POETRY (20 MARKS)
Read the following poem and then answer the questions that follow.
In the city
All moving the Lord knows where,
Dressed in suits and tatters,
Bowties, tights, ochred sheets and earrings,
All thinking of things to come,
Africa is in a state of opportunity,
All look for easy chances.
Of self-upliftment or undeserved promotion
That often mirage further and further
Making frustrate
Minds that should be content
It is a time of opportunity-
When one line makes a poet
And a little acquaintance or chance
Rockets one to the highest office
But the peasant, the pillar of the nation,
Has only to cope with prices that shift
Like the waves that rock the ship
carrying yellow maize to the city.
The employed call out strikes
That only deplete the little funds
That may relieve the peasant-
The elder brother keeps the younger in hunger
At home, if there’s any,
The child plays with an empty bottle,
Cries for more milk
When the cost is daily on the rise
While the incomes remain static
And the higher brackets are daily filled
By youths that will not retire
Within this century.
The child laughs gaily,
Displaying its only four teeth
That show it grows to eat,
Unaware of all that shapes her decade
Adapted from a poem by Joseph G. Mutiga
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow. (20 marks)
You embarrass me…
Mwananchi
Why do you embarrass me with your questions
About the new Mercedes I bought
The large farm I own
The houses, the wives,
An inflated stomach!
Mwananchi
Why do you threaten me with your threats
The threats in your bloodshot eyes
Fixedly pointed at me wherever I go
Like if you are ready
To release the arrow that will deflate me
Into nothingness;
Even the watchmen, the dogs, the police
Are all not enough to protect me
From your increasing shouts to protest
Against my good judgement;
Mwananchi
Have you forgotten how you loved me
And gave me your vote
That I may be your man in parliament?
Now that I have the power
I will mend your confused senses
And keep you in prison
Until you see me as your leader again
And keep those bloodshot eyes away from me
I will charge like an angry lion
And scare you out of your wits
Until like a frightened dog,
You keep your head forever…
Everett M. Standa
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.(20 mks)
Song of Agony
I put on a clean shirt
And go to work
Which of us
Which of us will come back?
Four and twenty moons
Not seeing women
Not seeing my hand
Which of us
Which of us will die?
I put on a clean shirt
And go to work my contract
To work far away
I go beyond the mountain
Into the bush
Where the roads end
And the rivers run dry
Which of us
Which of us will come back?
Which of us
Which of us will die?
Questions
Identify and explain one economic activity practiced by the persona’s community.
Read the poem below then answer the questions that follow
THE NECKLACE
From a distance
Fearful of inching any further,
A cold sweat trickled rivulets,
Making me shiver at noon.
Undaring to approach the form
It was over in minutes,
The necessities of execution availed,
The firestone tyre,
Petrol in blackened tin,
And ignites in numerous hands
Each participant ready and anxious,
To set the man a flame.
As the smouldering form blackened,
Smell of sizzling flesh filling in the air
Piercing the nostrils,
And choking me breathless,
I watched in wonder,
Witness to an unwritten law.
As the crowd dispersed,
The haggling and bargaining resumed,
Buying, selling and cheating,
As men in uniform arrived,
Bearing away the charred remains
Questions
(ii) What deters the persona from getting closer to the scene of action? (1 mark)
iii) Witnessed to an unwritten law
Read the poem below and answers the questions that follow (20 MARKS)
WEDDING EVE
Should I
Or should I not
Take the oath to love
For ever
This person I know little about?
Does she love me
Or my car
Or my future
Which I know little about?
Will she continue to love me
When the future she saw in me
Crumbles and fades into nothing
Leaving the naked me
To love without hope?
Will that smile she wears
Last through the hazards to come
When fate strikes
Across the dreams of tomorrow?
Like the clever passenger in a faulty plane,
Wear her life jacket
And jump out to save her life
Leaving me crush into the unknown?
What magic can I use
To see what lies beneath
Her angel face and well knit hair
To see her hopes and dreams
Before I take an oath
To love forever?
We are both wise chess players
She makes a move
I make a move
And we trap each other in our secret dreams
Hoping to win against each other
Everett Standa
QUESTION
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow. (20 marks)
The inmates
Huddled together
Cold biting their bones
Teeth chattering from the chill,
The air oppressive,
The smell offensive
They sit and they reflect
The room self contained
At the corner the ‘gents’ invites
With the nice fragrance of ammonia,
And fresh human dung,
The fresh inmates sit thoughtfully
Vermin perform a guard of honour
Saluting him with a bite here
And a bite there
‘Welcome to the world, they seem to say’
The steel lock of the door
The walls insurmountable
And the one torching tortuous bulb
Stare vacantly at him
Slowly he reflects about the consignment
That gave birth to his confinement
Locked in for conduct refinement
The reason they put him in prison
The clock ticks
But too slowly
Five years will be a long time
Doomed in the dungeon
In this hell of a cell
Read the following poem and then answer the questions that follow.
The Courage That My Mother Had
The courage that my mother had
Went with her, and is with her still;
Rock and New England quarried;
Now granite in a granite hill.
The golden brooch my mother wore
She left behind for me to wear;
I have nothing I treasure more;
Yet, it is something I could spare.
Oh, if instead she’d left to me
The thing she took into the gravel!
The courage like a rock, which she
Has no more need of, and I have.
(Had – Edna St. Vincent Millay)
“Has no more need of, and I have”
Read the following poem and then answer the questions that follow.
THE PAUPER.
Pauper, pauper, craning your eyes
In all directions, in no direction!
What brutal force, malignant element,
Dared to forge your piteous fate?
Was it worth the effort, the time?
You limply lean on a leafless tree
Nursing the jiggers that shrivel your bottom
Like baby newly born to an old woman.
What crime, what treason did you commit
That you are thus condemned to human indifference?
And when you trudge on the horny pads,
Gullied like the soles of modern shoes,
Pads that even jiggers cannot conquer;
Does He admire your sense of endurance
Or turn his head away from your imprudent presence?
You sit alone on hairless goatskins,
Your ribs and bones reflecting the light
That beautiful cars reflect on you,
Squashing like between your nails.
And cleaning your nails with dry saliva.
And when He looks at the grimy coating
Caking off your emaciated skin,
At the rust that uproots all your teeth
Like a pick on a stony piece of land,
Does He pat his paunch at the wonderful sight?
Pauper, pauper, crouching in beautiful verandas
Of beautiful cities and beautiful people,
Tourists and I will take your snapshots,
And your M.P. with a shining head and triple chin
Will mourn your fate in a supplementary questions at question time.
(Adapted from poems from East Africa, by Cook and Rubadiri EDS)
iii) Comment on the writer’s use of imagery in stanza two. (3 marks)
vii) Explain the meaning of the following words and expression as used in the poem. (3 marks)
ORAL LITERARY
Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow.
DEATH IS A WITCH
Solo: Ah, what shall I do, Abuluhya?
It’s wrong
Chorus: Today I will say
Death is a witch, my people
It snatched my child
I will remain alone
Solo: Ah what shall I really do, Abuluhya its very wrong
Chorus: Today I will say
Death is a witch, my people
It snatched my child
I will weed along
Solo: Ah, what shall I really do, Abuluhya it’s wrong
Chorus: Today I will say
Death is a witch, my people
It snatched my child
I will dance alone
Solo: My child, my friend, I cry what shall I do? I cry
What shall I do? I cry x2
(4 marks)
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
OUT-CAST
They met by accident
He proposed the idea
She gave her consent
All the way to the altar
The casualty was male
And his pigment was pale
Unlike his alleged sire
Who was black with ire
The recourse was legitimate
He disclaimed responsibility
So they had to separate
The boy remains illegitimate
Last month, not long ago
They both took their go
Coincidentally by accident
No will, no estate
Nothing to inherit
The poor boy is hardly ten
And knows no next-of-kin
He roams the streets of town
Like a wind-sown out-cast
(‘They both took their go’)
Read the following oral poem and answer the questions that follow.
