Easter Term Six Weekly

LANGUAGE

The exam consists of 40 questions, both multiple choice and short answer.
Students will be tested on:
- comprehension (main idea, setting, characterization etc.)
- types of imageries
- literary devices
- mood and tone
- adverbs
- adjectives
- synonyms


LITERATURE

This paper will be divided into 3 sections

Section A - matching the elements of poetry with their definitions (the project should help with this)

Section B - fill in the blanks (stanzas)

Section C - multiple choice questions on "My Parents", "Ana" and an unseen poem
                - identify a literary device and comment on its effectiveness.

*students should know the content of each poem, the various examples of literary devices in each and they should be able to identify examples of various literary devices and be able to comment on their effectiveness.

"Ana" by Mark McWatt

“Ana” is about two conflicting images of Ana: how her father (the speaker and a poet) expects and hopes she will behave and how she actually does. In the first stanza, the speaker is a proud father of a baby girl and imagines her playing peacefully in a garden. The second stanza (one line) describes the scene as a “calm and quiet” one. It establishes the contrast between the first stanza and the third in which a rambunctious girl creates a chaotic world for the speaker. In the third stanza, the speaker confesses he has given up his ‘dream’ which was described in the first stanza. The finally stanza mirrors the calm and quiet world of the first stanza, as the speaker describes how peaceful she is when she is asleep.

Themes: Hardship, poverty, determination, ambition, class.

Structure: Free verse poem with five stanzas

Tone: 1^st, 2^nd and 5^th stanzas: proud, happy and peaceful. 3^rd stanza: angry, aggressive and pitiful (and like a fool/Daddy does it again). 4^th stanza: resignation

Mood: happy, peaceful, and chaotic

Literary Devices:

1. Metaphor

Line 9: “world of green” – youth

3^rd – 5^th stanzas (in particular lines 22, 48, 49) monkey and wild animal - Ana

2. Simile

Line 42, 43 – “And yet when she is curled in sleep,/ like a comma”

3. Alliteration

Line 6, 18, 25

4. Imagery: (throughout) 23-26, 34-35, 46-49
5. Bracketed Asides: lines 20, 22

Asides are conventionally used in drama when the actor speaks in an undertone or to the audience without the actors on the stage hearing. It is used similarly in poetry. The speaker may be communicating something to the reader that the other personas in the poem will not hear. In addition, it carries a certain undertone, usually sarcasm. 

Comprehension questions:

1. What is the speaker’s occupation?
2. How did he imagine his daughter would behave?
3. How does she actually behave?
4. Identify the nouns, verbs and adjectives that show her behaviour.
5. What metaphor is used to emphasize her behaviour?
6. What is the speaker’s attitude towards his daughter? Give evidence from the poem.
7. Do you think she is aware of how he views her?
8. Does the speaker think she will ever behave the way he wants her to? Give evidence from the poem to support your answer.
9. When does the speaker find that his daughter matches his expectations of her?

“My Parents”

“My Parents” is about a son who is forbidden from playing with other children by his parents. Although he desperately wants to be their friends, his parents’ directives and the vast differences in their personalities and conduct make it difficult.

Themes: Youth, rejection, bullying, class.

Structure: The poem is written in three quatrains.

Tone: Disappointed, fearful

Mood: Sympathetic, fearful

Literary Devices:

1. Simile

Line 2 – “who three words like stones”

Line 5 – “their muscles like iron”

Line 9/10 – “they sprang…/Like dogs to bark at my world”

2. Metaphor

Line 7 – “the salt coarse pointing”

3. Alliteration

Line 4: “climbed cliffs and stripped by the country streams.”

4. Repetition

Lines 5, 7: “I feared…”

5. Imagery

Line 5: “muscles like iron” (Tactile)

Line 7: “salt coarse pointing” (Tactile, Gustatory)

Similes are the major literary device used. They are primarily used to describe the physical appearance and actions of the “rough” children.

Comprehension questions:

1. How are the boys described in stanza one?
2. Give details of their physical appearance as well as their behaviour.
3. Select the verbs and adjectives which describe the energy of the boys.
4. What fears does the speaker tell about in stanza two?
5. Why do you think the words “tigers” and “dogs” are used to describe aspects of the boys’ behavior? (Diction)
6. How is the speaker different from the boys?
7. The poem does not give us much information about the speaker’s world at home. What could you infer about the speaker’s parents, home and lifestyle?
8. Which line expresses the speaker’s attitude to the boys? (Tone)

Literary Devices

Steps for Discussing the Significance and Effectiveness of a Device:

1. Identify the device.
2. Explain the device. If it is a metaphor or simile, what is being compared?
3. Does it make sense?
4. How does it contribute to the meaning of the poem? Or the tone? Or the mood? Or the rhythm or rhyme?

Example:

“Jealousy is a monster

Creeping up from behind.”

Response:

One device used in those lines is metaphor. The feeling of jealousy is compared to a monster. It is a good comparison because jealousy is a negative feeling and a monster is also something evil. It is also effective because the use of ‘monster’ (diction) suggests that the speaker has a negative attitude (tone) towards jealousy and this causes the reader to want to avoid it also.