ENGLISH

FIRST ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE

GRADE 12

POETRY

2023

EXEMPLAR QUESTIONS

NOTE:
This booklet has been compiled from June 2023 examination papers.
Thank you to all the schools and teachers who willingly contributed their
questions.

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 QUESTIONS

QUESTION 1: On the grasshopper and the cricket

On the grasshopper and the cricket

The Poetry of earth is never dead:

When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,
And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run
From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;
That is the Grasshopper’s—he takes the lead
In summer luxury,—he has never done
With his delights; for when tired out with fun
He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.
The poetry of earth is ceasing never:
On a lone winter evening, when the frost
Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills
The Cricket’s song, in warmth increasing ever,
And seems to one in drowsiness half lost,
The Grasshopper’s among some grassy hills.

1.1 Describe the structure of this poem fully. (2)

1.2 Refer to lines 1-4 (‘The poetry of …the new-mown mead’)

(a) Identify the figure of speech in this line. (1)
(b) Quote TWO words from the poem suggesting a sense of relief from the
heat of Summer.
(1)

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1.3 Which voice do you normally hear in the afternoons? (1)

1.4 Refer to lines 10-11 (‘On a lone… stove there shrills’)

Choose the correct answer to complete the following sentence:
The figure of speech evident in these lines is a/an ….
A simile.
B personification.
C onomatopoeia.
D metaphor.
(1)

1.5 Why does the poet believe the poetry of the earth is not dead? (2)

1.6 Who takes over from the grasshopper in winter? (1)

1.7 Why does the cricket’s song sound like the grasshopper’s? (2)

1.8 Why does the cricket’s song bring warmth to the people? (1)

1.9 Identify the main theme of this sonnet. (1)

1.10 Explain what the poetry of earth is made of. (2)

1.11 In your opinion, does the poet succeed in illustrating the commonality
between the grasshopper and the cricket? Discuss your view. (3)
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QUESTION 2: Hard to find

Hard to find

1 Words are everywhere

2 daily
3 we read them, and they fly out
4 like nobody’s business when we are provoked…
5 but there’s always something hard to understand…
6 they are hard to find
7 when they are needed by the heart;
8 when the heart feels,
9 words hide like they are not part of life.
10 While words are busy playing some twisted game
11 my heart looks sadly through the glass windows
12 as the raindrops slowly slide down, gently
13 on a cloudy lifetime,
14 hoping that one day,
15 words will realize what my heart wants to say.

2.1 Explain the hyperbole used in line 1. (2)

2.2 What does the word ‘daily’ suggest about the speaker? (1)

2.3 Refer to lines 2-3 (‘they fly out… like nobody’s business’).
Explain what the speaker means in these lines. (2)

2.4 What is the role of the ellipsis at the end of lines 4 and 5? (1)

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2.5 Refer to line 10 (‘While words are… some twisted game’)
(a) Identify a figure of speech in this line. (1)
(b) Explain why this figure of speech is relevant in this poem. (2)

2.6 Explain the meaning of line 12 (‘as the raindrops slowly slide down,’). (2)

2.7 Refer to line13 (‘on a cloudy lifetime’)

Choose the correct answer to complete the following sentence:
The word ‘cloudy’ creates a…mood in the poem.
A cheerful
B melancholy
C blissful
D joyful
(1)

2.8 Describe the speaker’s state of mind in this poem. (2)

2.9 In your opinion, does the speaker succeed in sharing her disappointment?
Discuss your view. (3)
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QUESTION 3: On the Grasshopper and Cricket

On the grasshopper and the cricket

The Poetry of earth is never dead:

When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,
And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run
From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;
That is the Grasshopper’s—he takes the lead 5
In summer luxury,—he has never done
With his delights; for when tired out with fun
He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.
The poetry of earth is ceasing never:
On a lone winter evening, when the frost 10
Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills
The Cricket’s song, in warmth increasing ever,
And seems to one in drowsiness half lost,
The Grasshopper’s among some grassy hills.

