​Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
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

a) What is the poem about? (4 marks)
b) Identify and illustrate two features of style used in the poem. (4 marks)
c) What does the fifth stanza suggest about the work done by “he”? (2 marks)
d) What basic requirements does the “he” in the poem lack? (3 marks)
e) Why do you think the “he” dies “gratefully”? (1 mark)
f) Describe two themes brought  out in the poem. (4 marks)
g) Explain the meaning of “Old age comes early” (1 marks)
h) Supply a word that means the same as hunger as used in the poem. (1 mark

Read the poem below and answer questions that follow.
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)

(a) Briefly explain what the poem is about. (3mks)
(b) Explain what the reaction of the white child makes the persona feel. (4mks)
(c) Compare and contrast the reactions of the mother and daughter to the black man. (6mks)
(d) Identify and explain any two figures of speech used in this poem. (4mks)
(e) Explain the significance of the last line of the poem. (3mks)

​Read the poem below and then answer the question that follows.   
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 tipsy explosions.
​
Susan Nalugwa Kiguli
Adopted By from: Echoes across the valley. 

​a) Identify and explain the social evils dealt with in the poem.  (6 marks)
b) Pick out three poetic devices evident in this poem and comment on their significance. (6 marks)
c) Comment on the tone of the poem.  (2 marks)
d) Is the title significant? Why or why not?  (2 marks)
e) Explain the irony of the poem?  (2 marks)
f) Explain the meaning of the following words:  (2 marks)
     i) Crawled
     ii) Ushered 

​Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
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)

​a) Who is the persona in the poem? (2 marks)
b) Explain what the poem is about. (3 marks)
c) What is achieved by repetition of “We have seen them”? (2 marks)
d) Identify and explain two thematic concerns of the poet. (4 marks)
e) Why are the “new Africans” said to have anxious faces? (2 marks)
f) Explain the meaning of the expression;
    figures hardly human
    desperately dying to live. (2 marks)
g) How does the persona portray the rich? (2 marks)
h) Describe the tone in the poem. (3 marks)

​Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
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)

• i) My Jumbo
  Shot its way
  Across the sky
• ii) That beautifully strangled my neck.
• iii) To keep them till next rains.

Crack the glass
And the crack
Will always remain
The human heart
Has the same vein
Its just as delicate
To the strain

Once it is hurt
It is too hard
To fade the strain
Although parts can
Fix together
You’ve just to touch the wound
To make it drain again

• a) What is the subject matter of the poem? (2 marks)
• b) How would you recite the lines 4 and 5 of stanza 2 (2 marks)
• c) Identify and illustrate any two aspects of style employed in this poem. (4 marks)
• d) What does the persona mean by the last two lines of the poem? (2 marks)

​I had a dream last night, I dreamed
I had to pick a mother out.
I had to choose a father too.
At first, I wondered what to do,
There were so many there, it seemed,
Short and tall and thin and stout
But just before I sprang awake,
I know what parents I would take.
And this surprised and made me glad;
They were the ones I always had!

• i) Describe the rhyme scheme of the above poem. (2 marks)
• ii) Identify any three pairs of rhyming words in this poem. (3 marks)
• iii) Identify one in each of the following sound devices. (3 marks)
  Repetition -
  Alliteration -
  Assonance -

Read the following poem carefully and answer all the questions that follow.
Crows on the wing!
What grace as they swim
Rising and driving 
Like fish in the billows

In the willowy air
Or softly as feathers
Franboken pillows

Crows on the wing
What a symphony sings
The wind in their wings
As they swoop as the rise
To the sea to the skies
As they float in the light 
(Barnabas J. Ramon Fortune)

• a. Describe the rhyme scheme of the poem (2mks)
• b. Apart from rhyme, identify two sound patterns evident in the poem. (2mk)
• c. Which word would you stress in the first two lines of the poem and why? (2mks)

a)  

• i) a b a c d cc a ee f f g – Irregular hence unpredictable
• ii) Alliteration – symphony and sings sea and skies (mark for simbilance also)
• iii) Crows, wing grace, swim – 1mk
  Because they are content words

Read the poem below and answer the questions that follows: (20 mks)
Love is madness.
Hard brutal madness
Love is fire 
Flat blazing 
Love is a chameleon
A camouflaged dangerous chamwleon
Hot fiery love,
I beg you……….

