, our needs were different, then,
And our ideals came easy.
This stanza describes the poet’s memories of the time when the photograph
was taken. In spite of the shock, the poet feels glad for a moment as it
brings back a happy memory. The photograph was taken of his ex-wife at
lovely green lace dress with little daisies on it. Everyone there admired her
(“stunned/ Us all.” – line 10 and 11). In the 1940s people often went to
for very long. At that time she was shy, small and slim, perhaps a little
uncertain of herself.
that when they were young, they had simpler needs and less complicated
expectations of each other, and of life itself, perhaps. Their “ideals came
PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION easy” (line 12): young people are usually more idealistic and hopeful about
NB NB and about their goals in life.
what they believe
*OUIF4FDPOE
HINT!
hint 8PSME8BSUIF
"NFSJDBOTGPVHIU Then through the war and those two long years
BHBJOTUUIF+BQBOFTFJOUIF Overseas, the Japanese dead in their shacks
1BDJýD BOEUIFQPFUKPJOFE Among dishes, dolls, and lost shoes; I carried 15
e.g.
UIF"NFSJDBOOBWZJO
XIFOIFXBTBCPVU
This glimpse of you, there, to choke down my fear,
Prove it had been, that it might come back.
That was before we got married.
exams
Now the poet remembers how this photograph had helped him cope with
his fear during the two years he had spent at war.
By describing the two years as “long” (line 13), the poet tells us that this
only soldiers but also Japanese civilians (ordinary people) suffered. He

activity refers to Japanese people lying dead in their “shacks” amid the ordinary
belongings of their everyday lives: “dishes, dolls and lost shoes” (line 15).
ACTIVITIES boy
andIn writing
girl-left and of this, the poet shows little emotion, unlike the feelings he
right of page
activity marriage.
He carried the photograph with him in the war as the “glimpse” (line 16) of
her gave him comfort. A “glimpse” is a quick look at something. This does
itself is just a “quick look” at the real person.

comment

Mementos, 1 9
The photograph helped him to push back (“choke back”) his fear and
metaphor “choke” (line 16).

When you choke, something is stopping your breathing, and so “choking”
something down suggests that this is not an easy or comfortable thing
to do. The poet ends this stanza by saying with a bitter tone that the
photograph comforted “ ... before we got married” (line 18).

Before we drained out one another’s force
With lies, self-denial, unspoken regret 20
And the sick eyes that blame; before the divorce
And the treachery. Say it: before we met. Still,
I put back your picture. Someday, in due course,
I will find that it’s still there.
In this stanza, the poet recalls the breakdown of the marriage and the
unhappiness this brought.
they were married they “drained out one another’s force” (line 19). In
this metaphor the poet compares the way they took away each other’s
enthusiasm for life (“force”) to the way water drains out of a pipe. When
a pipe, or bath, is drained, it is left empty, and they were emptied of
happiness. Notice that the poet says we – they were both to blame for
their unhappiness.
The poet says the causes of this were the lies they told each other, and
both felt they had given up dreams or things they wanted to do for the
other person’s sake and then resented it and felt bitter about it. Both felt
“unspoken” (line 20). The poet does not say what they regretted.
They blamed each other for their unhappiness with “sick eyes” (line 21).
metaphor suggesting that their
eyes showed how each blamed and accused the other, neither taking
responsibility for what they were doing to their marriage. Eventually they
was their betrayal of the ideals they used to have, or perhaps they were
unfaithful or deliberately hurt each other in other ways.
He addresses his ex-wife directly when he writes: “Say it: before we met”
(line 22). This line may have many meanings. The poet may mean that they
were happy before they met. It could also mean that each had not known
what sort of person the other would turn out to be.
However, he does not throw the picture away, but puts it back to look at
again some other time. There are a number of possible reasons why he
keeps the photograph:

9 Poetry
At a later date he may feel differently about these memories.

He still cannot cope with the hurt, but may be able to deal with it
better in the future.
In spite of painful memories of marriage, the photograph still
reminds him of a time when he and his ex-wife were happy and in
love.
He has not come to terms with the divorce yet.
He still has feelings for his ex-wife.
last two lines of the poem have a more gentle tone as he decides to keep
the picture.
4. Tone and mood

Overall, the poem has a conversational tone, as though the poet were
talking directly to his ex-wife.
However, the tone changes through the poem. The tone is one of horror
happy tone
as he remembers good times with her. The tone becomes bitter and sad
lines, though, have a hopeful tone.