3.1 Complete the following sentences by using the words in the list
below. Write ONLY the word next to the question numbers 3.1 (a) to
3.1 (d).

octave; quatrain; English sonnet; 12 lines; sestet; Italian sonnet;

14 lines; couplet

This poem is an example of an (a) … because it consists of (b) …

The (c) … describes summer and the (d) … describes winter. (4)

3.2 Refer to line 1 and line 9.

Comment on the use of the colon at the end of each line. (2)

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3.3 Refer to line 4 (‘From hedge to … the new-mown mead;’)

(a) Identify the poetic sound device used in this line. (1)

(b) Explain how this poetic sound device is relevant in this poem. (2)

3.4 One of the themes in this poem is ‘In the world of nature, poetry is
never dead’.

Discuss how this theme is relevant to this poem. (3)

3.5 In context of the poem, explain the meaning of the last TWO lines. (2)

3.6 Choose the correct answer to complete the following sentence. Write
only the letter (A-D) and the question number (2.1.6).

The words ‘pleasant weed’, in line 8, is an example of …

A assonance
B paradox
C hyperbole
D oxymoron (1)

3.7 The grasshopper’s and the cricket’s songs bring joy to people.
Do you agree with this statement? Substantiate your answer. (3)
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QUESTION 4: Iversnaid

Inversnaid

This darksome burn, horseback brown,

His rollrock highroad roaring down,
In coop and in comb the fleece of his foam
Flutes and low to the lake falls home.

A windpuff-bonnet of fáwn-fróth 5
Turns and twindles over the broth
Of a pool so pitchblack, féll-frówning,
It rounds and rounds Despair to drowning.

Degged with dew, dappled with dew

Are the groins of the braes that the brook treads through, 10
Wiry heathpacks, flitches of fern,
And the beadbonny ash that sits over the burn.

What would the world be, once bereft

Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet; 15
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.

4.1 In which country would you find the village of Inversnaid? (1)

4.2 Refer to line 2 (His rollrock highroad roaring down’).

(a) Identify the figure of speech in this line. (1)

(b) Explain why this figure of speech is effective. (2)

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4.3 Identify and explain the tone of the first stanza. (2)

4.4 The poet uses different words for stream. Quote TWO words, from
the poem that he uses for stream. (2)

4.5 Critically discuss why ‘Despair’ (line 8) has been written with a (2)
capital letter.

4.6 How does the inclusion of the “beadbonny ash” in line 12 change the
mood of stanza 3? (2)

4.7 Refer to lines 13-14 (What would the world be, once bereft of wet
and of wildness?).

Name the figure of speech used in these lines. (1)

4.8 Why is the following statement FALSE?

The speaker of the poem wants to get rid of the ‘weeds’. (1)

4.9 The speaker succeeds in convincing the reader that Nature is worth
saving. Discuss your view. (3)
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QUESTION 5: Reciprocities
She gave me skeins of wool
To hold out (like a priest at Mass),
With stern rubrics not to fidget, while she
Wound it into a ball, unwinding me,
5 Unravelling my hands and arms, checking
My lapses with a gentle tug
When I wandered off through images
Her chat had made, for though
She kept the line between us taut
10 She kept my heart at ease with all her talk.

And when her ball compacted grew,

And my few strands fell limp away,
I knew there was no loss, for she
Would knit it back again to fit me perfectly.

15 But richer still,

I see today these lines are drawn out from me
To knit through this faltering verse
A thread of memory
Time has pulled away from consciousness.
5.1 Complete the following sentences by using the words in the list below. Write only
the word(s) next to the question numbers (5.1.1 – 5.1.4)

Crochet; contradicts; narrative; knitting; thinks back;

storytelling; compares; reflects

In this (5.1.1) … free verse, the speaker (5.1.2) … on how he used to help his
mother during her (5.1.3) … sessions. He (5.1.4) … his writing to his mother’s
work. (4)

5.2 Refer to line 2 (‘like a priest at Mass’)

5.2.1 Identify the figure of speech used in this line. (1)

5.2.2 Explain its effectiveness in the poem. (2)

5.3 Refer to the word ‘But’ (line 15)

Why is this word used in the poem? (1)

