​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

• a) Classify the above oral poem giving reasons. (2 marks)  
• b) What is the singer’s attitude towards death?  (2 marks) 
• c) What two things are lost when this song is written down? Use suitable illustrations from the song to support your answer. (4 marks)
• d) Identify one character trait of death brought out in this poem. (2 marks) 
• e) With illustrations, identify social-economic activities of the community from which this song is drawn. (4 marks)

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

• ​i) Identify the persona in the poem above. (2 marks) 
• ii) What evidence from the poem suggest that the subject is poor? (4 marks) 
• iii) Comment on the writer's use of imagery in stanza two. (3 marks)
• iv) Apart from the imagery indentified in (iii) above, discuss any two other stylistic devices employed in the poem. (4 marks)
• v) What is the persona's attitude towards the M.P. (2 marks)
• vi) Discuss one theme brought out in the poem. (2 marks)
• vii) Explain the meaning of the following words and expression as used in the poem. (3 marks)
  • a) Emaciated .
  • b) Crouching.
  • c) Gullied like the soles of modern shoes.

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

• ​a) Briefly explain how the poem is about. (4 marks)
• b) Is the speaker male or female? How do you know? (2 marks)
• c) What does the speaker wish the mother had left behind? Why can’t the wish be fulfilled? (3 marks)
• d) Describe the character trait of the mother in the poem. (2 marks)
• e) Identify and illustrate the imagery used in the poem. (4 marks)
• f) What is the speaker’s attitude towards the mother and the golden brooch in the poem. (3 marks)
• g) Rewrite the following in your own words: (2 marks)
  • “Has no more need of, and I have”

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

• ​a) Who is the persona in the poem? (1 mark)
• b) Briefly explain what the poem is about. (2 marks)
• c) Identify and illustrate  three aspects of style in the poem. (6 marks)
• d) Give evidence from the poem which indicates the inmates are suffering. (3 marks)
• e) Why is the fresh inmate in prison?  (2 marks)
• f) Identify and explain the mood of the new convict. (2 marks)
• g) Explain the meaning of the following lines as used in the poem.
  • i) That gave birth to his confinement (1 mark)
  • ii) The room is self contained (1 mark)
• h) What does the steel lock in the door and the insurmountable walls suggest? (2 marks)

Read the poem and answer the questions that follow: (8 marks)

​Who will believe my verse in time to come,
If it were filled with your most high whoosh deserts?
Though yet heaven knows, it is but as tomb
Which hides your life and shows not half your parts
If I could write the beauty of your eyes
And in fresh number all your graces,
The age to come would say ‘This poet lies’
Such heavenly touches never touched earth’s faces,
So should my papers, yellowed with their age,
Be scorned, like lazy less travelled old men of less truth than tongue

• i) Identify the rhyme scheme of the poem?  (2 marks)
• ii) Apart from rhyme, how else has rhythm been achieved? (2 marks)
• iii) Identify four words with silent letters and underline the letters.  (2 marks)
• iv) Which words would you stress in the first line and why?  (2 marks)

• ​i) Identify the rhyme scheme of the poem? (2mks)
  • ababcdcdef√1 - regular√1
•  ii) Apart from rhyme, how else has rhythm been achieved? (2mks)
  • Alliteration - like lazy less (the sound l has to be underlined)
  • Onomatopoeia – whoosh
  • Assonance – it is    (the sound l has to be underlined)
• iii) Identify four words with silent letters and underline the letters (2mks)
  • Tomb, knows, half, write
• iv) Which words would you stress in the first line and why? (2mks)
  • Believe, verse, time, come – content words  (must identify all of them to score full marks) 

Read the poem provided below and answer the questions that follow: (20mks)

​Drinks and drugs drained our dreams,
Drinks and drugs drowned our dreams;
They drew dusks and dark nights,
Drinks and drugs spawned our nightmares;
We wailed and screamed in seas of terror
In sweat-drenched bodies, bobbed we out,
Like drugged fish out of muddy streams;
Gasping for breath-hearts pumping and panting.
Inaudibly mumbled incoherent words
Pulled back stubborn sleep to no avail,
She fled like a refugee fleeing a civil war.
Our bedmates asked: we answered not!
~ Boniface Wasira

• i) Who is the persona in the poem? (2 marks)
• ii) What is the poem talking about? (3 marks)
• iii) Comment on the use of any three aspects of style in the poem. (6 marks)
• iv) What the persona’s attitude towards drinks and drugs as brought out in the poem? (3 marks)
• v) In your own opinion, do you think the persona has regrets regarding drug use? Support your answer. (3 marks)
• vi) Explain the meaning of the following phrases as used in the poem. (3 marks)
  • a) …bobbed we out
  • b) Drinks and drugs spawned our nightmares
  • c) Pulled back the stubborn sleep to no avail. 

