Study Work Guide: Vistas of Poems Grade 11 First Additional Language

By Lynne Southey

How well do you know the poems in your prescribed poetry anthology? Do you understand the contents and structure of each poem? Are you ready to write your exams? This study work guide has been compiled to help learners grasp each poem in Vistas of Poems, the prescribed poetry anthology for Grade 11 First Additional Language. The guide has been compiled to the requirements of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) and all important aspects relating to each poem have been covered – in accessible language.
Remember! This guide cannot be used on its own as it refers to the poems in the prescribed text throughout.
The content of this study work guide
• In-depth discussion and application of the structure of each poem and poetry in general.
• Explanations and analysis notes.
• Notes on the content and context of each poem and contextual questions (with space for learners’ answers).
• Complete word explanations within the analysis of each poem.
• Thorough analysis according to the title, stanzas and verses.
• Formal assessment.
• Removable answers to the contextual questions

• Language: English
• Publisher: Best Books
• Release date: Dec 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781776070183

Lynne Southey

Lynne Southey has been involved in publishing material for the educational sector since 1988 and has developed material for several publishers, both for prescription by the DBE for Grades 4-12, English as Home Language and as First Additional Language, and for the trade, including study guides for literature and language.

Book preview

Best Books Study Work Guide:

Vistas of Poems

for

Grade 11 First Additional Language

Compiled by Lynne Southey

full col-BB NBafr

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The page references in this version refer to the pages in the printed book. In instances where learners are asked to ‘answer the questions below’ the questions may appear on the next page depending on the device being used. References to the back cover of the book refer to the About the book section in this version.

Foreword to learners

This study work guide is intended to supplement the poetry anthology, Vistas of Poems for Grade 11 First Additional Language. It does not replace it, as the poems themselves do not appear here. We assume that you have read the notes in the anthology and answered the contextual questions there. It is necessary for you to do this, as the notes we give in this book are additional to those in the anthology and will take your understanding further. You will not study all the poems, but we have included all of them in this guide so that there is a choice.

The poems are referred to here in the same order that you will find them in the anthology, Vistas of Poems for Grade 11 First Additional Language, and under the same headings.

This is a workbook. We have left spaces for you to write your answers to our questions in this book itself. All answers appear at the back of this study work guide.

Poetry is not like Mathematics: there are no final and correct (definite) interpretations of a poem. Each reader brings his or her own experience and knowledge to the interpretation. Your answers may differ from those given. However, you do need to be able to justify your ideas by referring to the poem itself.

You can work alone, with a friend or in a group, or use this study work guide in the classroom itself. There is also an assessment section with exam-type questions to prepare you for your examinations.

We hope this guide adds to you knowledge and enjoyment of the poems.

The author and publisher

Introduction to English poetry

This section assumes that you have read the Introduction in your poetry anthology. Two sections are referred to here and discussed in more detail.

Interpreting and finding meaning in a poem means being actively involved in it

This is the what of a poem: what does it say or mean? You may not understand the poem on a first reading, but there will be words, phrases or ideas that you do understand. These give you something to think about. They create expectations that you may have to change on a closer reading. This means you have to be actively involved in creating the meaning. Thinking about why you think or feel what you do means you look for confirmation or for a different idea. Certain thought processes take place.

A second reading may give you a more complete idea of what the poem is about.

•Does the poem have a central image or idea?

•What is the poem about? What is the link between the title and the central image or idea?

•Who is the persona/speaker in the poem?

•Is the persona describing something or someone? Why? How? For what purpose, e.g. to praise, make fun of, criticise or protest against something or someone? It may describe a scene: nature or the destruction of something. It may be personal, describing an emotion.

•Is the persona telling a story or an anecdote? If so, is it a sad story, a funny story, about a dramatic or tragic event? Is it about a famous historical or heroic character or is it describing an ordinary person in a very personal story? Is the story about a single person or about a group of people? Ask yourself what the poet’s purpose was in writing the poem. Was he or she trying to capture a feeling, a scene, an event?

•What is the atmosphere of the poem? How is this linked to the central image or idea of the poem? How does this make you feel?

•What is the connection between the poem and real life? There may be none for you today, but what about when the poem was written?