After a brief struggle I got myself
A job
My food was meat and banana
flour
A hundred cents a month and
soon I had some money.
Soon afterwards I bought myself
A beautiful girl
My heart was telling time this
was a fortune
So heart you were deceiving
me and I believed you
On a Saturday morning as I was
leaving work
I was thinking I was being
awaited at home
But on arrival I couldn’t find my bride
Nor was she in her parents home
I ran fast to the river valley;
What I saw gave me a shock.
There was my wife conversing
with her lovers.
I sat and silently wept.
I realized there is no luck in this world.
People aren’t trustworthy and
will never be!
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow. (20 marks)
The earth does not get fat. It makes an end-
Of those who wear the head plumes
We shall die on the earth. The earth
does not get fat. It makes an end of those who act swiftly as heroes.
Shall we die on the earth?
Listen O earth. We shall mourn because of you.
Listen O earth. Shall we all die on the earth?
The earth does not get fat. It makes an end of
The chiefs. Shall we die on earth? The
earth does not get fat. It makes an end
Of the women chiefs. Shall we die on earth?
Listen o earth. We shall mourn because of you.
Listen O earth. Shall we all die on earth?
The earth does not get fat. It makes an end
Of the nobles. The earth does not get fat
It makes an end of the royal women.
Shall we die on earth?
The earth does not get fat. It makes an end
of the common people. Shall we die on the earth?
The earth does not get fat. It makes an end of all the beasts
Shall we die on the earth?
Listen you who are asleep, who are left
tightly closed in the land. Shall we all sink
Into the earth? Listen O
Earth the sun is setting tightly. We shall enter into the earth.
We shall not enter into the earth.
(From: ‘The Heritage Of African Poetry’)
iii) Earth the sun is setting tightly
Read the poem below and then answer the question that follow.
AFRICA
Africa my Africa
Africa of proud warriors in the ancestral savannah’s
Africa my grandmother sings of
Beside her distant river
I have never seen you.
But my gaze is full of your blood.
Your black spilt over the field.
The blood of your sweat
The sweat of your toil
The toil of slavery
The slavery of your children.
Africa, tell me Africa,
Are you the back that bends.
Lies down under the weight of humbleness?
The trembling back stripped red.
That says yes to the whips on the road of noon?
Solemnly a voice answers me
“Impetuous child, that young and sturdy tree.
That tree that grows.
There splendidly alone among white and faded flowers.
Is Africa, your Africa. It puts forth new shoots.
With patience and stubbornness pouts forth news shoots.
Slowly its fruits grow to have
That bitter taste of freedom.
a)’ But the gaze is full of your blood. Your blood spilt over the field.’ 1mk
b)’ Africa, my Africa
Africa of proud warriors in the ancestral Savannah’ 1mk
(Add an appropriate question tag)
iii) Toil
Read the following poem and respond to the questions appropriately.
THE SMILING ORPHAN
And when she passed away,
They came,
Kinsmen came,
Friends came,
Everybody came to mourn her.
Hospitalized for five months
The ward was her world
Fellow patients her compatriots
The meager hospital supply-her-diet
When she was dying
Her son was on official duty
The state demanded his services
Her only daughter, uneducated,
Sat by her
Crying, praying waiting for an answer
From God far above
Wishing, she spoke the language
Figures in white-coats do understand
They matched, the figures did
Stiff, numb and deaf, to the cries and wishes
Of her dying mother
As she was dying
Friends and kinsmen TALKED of her
How good, how helpful: a very practical woman
None reached her: they were too busy, there waws no money,
Who would look after their homes?
Was it so crucial their presence?
But when she passed away, they came,
Kinsmen came, friends hired cars to come,
Neighbours gathered to mourn her,
They ought to be there, to be there for the funeral
So they swore
The mourners shrieked out cries
As they arrived in the busy compound of the dead.
Memories of loved ones no more
Stimulated tears of many.
They cried dutiful tears for the deceased
Now stretching their hands all over to help
The daughter looked at them
With dry eyes, quiet, blank
The mourners pinched each other
Shocked by the stone – heartedness
Of the be-orphaned.
She sat: watching the tears soak their garments
Or in the soil around them; wasted
That night, she went to her love,
In the freshly made emergency grass hut,
And let loose all ties of the Convectional Dress she wore
Submitting to the Great Power, she whispered:
‘Now ……………….
You and I must know Now………….
Tomorrow you might never understand
Unable to lick my tears ……………..
And there was light
In the darkness of the hut
While outside
The mourners cried
Louder thant he Orphan
By Grace Birabwa Isharaza
Questions
Read the following poem and respond to the questions appropriately.
‘STILL I RISE’
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells’
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainity of tides
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like tear drops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.
You m,ay shoot me with your word
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Out of the hurts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I raise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear
In the tide
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a day brake that is wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my
Ancestors game,
I am the dream and the
Hope of the slave
I rise
I rise
I rise
Adapted from: Maya Angelous’ STILL I RISE (1978)
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow.
I WENT TO CHURCH.
I went to church today.
Yes I went and prayed for all
Friends and foes a like.
Dead and those alive.
I also prayed hard.
For the soul of that soldier.
Who got short.
Fighting for our motherland
While I shot hot life into his wife.
And I prayed to God too
That I live long
To go and pray again
Questions.
THE PRESS
So What is the mountain deal?
About the minister’s ailing son
That makes boiling news?
How come it was not whispered?
When Tina’s hospital bed was crawled with maggots
And her eyes oozed pus
Because the doctors lacked gloves?
What about Kasajja’s only child
Who died because the man with the key
To the oxygen room was on leave?
I have seen queues
Of emaciated mothers clinging to
Babies with translucent skins
Faint in line
And the lioness of a nurse
Commanding tersely
‘Get up or live the line’
Didn’t I hear it rumored that
The man with the white mane
Ushered a rape case out of court
Because the seven-year-old
Failed to testify?
Anyway, I only remembered these things
Ehen I drink
They indeed tipsyexplosions.
Susan Nalugwa Kiguli
Adopted By from: Echoes across the valley.
Questions
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow. (20 marks)
Their City
City in the sun
without any warmth
except for wanaotosheka
and the tourists escaping
from civilized boredom
Sit under the Tree
any Saturday morning
and watch the new Africans,
the anxious faces
behind the steering wheels
in hire purchase cars
see them looking important
in a tiny corner
behind the chauffeur
We have seen them
in a nightmare,
the thickset directors
of several companies;
we have seen them
struggling under the weight
of a heavy lunch
on a Monday afternoon
cutting a tape
to open a building,
we have seen them
looking over their
gold-rimmed glasses
to read a speech
And in the small hours
between one day and the next
we have strolled through
the deserted streets
and seen strange figures
under bougainvillea bushes
in traffic islands
figures hardly human
snoring away into
the cold winds of the night;
desperately dying to live.
(Lennard Okola)
Questions.
figures hardly human
desperately dying to live. (2 marks)
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow. (20 marks)
Western civilization
Sheets of tin nailed to posts
driven in the ground
make up the house
Some rags complete
The intimate landscape
The sun slanting through the cracks
welcomes the owner.
After twelve hours of slave
labour
Breaking rock
shifting rock
breaking rock
shifting rock
fair weather
wet weather
breaking rock
shifting rock
Old age comes early
a mat on dark nights
is enough when he dies
gratefully
of hunger
Questions.
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
Beggar in the three a piece.
My Jumbo
Shot its way
Across the sky
To distant lands
Across blue seas
I descended the ladder
To a waiting ribbon
Of blood-red carpet
A quick glance at my
Three piece suit and the tie
That beautifully strangled my neck.
On my left hand hang
My beaded knob kerry
On my right I clutched
My rusty inter- nation Begging Bowl
On my face I wore humility and need
And of course dignity.
Sir, the dearth of food
Had rendered my people thin
And hungry
Scoop us a little
You know
Just little
To keep them till next rains.
But Sir, beggars
In three piece
Are a rare sight
But your suit is beautiful
Honestly.