​Read the Oral Poem below then answer the questions that follow.

Blood iron and trumpets
Blood iron and trumpets
Forward we march
(Clothes fall on the way)
Blood iron and trumpets
We shall hack, kill and core
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 earth be softened
Blood iron and trumpets
Let the dogs of war rejoice
And the Carion birds feed
We are reducing population explosion
Blood iron and trumpets
The uniformed machines are around
Put on your helmet iron and vest
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

1. Classify the oral piece above. (2 marks)
2. Give three functions of the oral piece above. (3 marks)
3. Identify two features of oral poetry evident in the oral item above. (4 marks)
4. Explain the two issues this oral poem is talking about. (2 marks)
5. Cite one social and one economic activity of the community from which this oral poem is taken. (4 marks)
6. Who would be the most suitable audience for the oral poem? Give reasons for your answer. (2 marks)
7. Why are the soldiers likened to machines. (1 mark)
8. Describe the mood of the poem. (2 marks)

• ​1. Classify the oral piece above. (2 marks)
  • War song.”‘let bullets find their targets”/ “forward we march”/  “others fall on the way” 
• 2.Give three functions of the oral piece above. (3 marks)
  • To instill courage and bravery.  To express solidarity/togetherness.  To express the exploits of the warriors.  To express the pride of the warriors. 
• 3.Identify two features of oral poetry evident in the oral item above. (4 marks)
  • -Repetition ” Blood iron and trumpets “. -Metaphor ”dogs of war” ”,uniformed machines”
  • -Hyperbole Uniformed machines. 
• 4.Explain the two issues this oral poem is talking about. (2 marks)
  • -Determination.  “We shall always march along.” 
  • -War.  “We shall hack, kill and core” 
  • -Victory over enemies.  “Forward we drive, breaking the records” 
•  5.Cite one social and one economic activity of the community from which this oral poem is taken. (4 marks) Singing, / warfare, suitable  illustration
  • Ironsmithing.  Helmet iron etc
• 6.Who would be the most suitable audience for the oral poem? Give reasons for your answer. (2 marks)
  • Fighters/raiders/soldiers/warriors. To instill courage and bravery as they prepare to go for war. 
• 7. Why are the soldiers likened to machines. (1 mark)
  • To bring out their ruthlessness/lack of compassion etc
• 8. Describe the mood of the poem. (2 marks)
  • Satirical.  It ridicules/satirizes/mocks war and how it leads to warmongers, senseless killings etc

Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow. (20 marks)

​Footpath
Path – let … Leaving home, leading out
Return my mother to me.
The sun is sinking and darkness coming,
Hens and cocks are already inside and babies drowsing,
Return my mother to me.
We do not have firewood and I have not seen the lantern,
There is no more food and the water has run out
Path – let me pray, you return my mother to me.
Path of the small hills, path of the small stones
Path of slipperiness, path of the mud
Return my mother to me.
Path of papyrus, path of the rivers
Path of small forests, path of reeds
Return my mother to me
Path, I implore you, return my mother to me
Path of the crossways, path that branches off,

Path of the stringing shrubs, path of the bridge
Return my mother to me
Path of the open, path of the valley
Path of the steep climb, path of the downward slope 
Return my mother to me.
Children are drowsing about to sleep,
Darkness is coming and there is no firewood,
And I have not found the lantern;
Return my mother to me.
~ Stella Ngatho.

