​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)

​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)