Grade 11 Poetry 2o2o 2

ENGLISH HOME LANGUAGE
BRETTONWOOD HIGH SCHOOL

GRADE 11
TONE VOCABULARY
Tone: quality or timbre of the voice that conveys the emotional message of a text. In a
written text, it is achieved through words. (How it would be said.)
Mood: atmosphere or emotion in written texts; shows the feeling or the frame of mind of the
characters; it also refers to the atmosphere produced by visual, audio or multi-media texts.
(How it makes you feel.)
Theme: the central idea or ideas in text; a text may contain several themes and these may
not be explicit or obvious.
Positive Tone / Attitude Words
Amiable Consoling Friendly Playful

Amused Content Happy Pleasant
Grade 11 Poetry Page 1

Appreciative Dreamy Hopeful Proud
Authoritative Ecstatic Impassioned Relaxed
Benevolent Elated Jovial Reverent
Brave Elevated Joyful Romantic
Calm Encouraging Jubilant Soothing
Cheerful Energetic Lighthearted Surprised
Cheery Enthusiastic Loving Sweet
Compassionate Excited Optimistic Sympathetic
Complimentary Exuberant Passionate Vibrant
Confident Fanciful Peaceful Whimsical
Humour-Irony-Sarcasm Tone / Attitude Words
Amused Bantering Bitter Caustic

Comical Condescending Contemptuous Critical
Cynical Disdainful Droll Giddy
Flippant Mocking Mock-serious Irrelevant
Humorous Insolent Ironic Quizzical
Joking Malicious Patronizing Sarcastic
Pompous Mock-heroic Scornful Whimsical
Ribald Ridiculing Teasing Wry
Sardonic Satiric Silly Taunting
Sorrow-Fear-Worry Tone / Attitude Words/ Negative
Aggravated Despairing Hopeless Paranoid

Apprehensive Disturbed Horror Pessimistic
Agitated Embarrassed Melancholy Poignant
Anxious Fearful Miserable Pitiful
Apologetic Foreboding Morose Regretful
Concerned Gloomy Mournful Remorseful
Confused Grave Nervous Resigned
Dejected Horrific Numb Sad
Depressed Hollow Ominous Serious
Sober
Neutral Tone / Attitude Words

Admonitory Allusive Apathetic Authoritative
Baffled Callous Candid Ceremonial
Clinical Consoling Contemplative Conventional
Detached Didactic Disbelieving Factual
Dramatic Earnest Expectant Frivolous
Fervent Formal Forthright Incredulous
Haughty Histrionic Humble Loud
Informative Inquisitive Instructive Nostalgic
Intimate Judgemental Learned Urgent
Lyrical Matter-of-fact Meditative Vexed
objective Obsequious Patriotic Wistful
Pleading Pretentious Persuasive Zealous
Questioning Reflective Reminiscent
Restrained Sincere Resigned
Shocking Seductive Serious

How to read a poem
Getting started
 Read the poem silently. Read it four or five times to improve our understanding.
 Where possible, read the poem aloud and to someone.
 What are your first impressions of the poem?
 How does it make you feel?
 What sort of poem is it? For example, is it a ballad, epic, free verse, lyric, narrative
poem or a sonnet?
Going deeper
 Does the poem use rhyme? Does the rhyme form a pattern? What is it? What is the
effect?
 Does the poem have a rhythm (regular beat)? Try to describe it and explain its effect.
 Is the poem written in free verse (with no set rhythm)? What is the effect?
 Does the poem have a particular shape or unusual layout? Why do you think of the
poet has done this?
 Is the poem concerned with giving a description of people, things, events or thoughts?
What are they?
 Does the poem tell a story? Give an outline.
 Is the poem funny or serious? Explain how and why?
 Is the poem warm and generous or savage and cutting or somewhere in between?
Theme
The theme refers to an important idea that underlies the poem and gives a comment about
life.
 What do you think is the theme of the poem?

 Think about how you would discuss what you have learned by reading the poem.
Poetic techniques
These are some of the devices poets use to create mind pictures (images) to bring a poem
to life. (refer to glossary for more devices)
 Alliteration
 Onomatopoeia
 Simile
 Metaphor
 Personification
Bringing it all together

Once you have followed the steps outlined above, check our understanding of the poem.
Ask yourself if you can:
1. Briefly retell what the poem is about.
2. Describe the poem’s theme.
3. Explain how the techniques used help to convey the poet’s ideas.
4. Discuss your reaction to some of the poetic techniques.
5. Discuss your overall reaction to the poem.
6. Use examples and short quotations to support your view.

