MEMORANDUM

Question 1: My Name
1.1 Explain why the poet is having her name changed. (2)
During the apartheid era ✔, people of colour had to have their names changed
so that their employers could communicate with them more easily.
1.2 Why does poet give the information used in line 3 of the poem? (1)
She is emphasizing the cultural importance of her name.
1.3 Provide a synonym for burly (1)
Large/Overweight
1.4 Why was the bureaucrat speaking in Afrikaans in line 6? (1)
It was the language of the ruling government; he was a government employee
so he had to speak Afrikaans.
1.5 What is the poet emphasizing with the info given in line 7? (1)
She is emphasizing the historical importance of her name.

1.6 Explain how the poet’s name might not be as simple as she claims (2)
in line 10.
To people of her culture/language, it might be a simple name, ✔ however
anyone outside of the Xhosa language/culture might find the name challenging
to pronounce correctly. ✔
1.7 Identify and explain the punctuation used in line 16-17 (2)
Ellipsis ✔ it is used to emphasis the shock of the poet at how her original name
has been changed to something far less significant and meaningless. ✔

Question 2: Visiting Room

2.1 What is the setting of this poem? (1)
A prison visiting room.
2.2 What is a synonym for vocation (1)
Job/occupation
2.3 Explain what the poet is saying in lines 1-2 (2)
He is saying that a window’s purpose ✔ is to allow light into a room/space ✔

2.4 Is the above an example of figurative or literal language? (1)

Literal language.
2.5 What does the phrase “Shadowed by warders” mean in the
context of this poem? (1)
It means that whilst in the visiting room, the prisoners were constantly being
watched by prison guards.

2.6 Explain the following line of the poem (2)

“Its coldness forever our hands”
A window is cold to the touch ✔ so every time the wife and husband visited
each other, the only physical memory they will have of their visit is the feeling
of the cold glass after they remove their hands from it at the end of his visit. ✔
2.7 Explain how the poet talks about a window in a figurative manner (2)
For most of his time, the poet is surrounded by walls ✔, so when the prison has
visiting hours, one of those walls becomes a window and gives the poet the
ability to see and talk to his wife, even it is for a moment ✔