ACADEMIX SCHOOL OF LEARNING

LITERAURES IN ENGLISH
UNIT 2- PAPER 01
2 HOURS

1.This paper consists of THREE sections

2. Answer ALL questions in EACH section.

Makana. A. Victor
 SECTION B

MODULE 2 — POETRY
Read the poem below and answer the question.

The New Blade

My son is using a new razor

with clumsy hands.
Grooming himself as a grownup for the first time,
he spreads his elbows wide, as in a ritual,
very fastidiously not looking sideways.
From below his temple a smear of blood
as big as a bird’s tongue keeps flowing,
no matter how often he wipes it off,
and he looks a little afraid.
What is hurt in him, I wonder
His naked back is moistened, shining bright
like a tree trunk with its bark peeled off.
Although he doesn’t seem to hear them,
birds are singing loud in unison
around the young tree trunks.
He doesn’t seem to see it,
but the sea is rolling in the mirror.
Ansai Hitoshi, “The New Blade”. In What Have You Lost?
Harper Collins Publishers, 1999, p. 18.

Write a critical appreciation of the poem, paying attention to imagery,

similes, symbols and themes.
 SECTION C

MODULE 3 — PROSE FICTION

Read the passage below and answer the question.

Independence

The applause was thunderous, and Bertram watched the new flag slide up the
pole and cross the old one slithering down. In the distance he heard the cracked
report as the guns of the British Royal Navy fired their salute, and overhead a
cloud of doves flew in all directions, glad to have escaped their independence
baskets. As the church clock struck midnight, and the cheering and
celebratory noises grew even louder, Bertram heard raindrops beginning to
slap against the leaves of the trees above him. Then as the wheels of History
turned, and Mount Misery became Mount Freedom, and Pall Mall Square
became Independence Square (although the island had decided to keep its old
colonial name), someone punched a hole in the sky and everybody ran for
cover as the rain broke through. As they did so the police band started to play
the new national anthem in G major like the old British one, but they struggled
to find the notes to this new tune. Bertram listened to their waterlogged and
unmusical rendering of what seemed an otherwise pleasant composition, but
before the band could rescue the anthem the heavens opened wide. The
musicians now ran for cover, and all around the umbrellas bloomed like
flowers, and the sharp bullets of rain joined the sky to the earth.
Gradually the drumroll of the rain on the car roofs eased to a pitter-patter, and
the cars rubbered along in the wet throwing up thin sheets of water. Bertram
found himself in a steady stream of people pouring down towards
Independence-ville, where the wooden booths were now dazzlingly lit. He
prepared himself, ready to drink until dawn on this first day of a new era in
his island’s history.

Write a critical appreciation of the passage, paying attention to themes,

symbols, language, and narrative point of view.