Language to write about poetry.
It is important to have some vocabulary to help you convey some of the layers of meaning
that are suggested by this poetic language. The following words and phrases will help you
to express some of poetry’s elusive qualities:

EXAMPLE USED IN POETRY
WORD MEANING
ANALYSIS
to call up a memory or feeling The word evokes a sense of
Evokes
of something freedom
The sound alludes to running
alludes to makes reference to
water.
The comparison elicits our
Elicits to give rise to; to call forth
sympathies
The image suggests the passing of
suggests to make a suggestion
time.
has The word has connotations of
is associated with
connotations of defiance
The simile conveys a sense of
Conveys carries (a meaning of…)
generosity
suggests, but does not sate The metaphor implies a life of
implies
obviously suffering and hardship
How to write a poetry essay

A poetry essay should be about a page or 250 – 300 words long. The following guidelines
will help you to structure what can fell like a vague and difficult task.
Note that you may not have space to address everything in these guidelines; there may be,
for example, many poetic devices or images, so choose those that you think are most
powerful to comment on.
Also, be guided by the essay question. If it asks you to focus on aspects of the poem, (e.g.
structure, imagery, tone) make sure you address only those features asked for. However, if
the essay is more open-ended and asks for a critical analysis of a poem, this structure will
help you:
THINGS TO REMEMBER
Introduction
You could start with a phrase like:
In one or two sentence explain
The poet describes … or
what the poem is about: its
This poem is about…
theme, issues or main message.
Body
This is where you show your
understanding of how the poet Is the structure formal (like a sonnet) or informal?
conveys the meaning. Address Short sentences suggest abrupt, definite thoughts.
the following. Longer sentences are more conversational or lyrical.
 Structure: Consider length of Are the stanzas unusual in any way?
sentences, enjambment and
stanza length.
A rhyming poem will have a musical, child-like, sing-
song quality to it.
 Poetic devices: Consider
Rhythms can be slow and sleepy or highly
rhyme, rhythm, alliteration,
energised.
assonance, onomatopoeia.
Alliterated sounds often link in some way to what
they describe.
 Imagery or figures of speech: Think about how the two things compared are
Look for similes, metaphors, similar.
examples of personification or Use the vocabulary (p 5) to help you describe the
contrast. comparison and its effect.
Is the style conversational, formal, highly descriptive,
 Style: Look at diction,
straightforward, lyrical or informal?
punctuation, sentence length.
Quote a word or phrase as proof.
 Tone: What does the poem
tell us about the poet’s
attitude to the subject matter? Use adjectives like set out on page 2 and 3.
Does the tone change at
some point?
Conclusion
Be honest about your response. If you think the
What is your response to the
poem failed to deliver on its intention, say so, but
poem? How does it make you
provide reasons for your opinion.
feel?
NO POEM POET
1 Sonnet 130: My Mistress Eyes… William Shakespeare
2 Eating Poetry Mark Strand
3 The Man Sethamo Motsaphi
4 The Second Coming W.B.Yeats
5 The Author and her book Anne Bradstreet
6 In detention Jeremy Cronin
7 We wear the mask Paul Laurence Dunbar
8 Amagoduka at Glencoe Station Oswald Mtshali
9 The Child who was shot at Nyanga Ingrid Jonker
10 Free Town Sly Cheney Coker

Sonnet 130 - William Shakespeare
My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask’d, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
Summary
 This sonnet compares the speaker’s lover to a number of other beauties—and

never in the lover’s favour.
 Her eyes are “nothing like the sun,” her lips are less red than coral; compared
to white snow, her breasts are dun-coloured, and her hairs are like black wires
on her head.
 In the second quatrain, the speaker says he has seen roses separated by
colour (“damasked”) into red and white, but he sees no such roses in his
mistress’s cheeks; and he says the breath that “reeks” from his mistress is
less delightful than perfume.
 In the third quatrain, he admits that, though he loves her voice, music “hath a
far more pleasing sound,” and that, though he has never seen a goddess, his
mistress—unlike goddesses—walks on the ground.
 In the couplet, however, the speaker declares that, “by heav’n,” he thinks his
love as rare and valuable “As any she belied with false compare”—that is, any
love in which false comparisons were invoked to describe the loved one’s
beauty.
 The poet, openly contemptuous of his weakness for the woman, expresses
his infatuation for her in negative comparisons, e.g. comparing her to natural