• ​(a) Who is the persona in this poem? (2 marks)
• (b) Identify and explain the effectiveness of any two stylistic devices. (6 marks)
• (c) What is the tone of the poem? (2 marks) 
• (d) What is the mood of the poem? (2 marks) 
• (e) Comment on the title of the poem. (2 marks)
• (f) With illustrations, briefly state three problems that the persona is facing. (3 marks)
• (g) Describe the setting of this poem. (3 marks)

• ​a) The persona is a child – perhaps an older child – whose mother is away. The child is longing   for her return. ‘Return my mother to me’. (2mks)
• b) Repetition – ‘Path’ is repeated severally, to create the tone of the poem/ emphasis on the cause of the mother’s absence.
  • Personification – the paths are personified; the speaker begs them to return the mother.
  • Apostrophe – Path ... Return my mother to me…- to show the persona’s desperate longing for the mother
  • Metaphor- path of papyrus... path of small hills etc.-shows the various places or challenges the persona or mother may have faced/ indicates the various paths the mother could have taken as she went out 
  • (Expect any two well illustrated styles + the effectiveness 3marks for each.  No mark for lack of one of these).
• c) The poem has a  pleading / imploring / beseeching tone. ‘..Path, I implore you, return my mother to me. (2mks)
• d) The poem is in a sad mood. One feels sad at the concern and despair of the child who   pleads for the mother’s return. (2mks)
• e) The title is appropriate as it leads us to the events in the poem. The persona addresses the footpath requested it to return the mother. (2mks)
• f) No food -There is no more food
  • No water- and the water has run out
  • No firewood -We do not have firewood
  • Missing the mother -Return my mother to me (Any 3 points @1mk)
• g) The poem is set in a home stead and is in the evening. ‘The sun is sinking and darkness coming,’/ ‘Hens and cocks are already inside and babies drowsing,’ (3 marks)

Read the poem below and then answer the questions that follow (20 marks)

​The wind howls, the trees sway,
The loose house-top sheets clatter and clang,
The open window shuts with a bang,
And the sky makes night of day.

Helter-skelter the parents run,
Pressed with a thousand minor cares:
‘Hey, you there! Pack the house hold wares!
And where on earth is my son?’

Home skip the little children:
‘Where have you been you naughty boy?’
The child can feel nothing but joy,
For he loves the approach of the rain.

The streets clear, the houses fill, 
The noise gathers as children shout 
To rival the raging wind without,
And naught that can move is still-

A bright flash! – alighted plain;
Then from the once-blue heavens,
Accompanied by noise that deafens,
Steadily pours the rain

• ​(a) Who is the speaker in the above poem? Illustrate your answer.          (2 marks)
• (b) Describe what happens just before rain pours down.         (4 marks)
• (c) State and explain the different reactions of the children and their parents as brought out in the   poem. (3 marks)
• (d) List any four pairs of words that rhyme in the above poem.         (2 marks)
• (e) Who is being addressed in the above poem? Support your answer.                   (2 marks)
• (f) From the above poem, pick out any six words which describe sound?         (3 marks)
• (g) What does the poet mean when he says: (2 marks)
  • The noise gathers as children shout,
  • To rival the raging wind without,?         
• (h) Write down the lines that prove that there is a great confusion in the poem.        (2 marks)

​Read the poem and then answer the questions that follow:
Reprise
Geniuses of countless nations 
Have told their love for generations
Till all their memorable phrases
Are common as goldenrod or daisies.
Their girls have glimmered like the moon,
Or shimmered like a summer noon,
Stood like lily, fled like fawn,
Now the sunset, now the dawn,
Here the princess in the tower
There the sweet forbidden flower.
Darling, when I look at you
Every aged phrase is the new
And there are moments when it seems
I’ve married one of Shakespeare’s dreams.

(i)  Describe the rhyme scheme in this poem and say what it does. (4 marks)
(ii) Identify and illustrate any two instances of alliteration in the poem. (2 marks)

​Read the poem below and then answer the questions. (20mks)
BACK HOME
And one day I went back home:
Back home to the old homestead
With a ring of old huts
Surrounding a wide compound:

Swept clean for children to play
And yell and laugh and cry.
I walked briskly, thinking of home
Smoke rising from the huts
Filtered through the thatched roofs:

Dripping wet after a shower of rain;
Moist ground in the compound,
Grandpa sitting on his stool
and sipping from his gourd;
Birds singing in the mango tree:

 And then finally I reached home:
The air heavy with silence
Huts, down in dry heaps of dilapidation
Shoots of scorched elephant grass:
Growing piously in the compound:

A carpet of mango leaves
Falling on the mound of earth
Under which was buried but the tip
Yes, only the tip of grandpa’s walking staff
Could be seen peeping from under the earth:

Pointing down to where the owner lay;
The lasting indication
Of his inability to talk again
Except by echoes of silence
Telling me I went back too late:
Jwani Mwaikusa.