5.4 Refer to lines 18 – 19 (‘A thread of … has pulled away’)

5.4.1 Identify the figure of speech used in these lines. (1)

5.4.2 Do you think that these lines are important to the poem? Substantiate
your answer. (2)

5.5 One of the themes used in this poem is mutual dependence.

Discuss this theme and use examples. (3)

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 5.6 Why is the following statement FALSE?
When the speaker loses concentration, his mother scolds him. (1)

5.7 Do you think that this poem has a message for the readers? Motivate your
answer. (2)
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QUESTION 6: What life is really like
You need to toughen up
my father would complain
when I was small
I ought to take you to see
5 chickens having their heads
chopped off.
that’d teach you
what life is really like.
He’d seek me out
10 when one of his pigeons
- crazed for home or
mad with terror from a
roaming hawk –
would tumble into
15 the loft
mutilated by
wire or beak.
I was the one made to
clench my palms round
20 its pumping chest,
to keep it still while
my father’s hairy fingers stitched
its garrotted throat
angrily to rights again.
25 You see life is a survival
he’d shout, forgetting
he was not lecturing his students
or giving his inaugural address
You gotta roll with the punches.
30 i waited and waited for the bitter
roughness to spy me and circle
in to land
years and years
of flinching anticipation until
35 the day i came home from hospital

and my father dressed my wound.

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 Easing with practised hands
the drip from my bulldozed chest
he renewed the plaster in breathing
40 never speaking never
once saying

Life’s a bastard
Toughen up!
6.1 Choose the correct answer to complete the following sentence.
This poem is an example of a …
A. Narrative poem.
B. Protest poem.
C. Sonnet.
D. Lyrical poem. (1)

6.2 Refer to lines 1 – 33 (‘You need to … years and years’)

6.2.1 Identify the tone used in these lines. (1)

6.2.2 Briefly discuss what the speaker’s father was trying to do. (2)

6.3 Refer to lines 34 – 43 (‘of flinching anticipation … bastard toughen up!’)

6.3.1 Identify the tone used in these lines. (1)

6.3.2 Explain what caused the change of tone. (2)

6.4 Refer to stanza 5

What does the repetition of ‘waited and waited’ and ‘years and years’ tell us
about the speaker? (1)

6.5 In your OWN WORDS, explain what the speaker’s father forced her to do, to
show her that life is tough? (2)

6.6 Refer to lines 10 – 12 (‘ when one of … mad with terror’)

Name AND explain the effectiveness of the figure of speech used in these lines. (2)

6.7 Do you think the father was successful in teaching his daughter this lesson?
Motivate your answer. (2)

6.8 One of the themes in the poem is the psychology of growing up.
Discuss this theme. (2)

6.9 Do you think that ‘life’s a bastard’ and that you should ‘toughen up’, as the poem
states? Give a reason for your answer. (2)
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 MARKING GUIDELINE

QUESTION 1
1.1 This sonnet is an Italian/Petrarchan sonnet. It comprises of 14 lines./
The first eight lines are referred to as the octave /The last six lines are
referred to as the sestet. /The rhyme scheme is abba abba cde cde.
(2)

1.2 (a) Metaphor (1)

(b) Cooling trees (1)

1.3 The grasshopper’s voice (1)

1.4 B/ personification (1)

1.5 Poetry of nature does not stop to soothe us with its music. It soothes
us throughout the year irrespective of the season. (2)

1.6 The cricket  (1)

1.7 When we are sleepy or drowsy we are not alert to tell the difference
between the sounds. (2)

1.8 The cricket soothes us during the dead of winter when there is always
silence around.  (1)

1.9 The main theme of poem is that poetry and music in nature do not die.
NOTE: The interpretation must be grounded in the poem. (1)

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1.10 The poetry of the earth is not written in words like normal poetry but is made
of the sounds from nature. These sounds are produced by insects and some
big animals. (2)

1.11 Open-ended. Accept a relevant response which shows an understanding of

the following viewpoints, among others:
Yes. Both the grasshopper and the cricket represent voices in nature’s music.
• Both offer a soothing effect to the extremities of climate.
• The grasshopper’s song balances the extreme heat during the summer by
providing music that is comforting and pleasing and the cricket does the same
during winter.
OR
No. These two animals provide irritating sounds to be referred to as poetry.
• The sounds made by these insects waken us up instead of soothing us.
• Not all readers will see the commonality between these insects.