objects, he notes that her eyes are "nothing like the sun," and the colours of
her lips and breasts dull when compared to the red of coral and the whiteness
of snow.
 Conventional love sonnets by other poets make their women into goddesses,
in Sonnet 130 the poet is merely amused by his own attempt to deify his dark
mistress.
 Cynically he states, "I grant I never saw a goddess go; / My mistress, when
she walks, treads on the ground."
 We learn that her hair is black, but note the derogatory way the poet
describes it: "black wires grow on her head."
 Also, his comment "And in some perfumes is there more delight / Than in the
breath that from my mistress reeks" borders on crassness, no matter how
satirical he is trying to be.
 The poet must be very secure in his love for his mistress — and hers for him
— for him to be as disparaging as he is, even in jest — a security he did not
enjoy with the young man.
 Although the turn "And yet" in the concluding couplet signals that he is going
to contradict all the negative comments the poet has made about the Dark
Lady, the sonnet's last two lines arguably do not erase the horrendous
comparisons in the three quatrains.
Theme:
The fundamental theme in this sonnet is: total and all consuming love.
In order to express your love, you have to talk about it, define it, examine it. In telling
his mistress that he loves her, our speaker also has to give us an idea about what
his love is like.
Diction:
dun (3): i.e., a dull brownish gray.
roses damasked, red and white (5): This line is possibly an allusion to the rose
known as the York and Lancaster variety, which the House of Tudor adopted as its
symbol after the War of the Roses. The York and Lancaster rose is red and white
streaked, symbolic of the union of the Red Rose of Lancaster and the White Rose of
York.
than the breath...reeks (8): i.e., than in the breath that comes out of (reeks from)
my mistress.
As the whole sonnet is a parody of the conventional love sonnets written by
Shakespeare's contemporaries, one should think of the most common meaning
of reeks, i.e., stinks.
rare (13): special.
she (14): woman.

belied (14): misrepresented.
with false compare (14): i.e., by unbelievable, ridiculous comparisons.

Shakespeare's comparison of hair to 'wires' would refer to the finely-spun gold
threads woven into fancy hair nets.
Structure
Sonnet 130, as its name implies, is a sonnet. Sonnets are structured poems that
dictate the length, style and even content of the poem. Sonnet 130 has 14 lines with
three quatrains and a couplet that ties the sonnet together. In the couplet we see that
the author does actually love his mistress.
Poetic Devices
Sonnet 130, while similar to other Shakespearean sonnets in the use of poetic
devices and techniques, stands apart from most of his other sonnets for its mocking
tone and use of satire.
Imagery
 In writing Sonnet 130, Shakespeare relied very heavily on strong sensory

images to get his satirical message across.
 Imagery is a poetic device that employs the five senses to create an image in
the mind of the reader.
 Shakespeare draws on sight, sound and smells when he compares his

mistress' eyes to the sun, her lips to red coral, her breasts to white snow, her
hair to black wires, her cheeks to red and white roses, her breath to perfume
and her voice to music.
Hyperbole
Hyperbole is a form of speech that exaggerates the facts in order to make a point.
Shakespeare decides to exaggerate how unattractive his mistress is. Sonnet 130
suggests that his mistress' hair is made of black wire, her breath reeks, her breasts
are grayish brown and her voice is grating.

Satire
Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 uses satire as a literary device. In writing this poem, he
was gently poking fun at the conventional romantic poems that were being written by
other poets. In pointing out that his mistress' eyes are not more beautiful than the
sun, that her hair is not made of gold threads, that her cheeks are not as red as
roses and that her breath is not finer than perfume, he was able to make the
argument that he loves her just the same for who she is and not for an unrealistic
idealized notion of beauty.
QUESTIONS:
1. How does the Shakespearean sonnet differ from the traditional love sonnet?
2. Why would he say his mistress’ eyes are not like the sun?
3. What would the idea be behind the mistress’ hair being wire?
4. What is the historical and literal significance of Shakespeare’s use of the

metaphor ‘damasked rose’ rather than the plain red rose?
5. Do you think the poet is belittling his lady-love when he said that her ‘breath
reeks’?
6.1How do we know that this is a Shakespearean sonnet, apart from the fact that
Shakespeare wrote it?
6.2 What is the conclusion found in the rhyming couplet?