Now my suit
Which cost me a fortune
In a Parisian Texture
Has denied me a fortune
And my countrymen, life.
By. L.O. Sunkuli.
(a) Who is the persona in the poem? (3 marks)
(b) What is the subject matter of this poem? (4 marks)
(c) Explain the satire in this poem and comment on its effectiveness. (4 marks)
(d) Describe the tone of this poem. (3 marks)
(e) Explain what the last stanza implies. (3 marks)
(f) Explain the meaning of the following liens as used in the poem. (3 marks)
Shot its way
Across the sky
iii) To keep them till next rains.
Read the poem below and answer questions that follow.
White child meets black man
She caught me outside a London
Suburban shop, I, like a giraffe
And she a mouse. I tried to go
But felt she stood
Lovely as light on my back
I turned with hello
And waited. Her eyes got
Wider but not her lips.
Hello I smiled again and watched.
She stepped around me
Slowly, in a kind of dance,
Her wide eyes searching
Inch by inch up and down:
No fur no scales no feathers
No shell. Just a live silhouette,
Wild and strange
And compulsive
Till mother came horrified
‘Mummy is his tummy black?’
Mother grasped her and swung
Toward the crowd. She tangled
Mother’s legs looking back at me
As I watched them birds were singing.
James Berry (Jamaica)
QUESTIONS
Read the Poem below and answer the questions that follow: (20 Marks)
The Twist
In a little shanty town
Was on a night like this
Girls were sitting down
Around the town
Like this
Some were young
And some were brown
I even found a miss
Who was black and brown
And really did
The twist
Watch her move her wrist
And feel your belly twist
Feel the hunger thunder
When her hip bones twist
Try to hold her, keep her under
While the juke box hiss
Twist the music out of hunger
On a night like this
Read the poem below and then answer the question that follow. (20 marks)
DEATH OF MY FATHER
His sunken cheeks, his inward-looking eyes,
The sarcastic, scornful smile on his lips
The unkempt, matted, grey hair,
The hard, coarse sand-paper hands,
Spoke eloquently of the lifehe had lived.
But I did not mourn for him.
The hammer, the saw and the plane,
These were his tools and his damnation,
His sweat was his ointment and his perfume.
He fashioned dining tables, chairs, wardrobes,
And all the wooden loves of colonial life.
No, I did not mourn for him.
He built colonial mansions,
Huge,unwieldy,arrogant constructions;
But he squatted in a sickly mud-house,
With his children huddled stuntedly,
Under the bed-bug bed he shared with Mother.
I could not mourn for him.
I had already inherited
His premature old-age look,
I had imbibed his frustration;
But his dreams of freedom and happiness
Had become my song, my love.
So, I could not mourn for him.
No, I did not shed any tears;
My father’s dead life still lives in me,
He lives in my son, my father,
I am my father and my son.
I will awaken his sleepy hopes and yearnings,
But I will not mourn for him,
I will not mourn for me.
Spoke eloquently of the life he had lived.
iii) I will awaken his sleepy hopes and yearnings,
Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow.
The Gourd of Friendship.
Where is the curiosity we’ve lost in discovery?
Where is the discovery we’ve lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we’ve lost in communication?
Where is the communication we’ve lost in mass media?
And where is the community we’ve lost in all these?
Where is the message we’ve lost in the medium?
It is easy to go to the moon:
There, there are no people.
It is easier to count the stars:
They will not complain.
But the road to your neighbour’s heart – who has surveyed it?
The formula to your brother’s head – Who has devised it?
The gourd that doesn’t spill friendship – In whose garden has it ever grown?
You never know despair Until you’ve lost hope;
You never know your aspiration Until you’ve seen others disillusionment.
Peace resides in the hearts of men.
Not in conference tables and delegates signatures.
True friendship never dies – It grows stronger the more it is used.
By Richard Ntiru
Theme for English B.
The instructor said,
Go home and write a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you.
Then, it will be true.
I wonder if it is that simple?
I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
I went there, then Durham, then here
To this college on the hill above Harlem,
I am the only colored student in my class.
The steps from the hill lead down into Harem,
Through a park, then I cross St Nicholas,
Eighth Avenue, seventh, and I come to the Y
The Harlem BranchY, where I take the elevator
Up to my room, sit down, and write this page:
It’s no easy to know what is true for you or me
At twenty-two, my age. But I guess I’m what
I feel and see and hear. Harlem, I hear you:
Hear you, hear me-we two-you, talk on this page.
(I hear New York, too) me- who?
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn and understand life.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
Or records- Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn’t make me not like
The same things other folks like who are other races.
So will my page be colored that I write?
Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be A part of you, instructor.
You are white
Yet a part of me, as I am part of you.
That’s American.
Sometimes perhaps you don’t want to be part of me.
Nor do I often want to be part of you.
But we are, that’s true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me- Although you are older- and white- And somewhat more free.
This is my page for English B.
(Langstone Hughes)
Questions.
You don’t want to be part of me. Nor do I often want to be part of you l mk
Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow. (20 Marks)
Operating Room, By John Reed
Sunlight floods the shiny many-windowed place,
Coldly glinting on flawless steel under glass,
And blaring imperially on the spattered gules
Where kneeling men grunt as they swab the floor.
Startled eyes of nurses swish by noiselessly,
Orderlies with cropped heads swagger like murderers;
And three surgeons, robed and masked mysteriously,
Lounge gossiping of guts, and wish it were lunch-time.
Beyond the porcelain door, screaming mounts crescendo
Case 4001 coming out of the ether,
Born again half a man, to spend his life in bed.
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow
THE WAR LORD
Cut, thrust, plunge
Slash, slit, stab
Starve, maim, shoot
Torch, burn, scar
The trumpets herald you with regal glory
Epaulettes glisten and medals gleam
Plunder, loot and steal
Blind, brand, rape
Curse, crush, kidnap
Smash, torture, kill
Your arrival is welcomed with carpets of steel
Ramrod backed your subjects hail you
Bind, bludgeon, bury
Garotte, impale, castrate
Order, imprison, enslave
Censor, cajole and destroy
Your scarlet cape billows as you sense fresh converts
Ever more shrill their praises grow.
Barren, bleak, blackened
Shattered, sterile, stricken
Torn, poisoned, defiled
Bloodied, emtombed, rotting
The prize presented on some stolen silver
A maggot riddled remnant of a once serene world.
Questions
(a) Briefly explain what the poem is talking about. (3mks)
(b) What is the attitude of the persona to the warlord? Elaborate your answer. (2mks)
Explain the relevance of having separated words for stanza one, three, five and seven. (3mks)
(c) Explain the irony in the poem. (3mks)
(d) What is the meaning of the following lines as used in the poem?
(i) The trumpets herald you with regal glory.
Epaulettes glisten and medals gleam. (2mks)
(ii) The prize presented on some stolen silver.
A maggot riddled remnant of a once serene world. (2mks)
(e) Apart from irony, which other stylistic device has been used in the poem? (2mks)
(f) Identify one thematic concern of the poem. (3mks)
Read the poem below and then answer the questions that follow. (20 marks)
A TAX DRIVER ON DEATH BED. (By Timothy Wangusa)
When with prophetic eye I peer in to the future
I see that I shall perish upon this road
Driving men that I do not know
This metallic monster that I now dictate,
This docile elaborate horse,
That in silence seems to simmer and strain
Shall surely revolt some tempting day.
Thus u shall die: not that I care
For any man’s journey,
Nor for proprietors gain
Nor yet for the love of my own.
Not for these do I attempt the forbidden limits.
For those deft the traffic – man and the cold cell,
Risking everything for the little little more.
They shall say, I know, who pick up my bones
‘Poor chap, another victim to the ruthless machine”
concealing my blood under the metal.
Questions.
‘poor chap, another victim to the ruthless machine? (2 marks)
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
Your Cigarette Burnt the Savannah Grass.