Mementos, 1 9
summary
Mementos, 1
by WD Snodgrass
1. Theme
The theme is memory, and the power of mementos to bring back past feelings
and memories.
2. Type and form
Stanza 1
— “Your picture. That picture. I stopped there cold,”
Sharp punctuation
— “That picture.”
Italics for emphasis
— “Like a man raking piles of dead leaves in his yard
Who has turned up a severed hand.”
Simile
Confessional poem: Stanza 2

— Each stanza has — “stunned/Us all.”
6 lines Expression for amazed
— Rhymes and
half-rhymes
Stanza 3
— “to choke down my fear”
Metaphor
Stanza 4
— “drained out one another’s force”
Metaphor
— “sick eyes”
Metaphor
3. Tone and mood

Tone: Overall, it has a conversational tone. It shifts through the poem from one
of horror; to a happy tone; to a bitter and sad tone; and ends on a more gentle
and hopeful tone.

9 Poetry
Activity 9

the list below.
photograph of his (1.1) ... Initially, he is (1.2) ... but then he is
That picture. I stopped there

cold,”).
Explain why the words “That picture” are written in a different

font (letter type).
(1)
In line 10, the word “stunned” suggests that the girl was ...
A gorgeous.
PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION B scary.

NB NB
C motionless.
D happy. (1)
:PVNVTUOPURVPUF
HINT!
hint GSPNUIFQPFNIFSF
CVUXSJUFEPXOZPVS
Using your own words, say what the speaker and his wife’s lives
were like when they were young. (1)
PXOXPSETCBTFEPOXIBU
ZPVVOEFSTUBOEGSPNUIFTF
e.g.
MJOFT EG - worked examples
affected by the war.
6.2. Explain what the photograph meant to the speaker during the
exams war. (1)
answer.
The speaker’s wife was responsible for the breakdown of their

activity marriage. (2)
ACTIVITIES boy
and girl-left and
right of page
activity © Department of Basic Education 2015

Mementos, 1 9
7.2. What does the speaker’s decision to keep the photograph reveal
about him? (1)
What is the tone in the last stanza? (1)
9. After reading this poem, do you think it is a good idea to

use old photographs as a way of remembering the past?
Discuss your view. (2)
[18]
1.1. Ex-wife
1.2. Shocked
(3)
2. It emphasises/shows the importance of the photo/It
shocks him./It refers to a particular picture of relevance/
(1)
3.1. Simile (1)
severed hand in your garden.

4. A /gorgeous (1)
5. Simple/carefree/uncomplicated (1)
6.1. “shacks”
“dishes”
“dolls” (3) NB
6.2. It helped him cope with his fears/it helped him to choke
down his fears. (1)
7.1. False. :PVNVTUHJWFB
HINT!
Both of them were responsible. hint SFBTPOGPSZPVS

BOTXFSUPRVFTUJPO
They drained one another’s force. (2) UPHFUNBSLT
7.2. He is not ready to let go./The photograph still has meaning for
him./He has not come to terms with the divorce yet./He still has e.g. EG - worked examples
feelings for his ex-wife. (1)

NB
8. The tone becomes gentler/accepting/agreeable/forgiving. (1)
9. Yes, people need real objects like photographs to remember the
exams
past. 5IJTBOTXFSJT
HINT!
hint CBTFEPOZPVSPXO
PQJOJPO5IFTFBSF
No, memories should not depend on objects such as
photographs. (2) FYBNQMFTPGDPSSFDUBOTXFST
[18]
e.g. activity EG - worked examples
ACTIVITIES b
and girl-left a
right of page
exams
© Department of Basic Education 2015 activity
10 Poetry
Cheetah
by Charles Eglington
This poem was written by Charles Eglington (1918-1971). Eglington was

born in Johannesburg and graduated from Wits University. He spent his
life working in the media as a newspaper journalist, a translator and also
in radio. Many of his poems are about animals.
Did you know?