The author to her book (1678) – Anne Bradstreet
Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain, Metaphor

The speaker uses
Who after birth by my side remain, figurative language
Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true, here
Who thee abroad, exposed to public view, to refer to her book
Made thee in rags, halting to th' press to trudge, 5 as her
Where errors were not lessened (all may judge).
At thy return my blushing was not small,
My rambling brat' (in print) should mother call,
I cast thee by as one unfit for light,
Thy visage was so irksome in my sight, 10
Yet being mine own, at length affection would
Thy blemishes amend, if so I could:
I washed thy face, but more defects I saw,
And rubbing off a spot still made a flaw.
I stretched thy joints to make thee even feet, 15
Yet still thou runst more hobbling? than is meet,
In better dress to trim thee was my mind, Pun
Take note of the pun
But nought save homespun cloth i’th’ house I find. That is used in this
In this array mongst vulgars may'st thou roam. line
In critic's hands beware thou dost not come, 20 The word "poor"
And take thy way where yet thou art not known; means
"unwell" or "not good"
If for thy father asked, say thou hadst none; as well as "financially
not
And for thy mother, she alas is poor, well off". The speaker
Which caused her thus to send thee out door. experiences all these
conditions.
1 abroad - outside; over a wide area; overseas

2 trudge - walk slowly and heavily, as if carrying a load (real or
emotional)
3 brat - badly behaved child
4 visage - face (from old Latin word for "sight")
5 blemishes - marks that spoil something (as on skin)
6 amend - make right
7 defects - faults; flaws
8 even feet - the patterns and rhythms of sound used in poetry are grouped
together and
measured in feet, so perhaps the rhythm and metre of the poem itself is made
regular
9 hobbling - walking awkwardly as when in pain
10 meet - (archaic) suitable or proper
11 trim - neaten by cutting away unwanted or irregular parts; embellish or
decorate
12 array - dress, clothing
13 vulgars - an old way of referring to the ordinary people
14 art - are
Anne Bradstreet (about 1612-1672, England/USA)

Anne Bradstreet was born in England but, with her husband and parents, formed part
of a Puritan migration to North America. As such, she is considered the first
American poet in the English language. For her time, she was a very well-educated
woman and her work gives insight into the struggles of women of the period. She
was a writer while also a mother of eight children and the wife of a politician who was
often away from home. Against the social norms of the time - women were seen as
incapable of leading a "life of the mind" - Bradstreet's life and work set a pioneering
example.
Introduction
"The author to her book" is a poem in which the speaker of the poem is an author
who reflects critically on one of her works. The speaker does not value the work and
reflects on how the product is flawed despite the changes she made to improve the
work.
The poem makes use of apostrophe: the speaker addresses an inanimate object
(her book) directly as if it were human. The poem also makes use of an extended
metaphor where the book is compared to a child that has been born of the author.
The diction in the poem is largely negative and this reflects the speaker's criticism
of her book.
The Author to Her Book Summary

An author writes a book, but is convinced it’s garbage. Her friends feel differently, so
they steal it and get it published. This irritates said author, who then decides that
she’ll try to fix up the poems in the book since it’s going to be published anyway. Try
as she might, however, she just can’t make the poems any good. She tries to fix the
meter and clean up the defects, but all she does is make the poems worse. Finally,
she starts to worry about the reviewers and warns her little child of a book to stay
away from those super-critical people, and just keep quiet. She doesn’t want
anybody else to take the fall, so she tells this little book to say she only has a mother
(and a poor one at that), and no father.
Line-by-line analysis