(a) Describe the setting in this poem. (2 marks)
(b) Who is the persona in the poem? (2 marks)
(c) Where is grandpa? Give reasons for your answer. (2 marks)
(d) What is the effect of the alliteration in line 17? (2 marks)
(e) Giving two examples, show the effect of contrast as used by the poet. (4 marks)
(f) Identify and illustrate the two different moods prevailing in this poem. (4 marks)
(g) Explain the meaning of the following lines as used in the poem. (4 marks)
     (i) ‘A carpet of mango leaves
          Falling on the mound of earth”
     (ii) ‘Of his inability to talk again
          Except by echoes of silence”

(a) The setting is in a rural area√ 1   — the persona talks of huts/homestead. √ 1  
(b) The persona is a grandson / granddaughter / grandchildl — talks of grandpa. √ 1  
(c) Grandpa is dead√1 because we are told that the walking staff was buried under a mound of earth and it 
pointed to where the owner lay. √ 1 The staff peeped from under the earth where the owner lay. √ 1  
(d) The alliteration is - huts/heaps- down/dry/dilapidation or /h/and /d/.√ 1  The alliteration creates 
mood/rhythm/suspense. √ 1  
(e) The first three stanzas contrast with the last three.
(i) The memory of children “playing and yelling laughing and crying” is contrasted with “The air heavy 
with silence”. The effect of this is to create a sense of foreboding/fear. Showing or warns that 
something is amiss/wrong. √2
(ii) “A wide compound swept clean for children to play” is contrasted with “shoots of scorched elephant 
grass growing piously in the compound/”a carpet of mango leaves”. Their effect is an indication of 
neglect or that something is wrong. √2
(iii) “Smoke rising from the huts” is contrasted with “Huts down in dry heaps of dilapidation”. This 
warns of a disaster/danger. √2
(iv) “Grandpa sitting on his stool” is contrasted with “Grandpa lying under the earth” i.e. dead. This 
contrast creates atmosphere/mood. √2
Generally each contrast has the effect of changing mood. (2 marks each x = 4 marks)
(f) The first mood is foundin the 1st stanza. It is nostalgic. √ l The persona describes the home with fond 
memories e.g. children, yelling, laughing and crying or “birds singing in the mango tree”. √l
The second mood is found in the 4” stanza. It is sad/solemn. √l With the death of grandpa the homestead 
has collapsed. √l
(g) Lines
(i) “A carpet of mango leaves falling on the mound of earth”, means a great number of leaves falling on 
the grave. √2
(ii) “Of his inability to talk again except by echoes of silence”. This emphasises that grandpa is dead and 
that the persona will never hear him talk again. √2

The sun spun like
a tossed coin.
It whirled on the azure sky,
it clattered into the horizon,
it clicked in the slot,
and neon lights popped 
and blinked `time expired`,
as on a parking meter.
(Oswald Mbuyiseni: Mtshali)

• i) Describe the rhyme scheme of this poem. (2marks)
• ii) How would you say the last line of this poem (2marks)
• iii) State any two onomatopoeic words in the poem (2marks)
• iv) Identify any other sound pattern used in the poem. (1mark)
• v) State and illustrate three non-verbal cues that you would use to make the recitation of the above poem more meaningful and interesting. (3marks)

Oral poem.

• i) adcdefg √ 1mk 
      irregular rhyme scheme √ 1mk
• ii) the line would be said slowly and softly – end of the day

                falling intonation – show finality.

• iii) Popped

                 Blinked
                 Whirled
                 Clattered
                 Clicked any 2 (2 marks)

• iv) Alliteration – sun  spun

                 Assonance – sun spun   √1mk

• v) Use of gestures – illustrate where and when 

               Facial expressions       “
               Tonal variation            “
               Dramatize       “
               Keep eye conduct       “                          Any 3 (3 marks)

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

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
​

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