5IFDIFFUBIJTUIFXPSMET
1. Themes
GBTUFTUMBOEBOJNBMoJUDBO The main themes in this poem are that appearances can be misleading
SFBDITQFFETPGVQUP and that in nature only the strongest survive.
LJMPNFUSFTQFSIPVS The poet tells the story of an ordinary event among wild animals in nature –
a young cheetah lying relaxed in the long grass of the bushveld, while a
herd of buck grazes nearby. The buck do not know that the cheetah is
close by.
The big cat is waiting for darkness before hunger makes it go out and
hunt. Then the cheetah races forward towards the herd, which smells it
and begins to run in panic. The chase is like a lottery, as the buck do not
know which one of them will be caught. The cheetah leaps on one unlucky
buck and kills it. (Cheetahs knock their prey down, jump on it and then
bite its neck to kill it.)

Cheetah 10
Cheetah
Stanza 1 Indolent and kitten-eyed,
This is the bushveld’s innocent
The stealthy leopard parodied
With grinning, gangling pup-content.
Stanza 2 Slouching through the tawny grass 5

Or loose-limbed lolling in the shade,
Purring for the sun to pass
And build a twilight barricade.
Stanza 3 Around the vast arena where,

In scattered herds, his grazing prey 10
Do not suspect in what wild fear
They’ll join with him in fatal play;
Stanza 4 Till hunger draws slack sinews tight

As vibrant as a hunter’s bow;
Then, like a fleck of mottled light, 15
He slides across the still plateau.
Stanza 5 A tremor rakes the herds: they scent

The pungent breeze of his advance;
Heads rear and jerk in vigilant
Compliance with the game of chance. 20
Stanza 6 In which, of thousands, only one

Is centred in the cheetah’s eye;
They wheel and then stampede, for none
Knows which it is that has to die.
Stanza 7 His stealth and swiftness fling a noose 25

And as his loping strides begin
To blur with speed, he ropes the loose
Buck on the red horizon in.

10 Poetry
words to know
Line 1: indolent lazy

Line 2: innocent harmless
Line 3: stealthy quiet, sneaky, secret, dangerous
parodied copy in a funny way
Line 4: grinning smiling
gangling long-legged, awkward, clumsy
pup-content happy
Line 5: Slouching moving casually, relaxed
tawny yellowish-brown
Line 6: loose-limbed with relaxed legs
lolling lying back, relaxing
Line 7: purring sound made by a happy cat
Line 8: twilight early evening
barricade barrier, wall
Line 9: vast very big
arena
Line 10: scattered spread out
grazing eating grass
prey something or somebody who is
being hunted
Line 11: do not suspect have no thoughts, do not expect
Line 12: fatal ending in death
Line 13: slack loose
sinews
Line 14: vibrant full of life, energy
bow weapon used to shoot arrows
Line 15: tiny spot
mottled patches of light and dark, full of
shadows
Line 16: slides moves smoothly, swiftly, quietly
plateau
Line 17: tremor shaking, shiver
rakes moves through
scent smell
Line 18: pungent strong smell
advance moving towards them
Line 19: rear lift quickly
jerk pull up quickly
vigilant watchful, senses danger
Line 20: compliance giving in to, obeying the rules

Cheetah 10
words to know
Line 22: centred in the middle of, focused, given

attention
Line 23: wheel turn
stampede run away in terror and panic
Line 25: swiftness quickness
throw
noose circle of rope
Line 26: loping running
strides big steps
Line 27: blur look unclear and fuzzy
Line 28: horizon far distance
2. Type and form

This is a narrative poem that tells the story of how the cheetah hunts its
prey.
The poem has a formal structure (the way it is set out) with seven stanzas
of four lines each (quatrains) that have a regular pattern of rhyme (abab).
Each of the seven stanzas tells a different part of the story. Some stanzas
focus on the cheetah, others on the buck. In the last stanza, the two come
together when the cheetah catches a buck. The poem’s structure (the
form) and the hunt described in the poem (the content) are closely linked
in an effective way.

10 Poetry
3. Analysis
Indolent and kitten-eyed,
This is the bushveld’s innocent
The stealthy leopard parodied
With grinning, gangling pup-content.
In stanza one, the poet describes the cheetah as seeming to be harmless.