Come
Listen to a boiling pot
torch its heart and tell me
What do you hear?
the sun sent down sowers of it
that burnt to cinder your eddying conscience
the earth at the touch of your fingers
cracked
Colour melts at your stare
Orange white blurred and all
are the same to you
Your cigarette burnt the savannah grass
The scorpion bit me and I cried.
Charles Owuor
iii) Identify and explain any three aspects of style and explain their functions. (6 marks)
(a) ‘Come
Listen to a boiling pot’
(b) ‘ the sun sent down showers of it that burnt to cinder your eddying conscience!
(v) What is the mood of the poem? (2 marks)
(vi) What is the persona’s attitude towards his adversary? (2 marks)
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow:
THE VILLAGE WELL
By the well,
Where fresh water still quietly whisper
As when I
First accompanied Mother and filled my baby gourd,
By this well,
Where many an evening its clean water cleaned me;
This silent well
Dreaded haunt of the long haired Musambwa
Who basked
In the mid-day sun reclining on the rock
Where I now sit
Welling up with many poignant memories;
This spot,
Which has rung with the purity of child laughter;
This spot,
Where eye spoke secretly to responding eye;
This spot,
Where hearts pounded madly in many a breast;
By this well,
Over-hung by leafy branches of sheltering trees
I first noticed her
I saw her in the cool of red, red evening
I saw her
As if I had not seen her a thousand times before
By this well
My eyes asked for love, and my heart went mad.
I stuttered
And murmured my first words of love
And cupped
With my hands, the intoxication that were her breasts
In this well,
In the clear waters of this whispering well,
The silent moon
Witnessed with a smile our inviolate vows
The kisses
That left us weak and breathless.
It is dark.
It is dark by the well that still whispers.
It is darker
It is utter darkness in the heart that bleeds
By this well
Where magic has evaporated but memories linger.
Of damp death
The rotting foliage reeks,
And the branches
Are grotesque talons of hungry vultures,
For she is dead
The one I first loved by this well.
Questions:
(i) Who is the persona in this poem? (2 marks)
(ii) What is the significant of the well to the persona? (4 marks)
(iii) Identify imagery in the poem. (2 marks)
(a) Dreaded haunt of the long haired Musambwa. (2 marks)
(b) I saw her in the cool of a red, red evening. (2 marks)
(c) It is dark by the well that still whispers. (2 marks)
(v) Comment on the change of mood in the last two stanzas. (4 marks)
(vi) What is the attitude of the persona towards death? (2 marks)
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow. (20 marks)
Old and New
She went up the mountain to pluck wild herbs,
She came down the mountain and met her former husband,
She knelt down and asked her former husband,
“What do you find your new wife like?”
“My new wife, although her talk is clever,
Cannot charm me as my old wife could,
In beauty of face there is not much to choose,
But in usefulness they are not at all alike,
My new wife comes in from the road to meet me,
My old wife always came down from her tower.*
My new wife is clever at embroidering silk;
My old wife was good at plain sewing.
Of silk embroidery one can do an inch a day;
Of plain sewing, more than five feet.
Putting her silks by the side of your sewing,
I see that the new will not compare with the old.”
Anonymous 1st Century B.C.
Questions
“My new wife, although her talk is clever, cannot charm me as my old wife” (3 marks)
Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow.
THAT OTHER LIFE
(By Everett M Standa)
I have only faint memories
Memories of those days when all our joyful moment
In happiness, sorrow and dreams
Were so synchronized
That we were in spirit and flesh
One soul;
I have only faint memories
When we saw each other’s image everywhere;
The friends, the relatives,
The gift of flowers, clothes and treats,
The evening walks where we praised each other,
Like little children in love;
I remember the dreams about children
The friendly neighbors and relatives
The money, the farms and cows
All were the pleasures ahead in mind
Wishing for the day of final union
When the dreams will come true
On that day final union
We promised each other pleasures and care
And everything good under the sun
As a daily reminder that you and me were one forever.
QUESTIONS
(i) Happiness, sorrow and dreams were so synchronized………… (2marks)
(ii) ……. praised each other like children in love (2 marks)
(iii) All were pleasures ahead in mind. (2marks)
Read the poem bellow and answer the question that follows
My grandmother by Elizabeth Jennings
She kept an antique shop-or it kept her.
Among Apostle spoons and Bristol glasses,
The faded silks, the heavy furniture,
She watched her own reflection in the brass
Salvers and silver bowls, as if to prove
Polish was all, there was no need for love.
And I remember how I once refused
To go out with her, since I was afraid.
It was perhaps a wish not to be used
Like antique objects .Though she never said
That she was hurt, I still could feel the guilt
Of that refusal, guessing how she felt.
Later, too frail to keep a shop, she put
All her best things in one long, narrow room.
The place smelt old, of things too long kept shut,
The smell of absences where shadows come
That can’t be polished. There was nothing then
To give her own reflection back again.
And when she died I felt no grief at all,
Only the guilt of what I once refused.
I walked into her room among the tall
Sideboards and cupboards-things she never used
But needed: and no finger-marks were there,
Only the new dust falling through the air.
“too frail to keep a shop”
“Only the new dust falling through the air”
-things she never used
But needed:
Read the poem below then answer the questions that follow.
Riding Chinese Machines
There are beasts in this city
they creak and they crank
and groan from first dawn
when their African-tongued masters wake
to guide them lax and human-handed
through the late rush
when they‘re handled down and un-animated
still as we sleep, towering or bowing
always heavy
We pour cement through the cities
towns, through the wild
onwards, outwards
like fingers of eager hands
stretched across the earth
dug in
The lions investigate
and buried marvel rumbles
squeezed for progress
By Liyou Mesfin Libsekal
Questions
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
“Sympathy”
| I know what the caged bird feels, alas! When the sun is bright on the upland slopes; When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass And the river flows like a stream of grass; When the first bird sings and the first bud opes, And the faint perfume from its petals steals – I know what the caged bird feels!
I know why the caged bird beats its wing Till its blood is red on the cruel bars; For he must fly back to his perch and cling When he rather would be on the branch a –swing; And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars And they pulse again with a keener sting – I know why he beats his wing!
I know why the caged bird sings, ah me, When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore, When he beats his bars and would be free; It is not a song of joy or glee, But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core, But a plea, that upward to heaven he fings – I know why the caged bird sings!
(Adapted from the poem by Laurence Donbar in ‘American Negro Poetry’ edited by ArnaBomtemps. New York: Hill and Waug 1974)
|
Questions
(i) And the faint perfume from the petals steals (1 mark)
Read the oral poem below and then answer the questions that follows;-
“FAMINE”
The owner of yam peels his yam in the house’s:
A neighbour knocks at the door
The owner of yam throws his yam in the bedroom:
The neighbour says, “I just heard
A sound, ‘kerekere’, that is why I came,”
The owner of the yam replies,
“That was nothing, I was sharpening two knives.”
The neighbour says again, “I still heard
Something like ‘bi’ sound behind the door.”
The owner of the yam says,
“I merely tried my door with a mallet.”
The neighbour says again,
“What about his huge fie burning on your hearth?”
The fellow replies,
“I am merely warming water for my bath.”
The neighbour persist,
“Why is your skin all white, when this is not the Harmattan season?’
The fellow is ready with his reply,
I was rolling on the floor when I heard the death of Agadapidi.”
Then the neighbour says, “Peace be with you.”
The owner of the yam start shut,
“There cannot be peace
Unless the owner of food is allowed to eat his own food!”
Questions.
(a) Briefly explain what the poem is about. (2 marks)
(b) What does the neighbor hope to achieve by being so persistent? (3 marks)
(c) Using illustrations, describe any two character traits of the owner of the yam. (4 marks)
(d) Identify the ideophones words in the poem. (2 marks)
(e) How do we know that the neighbour is observant? (3 marks)
(f) Describe the tone of the owner of the yam. (1 mark)
(g) The neighbour says, “peace be with you.” Why is this statement ironic? (3 marks)
(h) What lesson can we learn from this poem? (2 marks)
Building the Nation
Today I did my share
In building the nation
I drove a permanent Secretary
To an important urgent function
In fact a luncheon at the Vic.