​Put out your brazing flame,
Because I desire to fell for you
Hard remorseful love
Please change your stance
Before  the fire of my youth
Is quenched
(from the African saga by Susan N. Kiguli)

• (a) Identify in your own words what the poem says about love. (4mks)
• (b) Identify and explain in images used to describe love. (6mks)
• (c) What effect does the persona create by addressing (apostrophizing)love directly in the last stanza (4mks)
• (d) Explain the irony of the last two lines (3mks)
  Before the fire of my mouth.
  Is quenched.
• (e)explain the meaning of in the following (3mks)
  • (i) Brutal
  • (ii) Camouflaged
  • (iii) Remorseless)

a) 

• The poem addresses the issue of love being an overwhelming consuming feeling that totally controls individuals. It is also an indescribable feeling exhibited in different ways. It is described as
  •  -  love is fire, hot brazing fire
  •  -  love is a chameleon
  •  -  hard remorseless.

b)

• Metaphor – love is compared to fire.
• It is also compared to a chameleon.
• Personification – the persona says ……………..” I beg of you…..
• Apostrophe – He address love directly………..” I desire to feel you…..”

c)

• By addressing love directly, the persona is showing the apparent desperation on the part of the persona. The persona is imploring love to enable him to experience the true feeling of being in love.

d)

• It is ironical that the persona desires to feel love yet he begs love to put out its blazing flame.

e)

• i)Cruel or violent
• ii)Disguised or hidden
• iii)Cruel/uncaring or callous.

​Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow.
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

• ​a) What is the poem about? (4 marks)
• b) Identify and illustrate any two character traits of the speaker. (4 marks)
• c) Identify and illustrate three poetic devices used in the poem. (6 marks)
• d) What is the meaning of the following lines as used in the poem. (2 marks)
  • i) While I shot hot life into his wife.
  • ii) That I live long to go and pray again.
• e)
  
  • ​ i) What is the tone of the poem (2 marks)
  • ii) Explain the overriding mood of the poem. (2 marks)

​Read the following poem and respond to the questions appropriately.
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)

• ​1. With support from the poem, briefly explain what the poem is about. (3 marks)
• 2. Identify three challenges that the speaker in the poem contends with. (3 marks)
• 3. What is the attitude of the speaker towards these challenges? (2 marks)
• 4. Identify and illustrate figures of speech from the poem above. Comment on their effectiveness. (4 marks)
• 5. Other than the style in (4) above, identify and illustrate other two stylistic devices employed by the poet. (4 marks)
• 6. Explain the meaning of the following phrases as they are used in poem. (3 marks)
  • a) ‘Cause I laugh I’ve got gold mines’
  • b) ‘But still, like dust, I’ll rise’.
  • c) I am Black Ocean, leaping and wide.
• 7. Supply the following sentence with the correct question tag. (1 mark)
  I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

​Read the following poem and respond to the questions appropriately. 
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

a) Who is the persona in the poem? (2 marks) 

​Read the poem below and then answer the question that follow.
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. 

• 1. Who is the persona 2mks
• 2. What is the message of the poem? 3mks
• 3. Identify any three stylistic devices used in the poem. 6mks
• 4. What is the tone of the poem? 3mks
• 5. From the above poem, explain the meaning of the following lines?
  • 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
• 6. But my gaze is full of your blood. 1mk
  (Add an appropriate question tag)
• 7. What is the meaning of the following words? 3mks
  • i) Solemnly
  • ii) Sturdy 
  • iii) Toil

​Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.
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')

• a)  What is the poem about?   (3 mks)
• b) Who is the persona in the poem?   (2mks)                         
• c) Identify and illustrate any two features of style  used in the poem?   (4mks)
• d) What is the tone of the persona in the poem?   (2mks)
• e) What in the poem shows that death is indiscriminate in its manifestations?  (2mks)
• f) Describe the political setting of the community from which the poem originates.  (2mks)
• g) What is the mood of the poem?   (2mks)
• h) Explain what the expressions below mean :   (3mks)
  • i) The earth does not get fat .
  • ii) Those who wear the head plumes
  • iii) Earth the sun is setting tightly 

​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!

• (a) Place this song in its appropriate genre. (2 Marks)
• (b) State and illustrate two functions of this song.    (4 Marks)
• (c) What evidence is there to show that this is an Oral Poem?  (4 Marks)
• (d) Explain briefly what the poem is about.  (2 Marks)
• (e) Give any two character traits of the singer.  (4 Marks)
• (f) Identify and illustrate two economic activities practiced by the society in the song.    (4 Marks)