Lines 1-2
Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain,
Who after birth did'st by my side remain,
 The poem opens with an apostrophe. NOT the punctuation mark, but a direct
form of address, as in “oh, Christmas tree,” or, as here, “thou ill-formed
offspring.”
 The word “offspring is used, but” this poem is not about the speaker’s child.
 The author is referring to her writing as her child.
 She describes in these first lines as the “ill-formed” product of her “feeble
brain.”
 The speaker seems to have confidence issues about her writing.
 The speaker uses a metaphor and compares her book to a child that she
gave birth to and that, after being born, remained by her side.
Lines 3-4
Till snatcht from thence by friends, less wise than true,
Who thee abroad exposed to public view,
 The speaker ‘gave birth’ to a book of poems - this is a metaphor for “wrote” a
book of poems.
 This book remained by her side until her friends snatched it from there
(“thence”). As a result, the speaker describes those same friends as “less
wise than true.”
 This seems to mean they acted stupidly (“less wise”) but they did it because
they were trying to help her - trying to be “true” friends.
 Her friends took this book, and then took it “abroad” and “exposed” it to “public
view.”
 She means that they took it abroad and had it published, which is exactly
what happened with Bradstreet’s first book, The Tenth Muse.
 She wasn’t planning on publishing all the poems that make up that volume,
but her brother-in-law snatched the book without her knowledge and had it
published in England in 1650.
 Putting the object of the verb “exposed” (“thee”) before the verb is a very
poetic way of speaking. It also, however, shows that there is a very close
relationship between the book (“thee”) and the friends.
Lines 5-6
Made thee in rags, halting to th' press to trudge,
Where errors were not lessened (all may judge).
 The speaker continues talking about her book’s journey “abroad.”

 Her friends also made the book “trudge” to the “press” (i.e. the printing press,
where the book would have been printed and bound) in “rags.”
 The speaker is being very figurative here. The book wasn’t actually trudging
or wearing rags.
 The personification here (trudging, rags) is meant to make the book seem like
a piece of junk.

 It’s not dressed up all nice and neat, but wearing rags. It’s not in great shape
either, which is why it is trudging (and not, say, walking erect and stately).
 The point the speaker is making is that her book wasn’t ready to be printed
yet, or it wasn’t up to her standard.
 Normally, you would think errors and things like that would be amended at the
publishing house.
 Well that wasn’t the case with this book; at the “press,” the “errors” were not
lessened, as all who read the book may judge.
 These don’t sound like very nice friends after all.
Lines 7-8
At thy return my blushing was not small,
My rambling brat (in print) should mother call.
 The ‘little book’ was eventually returned to the speaker, who blushed quite a
bit when she saw it. (Her “blushing was not small,” which is an understated
way of saying she blushed a lot.)
 She probably blushed because this book came back in the form of an actual,
bound, published book.
 Her blushing might also stem from the fact that her name is now in print (line
8).
 The book is referred to as a “rambling brat” (compare this to the first line’s “ill-
formed offspring”) that now, in print, calls her (the author), “mother.”
 In other words, this collection of bad, ill-formed, rambling poems, now publicly
declares in print that its mother is none other than Anne Bradstreet.
Lines 9-10
I cast thee by as one unfit for light,
The visage was so irksome in my sight,
 The “rambling brat” of a book is cast aside by the speaker because it is “unfit
for light” (i.e., an abomination, a monster, something that needs to be hidden
in the attic).
 This book is “unfit for light” because its “visage” or appearance was
unbelievably “irksome” to the speaker.
 Note: the book isn’t not actually a monster or a person with an actual “visage,”
just as it is not actually a brat. The speaker keeps personifying her book,
probably to make it seem like a much uglier, trashier piece of junk than it
really is.
Lines 11-12
Yet being mine own, at length affection would

Thy blemishes amend, if so I could.
 In the same breath, the speaker now says, essentially, “well you’re a brat, and
irksome, but you’re mine” (“yet being mine own”).
 Since this book is hers, the speaker says, if it were possible she would
eventually (“at length”) at least try to “amend” its blemishes (faults, mistakes,
errors, its irksomeness or ill-formed-ness) out of some sense of affection.
 Technically “affection” would amend the blemishes, not the speaker.

 It is merely a way of emphasizing that “affection” for one’s own “children”
sometimes makes us do things.
 The implication here is that the speaker is unable, or will be unable, to
“amend” the faults of her ill-formed, irksome child of a book.
Lines 13-14
I washed thy face, but more defects I saw,
And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.
 The speaker washed her child’s face, but all that did was reveal more
“defects.”
 Then she tried “rubbing off a spot,” and that just made another “flaw”—it made
things worse.
 The speaker is talking about a book - she isn’t literally doing this.
 The washing and the rubbing are metaphors for various forms of editing and
rewriting.
 The book is personified as a child that is dirty and gross.
 Unfortunately, there’s no cleaning up or fixing this child, at least not according
to the speaker.
Lines 15-16
I stretcht thy joints to make thee even feet,