The menu reflected its importance
Cold Bell beer with small talk,
Then friend chicken with niceties
Wine to fill the hollowness of the laughs
Ice-cream to cover the stereotype jokes
Coffee to keep the PS awake on return journey.
I drove the Permanent Sectretary back.
He yawned many times in the back of the car
Did you have any lunch friend?
I replied looking straight ahead
And secretly smiling at his belated concern
That i had not, but was smiling!
Upon which he said with a seriousness
That amused more than annoyed me,
Mwananchi, I too had none!
I attended to matters of state
Highly delicate diplomatic duties you know,
And friend, it goes against my grain,
Causes me stomach ulcers and wind.
Ah, he continued, yawning again,
The pains we suffer in buiding the nation!
So the PS had ulcers too!
My ulcers I think are equally painful
Only they are caused by hunger,
Not sumptuous lunches!
So two nation builders
Arrived home this evening
With terrible stomach pains
The result of building the nation –
– Different ways.
Henry Barlow
ORAL LITERATURE
Read the oral piece below and answer the questions that follow
Blood iron and trumpets
Blood iron and trumpets
Forward we march
(others fall on the way)
Blood iron and trumpets
We shall hack kill and cure
Blood iron and trumpets
Singers of the datsun blue
Forward we drive breaking the records
Blood iron and trumpets
Let bullets find their targets and the earth be softened
Blood iron and trumpets
Let the dogs of war rejoice
And the carrion birds feed
We are reducing population sexplosion
Blood iron and trumpets
The uniformed machines are around
Put on your helmet iron and rest
Blood iron and trumpets
Only through fire can be baptized to mean business
So once again
Blood iron and trumpets
We shall always march along
Blood iron and trumpets
Blood iron and trumpets
Blood alone
(2 Marks)
Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow
SECOND OLYMPUS
From the rostrum they declaimed
On martyrs and men of high ideals
Whom they sent out
Benevorent despots to an unwilling race
Straining at the yoke
Bull dozers trampling on virgin ground
In blatant violation
They trampled down all that was strange
And filled the void
With half digested alien thoughts
They left a trail of red
Whatever their feet had passed
Oh, they did themselves fine
And struttled about the place
Self proclaimed demi- gods
From a counterfeit Olympus
One day they hurled down thunder bolts
On toiling race of earthworms
They might have rained own pebbles
To pelt the brats to death
But that was beneath them
They kept up the illusion
That they were fighting foes
Killing in the name of high ideals
At the inquest they told the world
The worms were becoming pests
Moreover, they said
They did not like wriggly things
Strange prejudice for gods.
Questions
“they trample down all that was strange
And filled the void with half digested alien thoughts?”
Read the poem below and answer the questions below.
Advise to my son
The trick is, to live your days
as if each one may be your last
(for they go fast, and young men lose their lives
in strange and unimaginable ways)
but at the same time, plan long range
(for they go slow : if you survive
the shattered windshield and burning shell
you will arrive
at our approximation here below
or heaven or hell)
To be specific, between the poeny and the rose
plant squash and spinach, turnips and tomatoes;
beauty in nectar
and nectar, in desert saves
but the stomach craves stronger sustenance
than the homed vine.
therefore, marry a pretty girl
after seeing her mother;
speak truth to one man,
work with another;
and always, serve bread with your wine.
But son,
Always serve wine
(Peter Meinke)
-Last
-Fast
THE BEARD By Priscovia Rwakyaka *TRK*
In the pulpit he swayed and turned
Leant forward, backward
To the right; to the left
His solemn voice echoed
Lowly the congregation followed,
“Do you love your neighbor?’
Meekly they bow at his keen eye.
Now examining a grey head
Heaving under her sobs
His heart leapt assured-
“Her sins weigh on her!”
So with her he chats outside;
‘Weep not child you are pardoned.”
“But, sir, your beard conjured up
The spirit of my dear goat!”
Questions
(a) Identify and describe two personas in the poem. Illustrate your answer. (4mks)
(b) Relate the title of the poem to what actually happens in this poem, giving specific examples. (4mks)
(c) Identify and illustrate any two styles &vident in the poem. (4mks)
(d) The mood of the last four lines of the poem is embarrassing. How true is this? (3mk)
(e) Identify one pair of rhyming words (lmks)
(f) Explain the meaning of the following lines:
Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow.
Argument with God
My child was struggling for life in hospital.
And I,worried tense and tired.
Sat in silent prayer:
In violent silence,arguing with my God.
God I said,
Why do you allow him to suffer so?
Why him all the time?
Why?
God was silent!
Not a word from him.
Not a word
May be.I thought.
God is angry with me.
I’ll appease my God;
Try and be good at least
Surely God would then respond.
God,I pleaded.
Please God.
To be good is hard.
But I’ll try.
But
My child must live.
Live free from pain:
God
You know how I love him, don’t you?
Don’t you?Don’t you?DON’T YOU?
But
God was dumb:
Like my child.
Then u I said to myself.
God is just.
I’ll appeal for justice.
God,I called.
Though you are silent,
I am sure you hear me.
QUESTIONS
ANSWERS
1.Song of Agony
Effect-Help to show the state in which the persona is .He fears of never returning home.
Involve the audience to feel the situation the persona is in.Draws sympathy from the audience.
Effect: Emphasizes the subject matter, i e. the desperation and the fear in the persona. Helps in building the mood. Helps to reflect the attitude of the speaker towards contract work.
Effect: Helps to show far away and difficult the contract workers used to go and work (4 marks)
Nostalgic– there’s the longing to come back after they go for contract work to see his wife and property.
Sad-the mood is saddening that the workers are likely to die or never come back. Might be many had died or never came back.
Line 7 ‘Not being my ox’ (cattle keeping)
The persona is going to work (working)
2.
THE NECKLACE
The title “Necklace” is relevant because necklace is round and it is normally worn by people (1 mark).in the poem, the tyre used to burn the victim is round-shaped (1 mark)
The executioners are cruel/inhuman/brutal/callous/insensitive (1 mark)
Once they finish the execution, they resume their normal duties as if nothing has happened/they brutally murder the victim
NB: Award 0 marks for identification without illustration
– The firestone tyre (1 mark), petrol in blackened tin (1 mark) and ignites in numerous hands (1 mark)
The word “form” in stanza one refers to the victim before he was burned (1 mark) while in stanza three it refers to the carcass/corpse of the victim (1 mark)
– The persona is an observer or a citizen at a market place (1 mark)
NB:Do not accept the use of “I” as the persona without adequate qualifier justifying the personality of the “I”
(ii)What deters the persona from getting closer to the scene of action? (1 mark)
– The persona is deterred by fear / frightened to get closer to the scene of the brutality (1mark)
iii) Witnessed to an unwritten law – saw the people carry out mob justice which is illegal
The mood is tense (1 mark)
– Fearful of inching any further/cold shocks transmitted down (1 mark)
NB: Accept a related qualifier for mood and any appropriate illustration if not provided herein
Do not award marks for identification without illustration
The people who had set the man ablaze leave (1 mark) as normal business of selling, buying and cheating resumes (1 mark).The policemen arrive (1 mark) and ferry away the remains of the victim(1 mark)
WEDDING EVE
– fearful apprehensive fears to take the marriage vows.
– suspicious – the speaker is not sure of the lovers commitment.
– The rhetorical question in the poem helps to bring out the speaker’s doubts about the relationship and about the commitment of his would – be wife
each other. The relationship is seen to be like a competition (1mk)
“leaving the naked me “is an expression of desolation and hopelessness. If he were to be left he would feel naked and useless
– Rhyme1 – consignment oppressive
– confinement offensive
– refinement
– Personification1 – torturous bulb stare vacantly at him1
– Alliteration1 – torching, torturous
-The smell is offensive with fresh human dung. 1
– Vermins bite the inmates unsparingly1 1 x 3mks
Thoughtful – he (the fresh inmate) sits thoughtfully.