The poet uses imagery as if he is describing a harmless young animal
– the cheetah looks “innocent”. The metaphor “kitten-eyed” (line 1),
compares the cheetah’s big eyes to those of a sweet kitten. The poet feels
the leopard is a more impressive-looking animal and that the cheetah is a
“parody” (or funny copy) of a leopard.
Both the leopard and the cheetah are big cats that have spots, but where
the leopard is described as “stealthy” (line 2), which suggests it is secret
and dangerous, the cheetah seems to smile in a rather silly way. The
metaphor “pup-content” (line 4) compares it to a happy (and harmless)
puppy.
The word “gangling” means it has long, loose legs that make it seem rather
awkward and clumsy. The words for baby animals like “kitten” and “pup”
and third line of each
suggest it is young, as does “gangling”, as teenage animals (including
stanza ends with a rhyming people) often seem to have long, thin bodies before they grow older,
word. The second and fourth stronger and more muscular.
lines also end in a rhyme,
for example “grass” and
“pass” rhyme in
stanza 2.
Slouching through the tawny grass 5
Or loose-limbed lolling in the shade,
Purring for the sun to pass
And build a twilight barricade.
The cheetah moves lazily and casually (“slouching” in line 5) through

the grass or lies back, (“lolling” in line 6) in the shade during the day.
Notice how the alliteration
emphasising how relaxed the animal is.
The big cat purrs like a happy house cat as it waits patiently for the sun to
set. Again, this makes the cheetah seem harmless, as cats purr when they
are relaxed and content. At twilight it is growing dark and the metaphor
“barricade” (line 8) compares the darkness to a wall or barrier that will
hide the cheetah when it hunts. Barricades are often built across streets
during wars or riots, so the poet’s diction (choice of words) creates a more
uneasy tone with the use of “barricade”.
Up to now, the herd of buck and the cheetah seem relaxed. By including
the word “barricade”, the poet introduces tension at the end of the stanza.
The barricade interrupts the relaxed tone.

Cheetah 10

Around the vast arena where,
In scattered herds, his grazing prey 10
Do not suspect in what wild fear
They’ll join with him in fatal play;
The tension in the poem grows. The poet sets the scene for the hunt. The
huge grasslands (“vast arena” line 9), the herds of buck that are spread
about (“scattered”) as they graze and have no idea that there is a cheetah
nearby waiting to kill one of them, its “prey” (line 10). In this stanza, the
poet uses an extended metaphor
lines of the stanza. The hunt is compared to a game that is played to the
death in an “arena”. This game or “fatal play” (line 12) is an oxymoron,
because “play” suggests a game, but “fatal” means deadly, so this game
will end in a death.
This creates a visual image (a picture we can see in our minds) of the
killed. As we read, we feel fearful for the unsuspicious buck that do not
know of the danger that is coming. We begin to sympathise with the “wild
fear” (line 9) they will feel when the cheetah begins its chase. Notice how
vividly and strikingly the poet’s diction in “wild fear” conveys the panic the
buck are going to feel. The uneasy tone becomes stronger now.

Till hunger draws slack sinews tight
As vibrant as a hunter’s bow;
Then, like a fleck of mottled light, 15
He slides across the still plateau.
This stanza describes the cheetah as it attacks. The animal now changes
from a harmless-seeming young animal into a dangerous predator (hunter)
sport, the cheetah hunts only to eat and survive.

When it starts to think about hunting its body changes from relaxed to
tense. The poet uses a simile that compares it to a bow. When an archer
(who shoots with bow and arrow) gets ready to shoot the arrow, he pulls
back the string of the bow very tightly so that the arrow will shoot forward
with great speed and power. In the same way, when the cheetah is hungry
and ready to hunt, it tenses all the muscles in its body (“slack sinews tight”
in line 13). As it jumps forward, the cheetah’s body bends in a curve like a
and life.
The poet uses a simile

10 Poetry
of light. It moves so smoothly and quickly that it seems to “slide” across the
alliteration of the hissing “s” sound in
“slide/still” emphasises its speed. The cheetah’s movement is purposeful,

A tremor rakes the herds: they scent
The pungent breeze of his advance;
Heads rear and jerk in vigilant
Compliance with the game of chance. 20
The poet now describes the reaction of the herd. The buck catch the
strong (“pungent”) smell of the cheetah, perhaps carried to them on the
wind. They all shiver (“tremor”) with fear (line 17). The metaphor “rakes”
describes the way the shiver of fear (“tremor”) runs through the herd the
way a rake (a garden instrument like a very big fork) can sweep along the
ground.
All moving together at the same time, the buck at once raise their heads
and become tense and watchful. In a metaphor the poet compares the
buck to people taking part in a “game of chance” (line 20). They have no
in which they know that any one of them might be attacked and killed by
the cheetah. Unfortunately for the buck, the rules of nature are that some
animals have to die so that others can survive.