NOTE: You will not be awarded for the YES or NO. To obtain full marks, your
response must be well-substantiated. You can score 1 or 2 marks for a response
which is not well-substantiated. Your interpretation must be grounded in the text of
the poem.
(3)
[18]
QUESTION 2
2.1 The availability of words is exaggerated through the use of
‘everywhere’  which indicates the abundance that comes out of reading.
(2)
2.2 Daily suggests that the speaker constantly encounters words. 
(1)
2.3 Words fail with great intensity to come out √when the speaker is filled
with anger.
(2)
2.4 The ellipsis after ‘provoked…’ and ‘understand…’ stresses the difficulty
that the speaker experiences when words cannot come out.  (1)

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2.5 (a) Personification (1)
(b) Words are described as a person who plays a sick/evil game  without
caring about the feelings of the affected one.  (2)

2.6 The raindrops represent the speaker’s teardrops as they fall, and this
suggests that the speaker is deeply hurt by her inability to recall words.  (2)

2.7 B / melancholy (1)

2.8 The speaker is frustrated by the fact that she cannot write as she wishes,
words keep escaping her mind.  (2)

2.9 Open-ended. Accept a relevant response which shows an understanding of

the following viewpoints, among others:
Yes. The speaker’s disappointment. is deepened by the use of
personification in lines 8-11 The heart is depicted as experiencing feeling of
sadness because words have escaped the speaker’s mind/ hiding/ playing
some sick game. The cloudy lifetime shows the extent of the speaker’s
sadness and disappointment.
OR
No. The speaker claims that words are everywhere, which indicates
something good. She expresses a wish that one day words will speak for
themselves. 
NOTE: You will not be awarded for the YES or NO. To obtain full marks, your
response must be well-substantiated. You can score 1 or 2 marks for a response
which is not well-substantiated. Your interpretation must be grounded in the text of
the poem.
(3)
[17]
QUESTION 3
3.1 (a) Italian sonnet
(b) 14 lines
(c) octave
(d) sestet (4)

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3.2 The colon at the end of line 1 and line 9 tells us that an explanation will follow
on the statement that was made namely that there is always poetry in the
world of nature. (2)

3.3 (a) alliteration – hedge to hedge OR new-mown mead (1)

(b) The movement of the grasshopper creates energy; his “voice will run” from
hedge to hedge and even across the big fields (“meads”). (2)

3.4 The octave is set in the heat of summer, it is so hot that the birds feel faint, but
nature provides them the shade of cool trees in which they take shelter. While
it is too hot for the birds to sing, the grasshopper takes over in song ensuring
that the world is never silent. In the sestet the grasshopper and summer rest
and the song, in winter, is taken up by the cricket. Again, the world is never
silent. (Accept any relevant answer) (3)

3.5 By the end of the poem, as the songs seem to melt together, we are reminded
of the unbroken thread of nature. The oppressive heat and silence of summer
and the frosty, cold silence of winter are brought alive. (2)

3.6 D – oxymoron (1)

3.7 Open-ended.
Accept a relevant response which shows an understanding of the following
points, among others:
YES.
• We also go through difficult times, but the poem is a reminder that no matter
how difficult our lives are, there is a beauty in the world that never dies.
• When the birds can’t sing the grasshopper will sing and create energy.
• We need to wake from our drowsiness and hear the song of the world, if we
listen carefully we can hear the cricket’s song during the cold winter.
OR
NO.
• Some people have a phobia for insects and will not associate the grasshopper
and cricket with joy.
• The grasshopper and cricket are insects which bring destruction, they can
destroy crops.
• They do not sing like birds, they make horrible noises.