Agonizing – he agonises at the long time 1 that he will be in prison. The clock ticks too slowly.
Simile 1 …… the courage like a rock 1
Id = 1 x 2, illust = 1 x 2 4mks
Identification of attitude = 2mks,
illust. = 1mk
6.THE PAUPER
– Caked feet – and when you trudge on the lorny pads
– Shining ribs – your ribs and bones reflecting the light
– Infested with Gee- squashing lice between your nails
– Cleans nails with dry saliva
– Emaciated and caking skinü
– Crouches in beautiful verandaü (4 x 1)
iii. Use of simileü1 like a baby newly born to an old womanü1 to bring out the special relationship between the pauper and the jiggers
Rhetorical questions– dared to forget your piteous fate
Hyperbole– your ribs and bones reflecting light
Irony– pauper crouching in beautiful verandas of beautiful cities and beautiful people
Sarcasm – and your MP with a shining head and a triple chin will mourn your fate in a supplementary question at question time
– Poverty – the paupes cleaning his nails with dry saliva, infested with suffering lice and jiggers and crouches in beautiful verandas
– Poor Leadershipü1- the MP gives lip service to the plight of the pauper by mourning his fate in a supplementary question at question time
vii. Emaciated – thin/weak
Crouching-squatting
Gullied like the soles of modern shoes – with big crack
The Plot Approach
(Any 4 points each 1mk = 4mks)
The Thematic Approach
(Identification of theme = 2mks, Illustration = 2mks, two illustrations per theme each 1mk =2mks or 1 illustration and 1 explanation = 2mks)
She wants the man to accept responsibility for a child that he obviously has not fathered. The man is black while the child is white.
(1mk for identification, 1mk for illustration. Any two traits =4mks)
iii. The birth of a child should consolidate a marriage but this one leads to a break up.
The persona recognizes that the poor boy suffers because of other people’s mistakes. He refers to the boy as a ‘’poor child’’, ‘’casualty’’ and says he is ‘’hardly ten’’.
(Any 1 point each 3mks = 3mks.)
– hurry hurry has no blessing(s) (2mks)
– Look before you leap (2mks)
– Marry in haste, repent at leisure (2mks)
– when two bulls fight, it is the grass that suffers (2mks)
– As you make your bed, so must you lie on it. (2mks)
With his love a companionship that has gone sour.
Encourages young people to be patient in their struggle to secure a job. (4 Mks)
Personification – My heart was telling me.
Direct translation – “I bought myself a beautiful girl”
Direct address – “ so heart you were deceiving me”
Moral lesson – “people are untrustworthy”
Do not over trust a friend
The marriage doesn’t last as the bride engages in extra-marital affairs. (2 Mks)
Patient – After a brief struggle I got my job.
Pessimistic – There was no look in this word.
(Any other relevant (1 Mk). – Identification (1 Mk) – Illustration. (2 x 2 = 4 Mks)
Farming – meat/Banana. (2 x 2 = 4 Mks)
9.
The earth does not get fat. It makes an end-
Of those who wear the head plumes
We shall die on the earth. The earth
does not get fat. It makes an end of those who act swiftly as heroes.
Shall we die on the earth?
Listen O earth. We shall mourn because of you.
Listen O earth. Shall we all die on the earth?
The earth does not get fat. It makes an end of
The chiefs. Shall we die on earth? The
earth does not get fat. It makes an end
Of the women chiefs. Shall we die on earth?
Listen o earth. We shall mourn because of you.
Listen O earth. Shall we all die on earth?
The earth does not get fat. It makes an end
Of the nobles. The earth does not get fat
It makes an end of the royal women.
Shall we die on earth?
The earth does not get fat. It makes an end
of the common people. Shall we die on the earth?
The earth does not get fat. It makes an end of all the beasts
Shall we die on the earth?
Listen you who are asleep, who are left
tightly closed in the land. Shall we all sink
Into the earth? Listen O
Earth the sun is setting tightly. We shall enter into the earth.
We shall not enter into the earth.
(From: ‘The Heritage Of African Poetry’)
iii) Earth the sun is setting tightly
answers
a potential victim of death
the earth does not get fat
– Personification – “the earth does not get fat”
– Direct address – “listen O earth
– Rhetorical questions – shall we all die on earth?
Eg …….. I have never seen you
NB: 1mk identification
1mk for illustration
…………………toil
…………slavery
iii) Patience with stubbornness.
The trembling back stripped red symbolizes torture.
Africa my Africa
Africa …………Africa
Is African ……….your Africa
your black blood spilt over the fields
No marks for illustrations without identification
1mk for identification, 1mk for illustration
Alliterated sound must be underlined
Angry: he is angry because Africans blood and the sweat of the Africans irrigates the fields without any benefits to them (Africans)
Accusatory: he accuses the Africans for not doing anything about their plight eg are you the back…..
On the roads of noon?
1mk for identification
1mk for illustration
NB: no mark for illustration without identification
Africa.
NB:
10.THE SMILING ORPHAN
Identification – 1 mark
Illustration – 1 mark
Total marks = 2 marks
– And was never visited by relatives who claimed they were busy.
– Later, the woman dies and ironically, the relatives come to her funeral in large numbers vowing that they cannot miss the burial.
– During the funeral, her only daughter (who had stayed) with her in hospital) seems unmoved and the relatives start backbiting her saying she is hardhearted. Total marks 4
It has been used in reference to the illiterate daughter who had stayed in hospital with the mother for five months but now is perceived as not being in mourning by the other mourners. This makes her smile at their hypocrisy. She is an orphan now that her mother is dead.
Any two points = 2 marks
Responsible– She takes care of her sick mother when other people/relatives and even her brother gave excuses of unavailability.
Identification – 1 mark
Illustration – 1 mark
No mark for illustration without identification and Vice versa.
Rhetoric questions– Who would look after their homes? Was it crucial their presence? Reveals the attitude of the mourners at the beginning, that they were indifferent/not bothered.
Hyperbole stanza (8) …. Their tears sock their garments. Enhances the satire …..
That the mourners cry much and we know that their grief is not genuine. They are hypocritical.
Ellipsis 2nd last stanza. Enhances suspense, allows imagination, and reveals the feelings of the orphan/the strain she’s been under etc.
1 mark for identification
1 mark for illustration
1 mark for illustration on the effective of the aspect of style so identified.
Any other plausible style with illustrations and effectiveness.
No mark for identification.
Without illustrations.
The poem captures the loss of a loved one.
Identification – 1 mark
Illustration – 1 mark
Total marks = 2 marks
11.‘STILL I RISE’
The speaker and his/her likes the segregated financially (resource wise) the speaker writes of ”I walk like I’ve got oil wells” pumping in my living room.
(life)
The speakers in the whereabouts (life) are misrepresented twisted and even falsified to negate his/her existence/status.
She describes herself as the black ocean, leaping and wide…… meaning that she sees herself mighty and strong like an ocean.
own
backyard shows that through her oppressors might think they have ended her by subjecting her to poverty, still she walks like she has all the wealth in the world!
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
These and other questions prod the readers to deeply consider the strength/positive energy/hope that the speaker
possesses.
I’ll rise
Still I’ll rise
The above phrases have been repeated severally to highlight the speaker’s optimism
Though she has been.
12.I WENT TO CHURCH.
He prays for friends and foes to living and the dead.
He had committed adultery with the soldier’s wife.
He is remorseful or apologetic and asks for forgiveness.
He is immoral/promiscuous – commits adultery with the soldier wife “While I shot hot life into his wife”
Fighting for
iii) Imagery (metaphor) – “I shot hot life into her wife”
13.THE PRESS
a)
The ministers son is accorded medical attention while the less fortune are neglected e.g. Tina and Kasajja’s only child.
The medical stuff lacks concern for the patient to get up or leave the line.
– Negligence
Tina’s bed is infested with maggots and her eyes are oozing blood. Kisajja’s only child died due to the negligence, in both cases, medical stuff gives very flimsy reasons for not attending to the patients.