In which, of thousands, only one
Is centred in the cheetah’s eye;
They wheel and then stampede, for none
Knows which it is that has to die.
Of all the thousands of buck, the cheetah sets his eyes on only one. All
his attention is on one buck. The buck all turn round quickly, they “wheel”
and “stampede” (line 23) to get away. When herd animals (such as cows,
horses or buck) are afraid, they stampede – the whole herd runs away in a
mass panic. Their movement is uncontrolled. They know one of them will
die, but do not know which of them the cheetah has chosen to kill.
The rhyming of “eye” (line 22) and “die” (line 24) links these two words
to emphasise that the buck has no chance of escape. The buck is in the
cheetah’s sight.

Cheetah 10

His stealth and swiftness fling a noose 25
And as his loping strides begin
To blur with speed, he ropes the loose
Buck on the red horizon in.
In this last stanza, the poet returns to describing the cheetah. He again
uses an extended metaphor, this time of a cowboy using a lasso.
vocab
Lasso:"MPOHSPQFXJUIBMPPQ
The silent speed (“stealth and swiftness” in line 25) with which the cheetah BUUIFFOEDBMMFEBOPPTF
5PDBUDIBDPX UIFDPXCPZ
the air. The cheetah’s long steps (“loping strides” in line 26) begin to go UISPXTUIFSPQFTPUIBUUIF
MPPQGBMMTSPVOEUIFBOJNBMT
cowboy metaphor is continued when the cheetah leaps on the buck’s back OFDLTPUIBUIFDBOQVMMJUJO
to knock it to the ground, as this is compared to the rope pulling the animal
in. The horizon is described as “red” (line 28). This could refer to the red of
the setting sun but it also suggests that the land itself is stained with the
blood of the dead buck. vocab
Note that stanzas 6 and 7 are part of a continuous run-on line – this helps Run-on line: 5IFNFBOJOH
to suggest that the cheetah is gaining speed and its movements are not SVOTPOGSPNPOFMJOFUPUIF
interrupted as it chases its prey. OFYU XJUIPVUCFJOHCSPLFOCZ
There is a contrast between the description of the harmless looking QVODUVBUJPO
stanzas.
4. Tone and mood

The tone of the poem is relaxed, like the cheetah, at the start. It becomes
more urgent and tense as the poem progresses, starting with the uneasy
tone at the end of stanza 3. The tone of danger increases later in the poem
as the poet describes the hunt.

10 Poetry
summary
Cheetah
1. Theme
The main themes are that appearances can be misleading; and that in nature,
only the strongest survive.
2. Type and form

Stanza 1
— “kitten-eyed”
Metaphor
— “pup-content”
Metaphor
Stanza 2
— “loose-limbed lolling”
Alliteration (repeated “l”)
— “And build a twilight barricade.”
Metaphor
Stanza 3
— “The vast arena where …
They’ll join with him in fatal play;”
Extended metaphor
— “fatal play”
Oxymoron
Narrative poem: Stanza 4

— Each stanza has 4 lines — “As vibrant as a hunter’s bow;”
— Rhyme scheme abab Simile
— “like a mottled fleck of light”
Simile
— “He slides across the still plateau”
Alliteration (repeated “s”)
Stanza 5
— “A tremor rakes the herds”
Metaphor
— “Compliance with the game of chance…
… for none” (lines 20 - 23)
Extended metaphor
3. Tone and mood Stanza 6

Tone: A relaxed tone at first, — “… for none / Knows which it is that has to die.”
but the tone changes to End of extended metaphor (see stanza 5 above)
urgent, tense and uneasy.
Stanza 7
Mood: How does this poem — “His stealth and swiftness fling a noose…
make you feel? Happy, sad, He ropes the loose / Buck on the red horizon in.”
angry or indifferent? Always Extended metaphor (lines 25 - 28)
give reasons for your answer.

