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The Early Purges

I was six when I first saw kittens drown.

Dan Taggart pitched them, 'the scraggy wee shits',
Into a bucket; a frail metal sound,

Soft paws scraping like mad. But their tiny din

Was soon soused. They were slung on the snout 
Of the pump and the water pumped in.

'Sure, isn't it better for them now?' Dan said.

Like wet gloves they bobbed and shone till he sluiced
Them out on the dunghill, glossy and dead.

Suddenly frightened, for days I sadly hung

Round the yard, watching the three sogged remains
Turn mealy and crisp as old summer dung

Until I forgot them. But the fear came back

When Dan trapped big rats, snared rabbits, shot crows
Or, with a sickening tug, pulled old hens' necks.

Still, living displaces false sentiments

And now, when shrill pups are prodded to drown
I just shrug, 'Bloody pups'. It makes sense:

'Prevention of cruelty' talk cuts ice in town

Where they consider death unnatural
But on well-run farms pests have to be kept down.

Seamus Heaney

**A ‘PURGE’ is when you get rid of something unwanted

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Section 1: Vocabulary

Look up the meaning of the following words:

Word Meaning
Scraggy
Frail
Scraping
Din
Soused
Slung
Sluiced
Glossy
Sogged
Snared
Sentiment
Pest

1. Choose any five words and put them into sentences to show the
meaning of the word:
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Section 2: Short Questions

Answer the following questions based on the poem:

1. What does Dan Taggart call the kittens?

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2. What age is the boy at the start of the poem?

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3. How did the kittens die?

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4. Find three adjectives used to describe the kittens.

(i)________________ (ii) _________________ (iii) __________________

5. Name two other animals/birds that Dan Taggart killed.

(i)________________ (ii) _________________

6. What did Dan Taggart do with the kittens once they were dead?
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7. Search through the poem to find something you could:

see hear smell touch taste

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Section 3: Summarizing

Fill in the following grid (in your own words)to explain what is happening in
each stanza of the poem.

Stanza 1 The poet sees Dan Taggart throw kittens into a metal bucket.

Stanza 2

Stanza 3

Stanza 4

Stanza 5

Stanza 6

Stanza 7

Section 4: Questions using P.Q.E

Answer the following questions using P.Q.E:

P→POINT

Q→QUOTE

E→EXPLAIN
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1. How does the small boy feel about the kittens dying?
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2. How does the man feel about kittens/pups now?

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Section 5: Reading Comprehension

Fil in the gaps with the following words:

shocked, six, Purges, accepts, Heaney, cruel, child, scraggy

The Early ________ is a poem written by Seamus Heaney. This poem is mainly
told from the point of view of __________. It shows what life was like for
Heaney as a ___________. Heaney remembers an incident when he was
___________ and he watched “kittens drown”. After his first encounter with
death, Heaney is __________ by the cruelty shown to them by Dan Taggart. He
refers to them as “__________ wee shits”. He cannot understand how Taggart
can be so ___________. However as the poem progresses, Heaney is older and
___________ this as part of life on a farm.
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Section 6: Poetic Techniques

1. A simile is when one thing is compared to another using the words ‘like’
or ‘as’.

Find one simile in the poem and write the quote here:
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2. Alliteration is when words close together in a poem start with the same
letter.

Find an example of alliteration in the poem and write the quote here:
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Section 7: Speech

The poem ends with the line: ‘on well- run farm pests have to be kept down’.

Write a speech in which you argue for or against this motion. Plan your speech
below first and ask yourself the following questions:

o Do I agree with ‘putting down’ pests?

o What are my reasons for agreeing or disagreeing?

Rough Work
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Speech:

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Section 8: Story-board

Complete the story board for the poem. You must include images and words.

Stanza 1 Stanza 2

Dan Taggart throws the kittens into a

bucket.
Stanza 3 Stanza 4

Stanza 5 Stanza 6

Stanza 7
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