The judge dismisses a rape case because seven years old victim failed to testify.
Any 3 (1 mk identification, 1mk illustration) 2×3=6mks
In both cases the persona is criticizing the media. It gives exaggerated attention to the minister’s son’s minor illness at the expense of the deserving cases.
iii) Metaphor
The last stanza underscores the persona treats it as a tipsy talk of a drunk yet poet is ridiculing the injustice meted out to the less fortuned.
1mk identification, 1mk illustration = 2 mks
2×3=6mks
The persona is disheartened by the hypocrisy of the press. It lacks neutrality and focuses on the bog people only.
1 mk identification , 1 mk explanation
1×2=2mks
The poet is castigating the press for its partiality and lack of commitment to expose social injustice; practiced in the society yet the press is duty bound to produce and release free and fair news. (2 mks)
Ushered – dismissed / cancelled
14.Their City
Illustration – ‘City in the sun without any warmth.
– an ordinary city resident’
“We have stolled through the desert streets” (any 1 x 2 = 2 mks)
ordinary residents are aware of this. (2 mks)
– Poverty – The poor do not have shelters, they sleep in cold winds of the night. (2 x 2 = 2 mks)
– hire purchase car.
– Uncaring – don’t care about the poor
– just think of themselves. They live lavishly while some people have nowhere to sleep.
– Conceited / proud / vain – looking over gold rimmed glasses.
– looking important. (Any 1 illustrated – 2 mks)
sarcastic
2 mks identification
1 mk for illustration
Illustration.
– City in the sun
– Looking important
– Thickset direction
– Reading a speech
monotonous job of breaking rock the whole day.
but misery and suffering.
– The “he” in the poem is grateful to die
though normally death is feared / no onelikes dying.
(accept any other that or appropriate. I mk for
identification, 1 mk for illustration. No mark for
identification without illustration)
Clothes: “a mat … is enough …” suggests that he lacks clothes / bedding to keep himself warm.
Shelter” “he” lives in a shanty – “sheets of tin … rags complete … landscape.”
Exploitation: The “he” engages in hard labour throughout the day but the fact that he lacks basic requirements suggests that
he is underpaid.
(a) A delegate from a third world countryP who has gone to seek for funds / aid from the I.M.F, World Bank or a developed country to alleviate famineP in his or her country.
“My rusty inter – Nation Begging bowl ..”P
“The death of food … rendered my people thin.” (3 mks)
(b) The poem talks about misplaced priorities usuallyexhibited by the leadership in the under developed countries.P The leadership concentrates on how they can waste funds on expensive clothing and luxurious flightsP when in actual sense the citizens are dying of hunger.P The donors decline to assist because of misplaced priorities.P (4 mks)
(c) The leadership of under developed countries insensitivity to people’s pressing needs is satinzed. P The leaders concentrate on being on expensive flights and dressing in imported garments while the people are hungry.P
“But sir, … ./ But your suit is beautiful / honestly.”P
The leaders only concentrate on what benefits them at the expense of the country men; they risk death because of extravagant leaders.P (4 mks)
(d) Sarcastic / Satirical / Bitter.P
The tune is used to bring out satire on the leaders / irony of the leader’s lifes as opposed to their subjects.P
Bitterness brings out the insensitivity of the leaders to the plights / problems of the common people.P (3 mks)
(e) – The aid he / she is supposed to get would hav been misused or embezzled by leaders.P
“Has denied me a fortune”
– The countrymen are likely to die of starvation.P
“And my countrymen, life.”
– donors fell that the borrower is extravagant.P
“In a Parisian Textile.” (3 mks)
(f) i) He boarded a big plane that cruised at top speed.P
iii) They entirely depend on nature for their existence.P
The young girl has probably not seen a black man before√1mk and she is amazed. √1mk
It exposes the ignorance that exists between races. √1mk
The man allows the child to examine him / the mother drags the girl away before she fully satisfies her curiosity. √1mk (any 3×1 = 3mks)
Illustration:
“No fur no scales no feathers” √1mk
He is friendly / understanding. √1mk
Illustration:
“I turned with hello” √1mk
“Hello I smiled again and watched” √1mk
He does not condemn her√1mk / He accepts girl’s reaction as innocent curiosity.
Illustration
“Just a life silhouette” / “As I watched them birds were singing” √1mk
(Award 2 marks for the reaction of the white and 2 marks for how the persona felt) (4mks)
Shocked – The mother is horrified but the girl’s eyes get wider but not her lips.
The girl is genuine / sincere / innocent while the mother is prejudiced / discriminative / contemptuous / hostile.
Illustration:
The girl, “is his tummy black?”
The mother is horrified “grasped her hand and swung towards the crowd.”
(3 marks comparison and 3 marks contrast)
Shows enormous contrast in size between the persona and the girl.
“She stood as lovely as light.”
Shows how much the persona was impressed by her sincere innocent curiosity.
Metaphor√1mk – Just as a silhouette, wild and strange and compulsive.
To the persona, the child was completely incapable of becoming reconciled to the fact that this was a human being. Metaphor portrays mental conflict. √1mk
Hyperbole√1mk – “No fur, no scales no feathers ..”
Deliberate exaggeration to show the immensity of the child’s dilemma, she’s never seen such an animal or a bird. √1mk (Any 1 identified trait and illustration = 2 x 2 = 4mks)
Life must go on despite the racial differences / racial prejudices. √1mk
Nature is not a man. √1mk
Nature stays in harmony while man, with ability to reason, behaves senselessly. √1mk
18.The Twist
iii) Sense of hearing- “jukebox hiss”
– social interaction- persona meets a girl and befriends her.
– people interacting in the twist dance.
– Twist dance/ dance – there is a twist dance on in the shanty town. (Any 1 theme- id 1mk, illustration 1 mk)
– the persona is attracted by the appearance and dancing prowess of the girls.
(Any 1, id 1mk, illustration 1mk)
Town thunder hiss wrist
Repetition- …like this, twist
Onomatopoeia – hiss, thunder.
Alliteration – black…brown
Assonance- hunger…thunder
(Any three, id 1 mk, illustration 1 mk)
– Managed to dance with her √1
19.DEATH OF MY FATHER
(2mks for the explanation and 1mk for the illustration) (3 marks).
Squatted in a sickly mud house (1mk)- it emphasizes the abject poverty in which the persona’s family lived under(1mk). The student must identify the alliteration to score (2marks)
Metaphor. ‘Sand-paper hands.’ It is a sign of the tough life the persona’s father has gone through. /The struggles he has gone through.
Repetition. ‘I did not mourn for him.’ It emphasizes the persona’s optimism.
Sarcasm. ‘His sweat was his ointment and perfume.’ Shows the hard manual work the late father did.
Contrast. ‘He built colonial mansions but squatted in a sickly mud house.’ ’ It shows the poverty in which the persona’s father lived.
(Accept any other relevant style; Identification+ illustration 1mk, comment 1mk) (4marks)
iii) He will fulfill his father’s plans or wishes or ambitions.
Disdainful, the persona is extremely contemptuous of the kind of life the father lived. ‘with his children huddled….
20.The Gourd of Friendship.
(identification effect √ ½ √ ½) 3mks
The title is appropriate since the persona tries to wonder in the poem what has affected friendships and how they can be contained as content is contained in a gourd √1
21.Theme for English B
Differences- they are from different races (black and white)
Note: there should be clear indication of similarities and differences
There is mutual respect / tolerance because they are really part of each other.
(no mark if question mark is missing)
Neither you nor 1 want to be part of each other.
(no mark if the two pronouns i.e. you and I are interchanged)
22.THE WAR LORD
(ii) Through the warlord is overjoyed by all the “success” the people concurred are unhappy their voices are sharper and sharper.
Metaphor – ‘A maggot riddled remnant of a once serene world.’
Effects of war
The citizens groan under the atrocities committed by the warlord and his/her army – The plunder, rape, castration, torture, killing etc have devastating effects on the citizens.