Cheetah 10
Activity 10

the list below.
The poet says that the cheetah is (1.1) … but it has (1.2) …
movements and it appears to be (1.3) … (3)
2. What does the word “indolent” in line 1 tell you about the
cheetah? State TWO points. (2)
In line 3 the speaker’s tone shows that he feels ...
A the cheetah is better than the leopard.
B the leopard is better than the cheetah.
C the cheetah and the leopard are the same.
D the cheetah is quieter than the leopard. (1)

NB
6. Quote two consecutive words in this stanza that contradict each ConsecutiveXPSET
HINT!
other (oxymoron), and suggest that the hunt is not really
a “game”? (2) hint NFBOTXPSETOFYUUP
FBDIPUIFS

NB
5IFTFBOTXFST
HINT!
exams
Do you think the use of the word “compliance” is suitable? hint BSFCBTFEPOZPVS
PXOPQJOJPO(JWF
Discuss your view. (2) SFBTPOTGPSZPVSWJFX
9. What message does this poem have for you? (1)
[18] e.g. EG - worked examples
activity
ACTIVITIES bo
exams and girl-left a
right of page
activity
10 Poetry
NB NB
5IFXPSETDIPTFO
HINT!
1.1. Smiling/young/graceful/awkward
hint NVTUNBLFTFOTFJO
UIFTFOUFODFBTB 1.2. Awkward/graceful
XIPMF
1.3. Young/smiling (3)
e.g. EG - worked examples 2. The cheetah is lazy/inactive/idle (2)

3. B / the leopard is better than the cheetah. (1)
4.1. Metaphor (1)
exams 4.2. Night/darkness will become his shield from his prey
Night/darkness will conceal/hide him from his prey
Night /darkness will contain his prey (2)

5. “prey” (1)
activity 6 “fatal play” (2)
ACTIVITIES boy
7.1.and
and girl-left Simile (1)
right of page
7.2. The poet compares the cheetah to a hunter’s bow. When it is
activity hunting, the cheetah has the speed and force of a hunter’s bow
and arrow.
NB NB
To show that the cheetah is as fast/quick as a hunter’s bow
(arrow) (2)
8. Yes, when one sees no way out of a fatal situation, one gives in
These are
HINT!open-
and accepts one’s fate.
hint FOEFEBOTXFST
5IFSFBTPOTHJWFO No, although the herd knows that one of them is to be killed, they
IFSFBSFFYBNQMFTPGDPSSFDU still try and escape.
BOTXFST
NB NB
No, one does not simply accept one’s fate when facing danger/
death/ There’s always a chance of survival if one tries to
escape. (2)
9. Cruelty of nature
"OZ0/&PGUIFTF
HINT!
exams BOTXFSTXJMMFBSO
hint ZPVNBSL Appearances can be misleading
The cycle of life/predators only kill for food

In every situation in nature there is a killer and a victim. (1)
[18]
activity
ACTIVITIES boy
exams and girl-left and
right of page
activity
activity
ACTIVITIES boy
and girl-left and © Department of Basic Education 2015
right of page
The Mind the Gap study guide series assists you to make the leap by studying
hard to achieve success in the Grade 12 exam.
This publication is not for sale.

© Copyright Department of Basic Education www.education.gov.za
This publication has a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial Sharealike license.
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a p e r 2 : L it e r a t u r e

Mind the Gap team

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Matsie Angelina Motshekga, MP

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Poem 8: The serf by Roy Campbell................................................................ 68

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Dear Grade 12 learner

Mind the Gap study guides which cover Papers

This study guide focuses on the 10 prescribed poems examined in Paper

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How to use this study guide

Look out for

Hints to help you

Step by step comment comment

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Top 7 study tips

3. Be positive. It helps your brain hold on to the information.

6. Teach what you are learning to anyone who will listen. It is

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On the exam day

2. waste valuable time going to the toilet during the exam.

Use the 10 minutes’ reading time to read the instructions

4. Break each question down to make sure you understand what is

pages xiv and xv of this study guide.

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Overview of the English First

Here is a summary of the Paper 2 Literature exam

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What is a contextual question?

What are the examiners looking for?

of the poem as a whole.

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Name characters/places/things ...

understand the text.

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Choose the correct answer to complete A list of answers is given, labelled

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Literary features found in poems

Mood The emotions felt by the reader when reading the

Pun A play on words which are identical or similar in sound.

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Line 1: let me not don’t allow me to

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2. Type and form vocab

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Second quatrain (lines 5 – 8)

Third quatrain (lines 9 – 12)

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4. Tone and mood

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Sonnet 116 : Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Quatrain 1 About what love is NOT

Quatrain 2 About what love IS

Rhyming Argues that he’s confident he is right.

2. Type and form

3. Tone and mood