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NOTE: Do not award marks for only YES or NO.
For a candidate to obtain full marks, the response must be well-substantiated. A
candidate can score 1 or 2 marks for a response which is not well-substantiated.
Interpretation must be grounded in the text of the poem.
(3)
[18]

QUESTION 4
4.1 Scotland (1)

4.2 (a) Personification/consonance - o/alliteration – r (1)

(b) The speaker compares the sound made by the rushing river to an animal
or person roaring. (2)

4.3 The tone in the first stanza is full of energy as it describes the sound and
movement of the water. (2)

4.4 “burn” and “brook” (2)

4.5 “Despair” has been written with a capital letter because it is personified. It
gives “Despair” power, and the image is created of a strong person being
pulled down into the black water. (2)

4.6 The beautiful (‘bonny’) ash trees bring lightness and colour back into the
poem with the bright splash of the orange berries of the ash tree. / The mood
in stanza 3 is lighter than in stanza 2 and the orange berries of the ash tree
provide bright colour. (Accept any relevant answer) (2)

4.7 Rhetorical question/alliteration – w (1)

4.8 In the last line of the poem, the speaker of the poem says ‘long live the
weeds’. (1)

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4.9 Open-ended.
Accept a relevant response which shows an understanding of the following
points, among others:
YES.
• The speaker gives a number of images that are typical of the beauty of
Nature.
• He makes up new words to describe the sounds of a river flowing.
• He uses alliteration and metaphors to describe the beauty of Nature.
OR
NO.
• He uses strange new words to describe Nature.
• He does not effectively show that if Nature is destroyed it will have detrimental
effects on mankind.
• Describing the flow of a river is not sufficient evidence to ensure that Nature is
preserved.

NOTE: Do not award marks for only YES or NO.

For a candidate to obtain full marks, the response must be well-substantiated. A
candidate can score 1 or 2 marks for a response which is not well-substantiated.
Interpretation must be grounded in the text of the poem.
(3)
[17]
QUESTION 5

5.1 5.1.1) narrative 

5.1.2) reflects 
5.1.3) knitting 
5.1.4) compares  (4)

5.2.1 Simile  (1)

5.2.2 The speaker is ordered to hold up his hands just like a priest would during
Mass.  It is effective, because it helps to create an image of the speaker
and his mother. 
OR any answer relevant to this. (2)

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5.3 It links the past to the present/childhood to adulthood.  (1)

5.4.1 Personification  (1)

5.4.2 Open-ended. Learner’s answer must be rooted in the poem.   (2)

5.5 The mother and son benefits from each other.  He helps her by holding the
skeins of wool and she helps him by being a better writer.  (3)

5.6 She would gently pull the strands tighter 

She would put him at ease
She would talk to him
(any ONE of the above) (1)

5.7 Open-ended. Learner’s response must make reference to the poem. Example
answer:
Yes, the poem teaches us that we can learn from others, even when the
lesson is not clear. 
OR
No, the poem is only about the memory of the writer’s childhood. It holds no
message.  
(2)
[18]
QUESTION 6

6.1 D (1)

6.2.1 A serious/cautionary tone  (1)

6.2.2 He tries to prepare his daughter for life by showing her how cruel the world
can be. She needs to be able to handle the tough times.   (2)

6.3.1 A tone of resignation  (1)

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6.3.2 Her father realised that she’s had her fair share of having to be tough. Now he
silently cleans her wounds.   (OR any response with relevance) (2)

6.4 It emphasizes how she expected to receive a blow from the universe.  (1)

6.5 OWN WORDS!

She had to see a crazed pigeon that was mutilated.  Additionally, she had to
hold it so that her father can ‘fix’ it.  OR she had to watch chickens being
beheaded.  (2)

6.6 Personification.  it’s effective because the poet successfully emphasises

how unsettled the pigeon was.  (2)

6.7 Open-ended. Learner’s response has to be rooted in the poem.  (2)

6.8 The father presents his child with many examples of how Life’s a bastard and
to Toughen up
He repeats this to enforce the idea that his daughter has to develop resilience
to be ready to face cruelty and fate
The effect is that she grows up, waiting for a cruel event to strike
She describes fate as a predatory bird that spies on her, causing her to flinch
in anticipation of a harsh event.
(any TWO of the above, or relevant answer)   (2)

6.9 Open-ended. Learners have to take inspiration from the poem.   (2)
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