23.A TAX DRIVER ON DEATH BED. (By Timothy Wangusa)
and he accepts it. (2 mks)
(irony must be brought out clearly)
It enhance rhythm / musically making the poem memorable and interesting. (1 mk)
Metaphor – Metallic monster – to refer to the taxi as a monster to show that the taxi will lead to his death just as a monster eats its prey.
Attempt the forbidden limits. (1 mk)
24.Your Cigarette Burnt the Savannah Grass.
(i) The persona appeals for three things.
Sight – “colour melts at your stare”
Touch – touch in heart
Hearing – “listen to the boiling pot” (3 mks)
(ii) The subject matter of the poem.
– The persona making an invitation to his foe / adversary.
– Accuses him for being the cause of discomfort he’s experiencing.
– Persona is offended by the adversary and suffering – in pain. (e.g colour melts your taste) (3 mks)
(iii) Aspects of style.
(a) Rhetorical question – “What do you hear”?
– Provocable to readers’ / audience feeling.
(b) Personification – ‘touch its heart’ – the boiling pot is personified to have a heart.
(c) Imagery – metaphor ‘boiling pot’ (6 mks)
(iv) (a) The persona calls / invites his adversary to come and experience the trouble / discomfort that he has caused.
(b) It implies an incitement that has resulted to betrayal of his disappearing conscience. (4 mks)
(v) Desperate/ hopelessness / disillusion (mood) – “The earth at the touch of your fingers cracked”
the scorpion bit me and I cried.” (2 mks)
(vi) Attitude
– Dislike / disdainful / unforgiving.
– The persona feels betrayed his adversary.
25.THE VILLAGE WELL
(i) The persona is a male lover – he says, ‘By this well —- I first noticed her’
(ii) The significant of the well to the persona.
(iii) Imagery – Personification
(iv) (a) Dreaded haunt of the long haired Musambwa – means the persona is being haunted by the fond memories of his lover (Musambwa) who is now dead.
(v) The mood in the first six stanzas is nostalgic because of the fond memories of the good times he had with his loved one. However, in the last two stanzas, the mood is sad because his beloved is dead and what remains are sad memories.
(vi) The persona’s attitude towards death is disgusting – of damp death, the rotting foliage reeks.
26.Old and New
(a) The poem is about a woman that had been married but now divorced 1
She meets a man who had been her husband 1and enquires how the man is fairing with his new
wife 1 in response her former husband concludes that there’s not much to admire in the new wife
as there was in the old 1 (any 3×1= 3marks)
(b) With illustrations identify one similarity and difference in the two wives. (4 marks)
of silk embroidery but the old one would do more than five feet 1
(Accept any plausible differences)
(c) (i) Repetition 1 eg. Husband, she, my new wife etc 1 creates rhythm/memorability /
musicality 1 (any of the three effects 1 mk)
(ii) Alliteration 1 went ……. Wild herbs 1
mountain …… met
cannot …… could
Creates rhythm/memorability/musically
(iii) Assonance 1 will …….wilty 1
(iv) Consonance 1 down …….. mountain
Creates rhythm/memorability/musically 1 (Identification and illustration to score)
(d) His present wife maybe more educated/learned but he doesn’t find her pleasant or attractive in her talk/she doesn’t interest him with her discussion 2
(e) – Divorce and remarriage are allowed
……Her former husband
……My new wife 1
– Women kneel down before men as a sign of respect …..’She knelt down…..1
– Women’s duties involve collecting herbs, sewing and embroidery 1
(f) Ironical 1 ….. the new will not compare with the old. 1
27.THAT OTHER LIFE
(Any three = 1 mk each)
iii) The persona hoped for a life of prosperity. (1mk) loaning money / farms / cows. (3 mks)
The repetition emphasizes the persona’s feelings of regret.
Simile – ‘We praised…like little children in love’ – brings out the sense of deep love they had for each (1mk)
-Stanza 2: describes the incidence which course guilt√
-Stanza 3: shows her grandmother in retirement√
-Stanza 3: after her grandmother has died, the poet reflect on her grandmother’s life and her own memories√
-Simile- like antique objects√, to show persona’s objection to the way he was treated by the grandmother√
-Metaphor-The smells of absences √; the place smelt old√
Of that refusal, guessing how she felt’’√
Personification – buried marvel rumbles.
(ii) The wildlife’s habitat is destroyed by the new development. (2mks)
Neo-colonialism – these are new masters who have the locals as subjects. (any one theme 2mks)
a)
The poem is about a bird that is caged .It is confined and denied freedom .It cannot enjoy the ordinary pleasure of nature – the sunshine ,the breeze and the perfume from flowers .
The bird struggles to liberate itself but hurts itself in the process (any 3 points x1)3mrks
1st stanza –alienation –the bird is alienated from all that is natural and desirable, feelings of nostalgia for days when he /she enjoyed freedom .
2rd stanza –freedom describes attempts by the bird to escape .The struggle is painful, efforts to escape are met with brutality.
3rd stanza –Prayer – focuses on prayer .Other means have not yielded results. The bird appeals for intervention from other sources perhaps a superior force will liberate it . (6mrks )(2 per stanza ) (3×2)
c)
Sympathetic – Sympathies with the caged bird
Alas expresses pity, graphic description of the birds feeling elicits pity from the reader
Empathetic – He keeps saying “I know what caged birds put himself /herself in the shoes of the bird
Hopeful –One day the caged bird will experience freedom (any 2×2)=4mrks
(Identifications without illustration no mark )
He himself /herself had suffered at the hand of the cruel oppressors ‘denied freedom, tortured .He may have also suffered physical &psychological injury .He condemns those who conspire to subject others to a life of slavery and misery e.g. Detention ,Imprisonment and confinement (3mrks)
e)
“The river flows like a stream of glasses” Shows what the bird yearns for but cant have . River represents a life of freedom, stands for natural beauty that the caged bird is denied.
f
Other birds out there enjoy the perfume (1mrks)
prayer for the freedom (1mrk)
(any other relevant –award)
(a) The poem is about an encounter between two neighbours during famine. One of them has food that he stubbornly refuses to share with his hungry ‘brother’.
(b) The neighbour hopes that by being persistent, the owner of the yam will relent and give him
some. Although the owner denies everything, the neighbour shows him he knows that he (the owner) is refusing to own up the truth when it is so obvious. The neighbour also hopes to prick his “friend’s” conscience. He hopes that guilt will force the owner of the yam to share the yam.
(c) The owner of the yam is:-
(i) Mean / selfish – inspite of the efforts the neighbour makes, he refuses to share his food.
(ii) Innovative /schemer / creative – He formulates quick answers to counteract what his neighbour says.
(d) The ideophones words are “kerekere” and “bi”.
(e) The neighbour is very observant because he notices things like fire and associate it with the meal the owner wants to prepare. He also notices the owner’s “skin” is “all white” of course the whiteness is from the yam peelings. The owner of the yam refutes everything. But the owner is not fooled.
(f) Bitter, dismissive – There cannot be peace …
(g) The statement “Peace be with you” is ironic because the neighbour is probably being sarcastic. He cannot be wishing somebody who has denied him food peace. He has made the owner of the yam guilty. A person with a guilty conscience is unlikely to have peace.
(h) We learn that we should share what we have with the needy. When we don’t, we cannot have peace with ourselves or others.
32.Building the nation
“I drove a permanent secretary.”
No mark for identification alone
Effectiveness – Enhances rhythm
coffee to keep the Ps ………………
Effectiveness – musically/ rhythm
iii) Repetition – building the nation
Effectiveness – Enhances rhythm / musicallity
Any other relevant answer
NB: Identify, illustrate and give effectiveness in order to score (3 mks)
Irregular one cannot predict the next pattern
To praise the warriors as they go to war the uniformed machines
Used to intimidate the enemy-repetition of blood
Direct address- singers of the datsunblue, forward we drive breaking records
Direct translation- let the bullets find their targets
victory- forward we drive breaking records
Economic activity: blacksmithing-the mention of iron
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