•What effect does the poem have on you now that you have thought about it? Do you understand something better? How does it relate to your own life? Does the poem have any very personal meaning for you? To what extent do you agree with its theme? Why?

Thinking through these questions will mean that you are actively involved in reading the poem. They may not all be applicable to the poem you are dealing with, of course. You can see with these questions why bringing your own experience to the poem means that your answers may be different from those of others.

Discussing the poem and the poet’s technique

A poet is an artist using words and language to create a literary text. A poet uses his or her talents, and applies various poetic techniques to create a particular poem. You need to be familiar with the poetic techniques and look at how the poet uses them and why. Poetic techniques include all the figures of speech (see pp. 164–175 in your Vistas of Poems), and the poet’s choice of words and imagery (how the poet creates mind pictures, using words).

Asking the following questions may help you when you are considering and discussing the poetic techniques.

•A word or phrase: What is its literal meaning? (A glossary is provided on p. 189 in the anthology.) Does it also have another, perhaps figurative, meaning? What do I associate with the word/phrase?

•Which words or phrases express or describe feelings? What feelings? How are they described?

•How is the word order arranged? What effect does this achieve?

•An image or metaphor: What does it look like in real life? What does it sound, feel or taste like? What does it remind me of? What do I associate it with?

•The punctuation: Where does a thought/statement begin and end? How do I know?

•The flow of thought/description: Is it interlinked and/or contrasted and/or developed and/or expressed?

These questions help you to see how the poet has created a poem.

POEMS FROM THE CANON OF ENGLISH POETRY

NARRATIVE POETRY

The ballad

Out Back by Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson

(See pp. 7–10 in Vistas of Poems)

Discussion

The poem is a ballad that tells the story of a migrant worker who looked for work on the sheep farms in the interior of Australia during shearing season. The life was hard and during a drought, when there were no sheep to shear, he dies from hunger and thirst. It tells a story in a straightforward way, using the usual features of a ballad: a single event (the death of a swagman) about the life of a certain community (swagmen in the Australian Outback), with a dramatic element (the death), told through rhyme and rhythm. In addition to the repeated refrain, each stanza ends with the same two words (Out Back). The imagery is simple: there are similes (which compare one thing to another using like and as) and a metaphor (which describes one thing as being another). Alliteration (the repetition of initial sounds in words close together) and an appeal to the senses (mainly sight) are used extensively.

The poem does not have any complicated meaning or ambiguities (double layers of meaning). It begins with the need for the shearer to return to his way of earning a living, describes what happens to him, hints at why he is leading this life, and then ends with his death from heat and thirst and a passing drover coming across his bones. The drover seems to have seen such things before. It is not unusual Out Back.

The refrain, given twice, places this life in context, indicating that there are many men who lead such lives and who all suffer in the same way. There is an element of heroism, admiration and pity for such men.

The poem was written in 1893. The poet reveals the harshness of the country and the difficult lives of some of its people.

Analysis

Contextual questions

1.Name the weather conditions given at the beginning of the poem (stanza 1). (2)

2.What is meant by the publican’s looks were black? (2)

3.Why is the second stanza typed in italic (slanted) font? (2)

4.What emotion is the poet arousing in his reader in the third stanza? Explain how you know. (4)

5.Identify and explain the simile in stanza 4. (4)

6.In stanza 5 we assume something about a wife. What do we understand has happened? (4)

7.Quote a phrase from stanza 6 that reinforces the idea that the swagman had done something wrong. Explain your answer. (3)

8.How do we know from stanza 7 that time has passed? Refer to the poem in your answer. (3)

9.Stanza 8 is the climax of the ballad.

a.What is the tank? (2)

b.Why did the swagman leave the track? (2)

c.List the words in the stanza that suggest that this was in the middle of a drought. (4)

d.The poet does not directly state that the swagman dies. How does he let us know in this stanza that this is what happened? (4)

10.Stanza 9 is the conclusion of the ballad.

a.In what way is this the end of the story? (2)

b.How do we know that time has passed? (2)

c.What is the contrast between the time the swagman dies and the time his bones are found? (2)

d.Explain in your own words how the poet makes the find and what it means seem unimportant. (3)

e.In your view, does this conclusion add pathos (a quality which evokes pity or sadness)