‘STILL I RISE’ - KCSE ENGLISH POETRY QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS
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) QUESTIONS
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THE SMILING ORPHAN - KCSE ENGLISH POETRY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
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 QUESTION
a) Who is the persona in the poem? (2 marks)
AFRICA - KCSE ENGLISH POETRY QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS
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. QUESTIONS
THE EARTH - KCSE ENGLISH POETRY QUESTIONS AND AND ANSWERS
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') QUESTIONS
A FORTUNE THAT NEVER WAS - KCSE ENGLISH POETRY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
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! QUESTIONS
DEATH IS A WITCH - KCSE ENGLISH POETRY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
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 QUESTIONS
THE PAUPER - KCSE ENGLISH POETRY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
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) QUESTIONS
The Courage That My Mother Had - KCSE ENGLISH POETRY QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS
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) QUESTIONS
THE INMATES - KCSE ENGLISH POETRY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
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 QUESTIONS
LIES BEHIND BEAUTY
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 QUESTIONS
MARKING SCHEME
DUSKS OF DRINKS AND DRUGS
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 QUESTIONS
BLOOD IRON - KCSE POETRY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
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 QUESTIONS
MARKING SCHEME
FOOTPATH - KCSE POETRY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
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. QUESTIONS
MARKING SCHEME
A Sudden Storm: Pius Oleghe
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 QUESTIONS
REPRISE - ENGLISH POETRY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
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. QUESTIONS
(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) CATHERINE - POETRY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow:-
Made for pure pleasure Like buds two wonderful to name Miracles unfold And Catherine wheels begin to flame Like a whirling marigold Rockets and Roman candles make An orchard of the sky Whence magic trees their petals shake Upon each gazing eye QUESTIONS
i. Describe the rhyme scheme of this poem. (2marks)
ii. Using examples, explain how rhythm has been achieved in this poem. (4 Marks) iii. What kind of facial expressions would you exhibit when reciting the poem? (2mks) iv. Which words would you stress in line one and why? (2 marks) MARKING SCHEME
i) abcdcdede- Irregular
ii) Rhyme – name, flame, -sky, eye shake, make Alliteration- pure, pleasure- consonant p is repeated, Rockets and Roman- r is repeated. iii) Wear a happy face while reciting line 1 – Made for pure pleasure. Stare at a particular point to indicate gazing point. iv) Made, pure, pleasure – They are content words- they carry the meaning of the sentence. Only For a While: Esther Njeri M - POETRY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow.
Here in school we are shining bright Never in darkness always in light We will all be here for a short while What matters is we go that extra mile Time is precious, time is priceless Waste time become useless We have to make the most of it while we are here Or else we will suffer the consequences which are dear For four hours we shall together Working together in unity Striving to reach our desired goals Growing academically and spiritually. questions
a) Describe the rhyme scheme of the poem above. (3mks)
b) How has rhythm been achieved in the above poem? (4mks) c) How would you say the line ‘For four years we have together’ (3mks) marking scheme
(a) aa bb cc dd ef gh √ 2mks
Irregular rhyme scheme √ 1mk (b) (i) Rhyme √ Bright – Light √While – Mile √Priceless – Useless √Academically – Spiritually (ii) Repeating ‘Time’ is repeated (I mark to identify, I mark illustrates) (c) Use my fingers to show ‘four’ √ 1mk Stress the word ‘years’ √ 1mk Say the line in a falling intonation √ 1mk Put palms together to show, togetherness. BACK HOME -POETRY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
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. QUESTIONS
(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” MARKING SCHEME
(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 SUNSET
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) Questions
ANSWERS
Oral poem.
Whirled Clattered Clicked any 2 (2 marks)
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 QUESTION
Get PDF format for printing and Answers ... Learn how to download. THE NECKLACERead the following poem and then answer the questions that follow. From a distance Fearful of inching any further, A cold sweat trickled rivulets, Making me shiver at noon. Undaring to approach the form It was over in minutes, The necessities of execution availed, The firestone tyre, Petrol in blackened tin, And ignites in numerous hands Each participant ready and anxious, To set the man a flame. As the smouldering form blackened, Smell of sizzling flesh filling in the air Piercing the nostrils, And choking me breathless, I watched in wonder, Witness to an unwritten law. As the crowd dispersed, The haggling and bargaining resumed, Buying, selling and cheating, As men in uniform arrived, Bearing away the charred remains Questions
Get PDF format for printing and Answers ... Learn how to download. SONG OF AGONYRead the poem below and answer the questions that follow. (20 mks) I put on a clean shirt And go to work Which of us Which of us will come back? Four and twenty moons Not seeing women Not seeing my hand Which of us Which of us will die? I put on a clean shirt And go to work my contract To work far away I go beyond the mountain Into the bush Where the roads end And the rivers run dry Which of us Which of us will come back? Which of us Which of us will die? questions
Get PDF format for printing and Answers ... Learn how to download. MWANANCHIRead the poem below and answer the questions that follow. (20 marks) You embarrass me… Mwananchi Why do you embarrass me with your questions About the new Mercedes I bought The large farm I own The houses, the wives, An inflated stomach! Mwananchi Why do you threaten me with your threats The threats in your bloodshot eyes Fixedly pointed at me wherever I go Like if you are ready To release the arrow that will deflate me Into nothingness; Even the watchmen, the dogs, the police Are all not enough to protect me From your increasing shouts to protest Against my good judgement; Mwananchi Have you forgotten how you loved me And gave me your vote That I may be your man in parliament? Now that I have the power I will mend your confused senses And keep you in prison Until you see me as your leader again And keep those bloodshot eyes away from me I will charge like an angry lion And scare you out of your wits Until like a frightened dog, You keep your head forever… ~Everett M. Standa questions
View or Download PDF format for printing ... Learn how to download. Answers are not available now, to be available soon ... In the cityPOETRY (20 MARKS) Read the following poem and then answer the questions that follow.All moving the Lord knows where, Dressed in suits and tatters, Bowties, tights, ochred sheets and earrings, All thinking of things to come, Africa is in a state of opportunity, All look for easy chances. Of self-upliftment or undeserved promotion That often mirage further and further Making frustrate Minds that should be content It is a time of opportunity- When one line makes a poet And a little acquaintance or chance Rockets one to the highest office But the peasant, the pillar of the nation, Has only to cope with prices that shift Like the waves that rock the ship Carrying yellow maize to the city. The employed call out strikes That only deplete the little funds That may relieve the peasant- The elder brother keeps the younger in hunger At home, if there’s any, The child plays with an empty bottle, Cries for more milk When the cost is daily on the rise While the incomes remain static And the higher brackets are daily filled By youths that will not retire Within this century. The child laughs gaily, Displaying its only four teeth That show it grows to eat, Unaware of all that shapes her decade Adapted from a poem by Joseph G. Mutiga QUESTIONS
View or Download PDF format for printing ... Learn how to download. Answers are not available now, to be available soon ... |
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