WHAT IS AN ELEGY?

The elegy began as an ancient Greek metrical form and is traditionally written in response to
the death of a person or group. The elements of a traditional elegy mirror three stages of
loss. First, there is lament, where the speaker expresses grief and sorrow, then praise and
admiration of the idealized dead and finally consolation and solace. Read the following
modern elegy carefully and find out what makes it an elegy.

Alien Elegy

Oh poor alien.
Oh poor alien
I feel you were so wise
though you evolved your curious shape
far from our deep blue sky.
What went on in our brain?
I wish I could explain.

Oh poor alien
that awful night you died,
I saw white crystal tears were shed
from your purple compound eyes.
What was it made you ill?
I had no wish to kill.

Oh poor alien
did you understand our words
heard through those funny ears?
Your body’s so absurd,
like a six-legged dinosaur
eleven metres head to floor.

Oh poor alien
the tourists come each day
to stare at your so-scaly skin;
they either mock, or say,
‘How hideous it is to view.’
You’re as strange to them as they to you.

Oh poor alien.
Oh poor alien
have your messages reached home
across the interstellar void?
Will your race leave us alone,
or will the Earth become a zoo
for giant sized visitors like you?

MIKE JOHNSON
1. How is the alien described in the poem? (2 marks)
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2. Why is there a repetition of the phrase ‘poor alien’ in the first line of each stanza?
(2 marks)
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3. The poem is full of rhetorical questions. What effect do these questions create?
(2 marks)
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4. What figure of speech is ‘white crystal tears’? Explain it. (2 marks)

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5. How do the tourists react when they see the alien? (1 mark)
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6. a. To what is the alien’s body compared to in the third stanza? (1 mark)

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b. What figure of speech is this? (1 mark)

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7. What warning is given in the last stanza? (1 mark)

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8. List down the features that make the above poem an elegy. (2 marks)
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9. How many stanzas are there in the poem? (1 mark) ____________

10. How many verses are there in the poem? (1 mark) ____________

11. Is there a regular rhyme scheme? (1 mark) Yes / No

12. Find three pairs of rhyming words. (3 marks)

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Answers - KEY

Alien Elegy

1. It has funny ears and looks like a six-legged dinosaur which is eleven metres head to
floor. It looks absurd to humans and its skin is scaly.
2. The poet is creating and emphasising a feeling of pity for the poor alien which was
killed.
3. The poetess feels that now it is too late and there will never be answers to her
questions. She feels defeated by death.
4. Metaphor – the tears are being compared to white crystals.
5. The tourists are transfixed by the sight of the alien and stare at him but at the same
time they make fun of his appearance and see him as hideous.
6. To a dinosaur, simile
7. The warning is to leave the people on earth alone or else they may end up like animals
in a zoo to be looked at.
8. Only lament and expression of grief and sorrow.
9. 5
10. 32
11. No
12. accept any two rhyming words such as brain / explain