Yet still thou run'st more hobbling than is meet.
 The speaker continues to describe a metaphorical cleaning up or fixing of her

book. She says she “stretcht” the book’s “joints” in order to give it “even feet.”
 Despite her best efforts, however, the book “yet still” runs (“runst”) with a
really bad hobble that just isn’t appropriate or fitting (“meet”)..
 The word “feet” refers to poetic feet.
 The implication is that the poems in the speaker’s book are imperfect,
disjointed.
 The speaker claims to have stretched the lines - added syllables here and
there - to make the poems more acceptable.
 Even though the speaker really worked at fixing all the “feet” by stretching the
book’s metaphorical joints, that wasn’t enough.
 For some reason, the poems in the book still seemed to “hobble,” which here
is a metaphor for the way in which the poems didn’t flow smoothly.
Lines 17-18
In better dress to trim thee was my mind,
But nought save home-spun cloth, i' th' house I find.
 Metaphorical descriptions of the editing process are found here.

 “Trim” means something like “decorate” or “adorn,” so the speaker says it was
her “mind” (i.e., her intention) to outfit the poems in “better dress.”
 Unfortunately, she couldn’t find anything (“nought”) in the house except
“home-spun cloth.”
 So, the speaker wanted to dress her book up in some fine lace and silk, but
could only find some basic, homemade cloth. (This recalls the “rags” of line 5.)
 She wanted to make the poems look a lot nicer, a lot prettier, but she just
didn’t have the means to do it.

 The “home-spun cloth” here seems to be a metaphor for the speaker’s
talents /abilities when it comes to writing poetry, the “house” a metaphor for
wherever such talents are lodged.
 As with much of the rest of this poem, the speaker is very negative.
 She basically says “I’m no good at writing poetry. I can’t find the right word. I
can’t fix all the problems in here,”.
Lines 19-21
In this array, 'mongst vulgars may'st thou roam.
In critic's hands, beware thou dost not come,
And take thy way where yet thou art not known.
 The book looks really bad. We are again reminded of the “rags” of line 5, and
the “home-spun cloth” of line 18.
 The speaker says the book’s “array,” or appearance, is so bad that it is best
for it to “roam” or wander or make its away among “vulgars.”
 “Vulgar” here doesn’t really mean “obscene” or “gross,” but rather poor and
uneducated.
 The book is junk, and will be totally at home with the junk of the social
spectrum. The book should be careful (“beware”) not to come into “critic’s
hands,” where it is not yet known.
 In other words, the book is no good. Remember, it is the “ill-formed” product
of an obscure, unknown writer.
 Unknown critics could judge this unknown production very harshly.
 The speaker is adamant about keeping this grungy book away from potentially
cruel critics.
 Interestingly, the speaker really gives the book a life of its own here.
Somehow the book will be able to makes its way among the vulgar, or the
critics.
 Once again we have personification - if the book has a life of its own, the
author isn’t really responsible.
Lines 22-24
If for thy father askt, say, thou hadst none;
And for thy mother, she alas is poor,
Which caused her thus to send thee out of door.
 If asked about its father, the speaker instructs her book to say that it “hadst
none.” If asked about its mother - she’s poor, and that’s what “caused her” to
send the book out the door.
 The book has no father, only a single mother who was so poor that she forced
her child out.
 She forced it out by selling it - Metaphor
 At the beginning of the poem she blamed everything on her friends.
 Now the author acts like she sent the book out to be published because she
needed money.
 Perhaps the whole process of writing this little dedicatory poem has made the
speaker realize that her poems aren’t really that bad after all.
 One could imply that she doesn’t want anybody else to take credit for getting
the poems published.
 The idea about taking credit goes hand in hand with the book having no
father.
 The book having no father is a metaphor for the fact that the speaker wrote
this whole book all by herself.
 I.e. she “gave birth” (metaphor) to a book, without any male intervention.
 It’s like saying “Even though I’m a woman, I’m just as smart as any man and
can write good, smart poems just as well.”
Mothers and Children - Symbol Analysis

 The speaker of this poem thinks that she is the world’s worst mother.
 She’s very critical of her “child,” (the book).
 Parenting, motherhood, child-rearing- those are metaphors for the relationship
between the author and her book.
 Like a child, a work of art must be nurtured, developed, raised, taken care of,
cleaned, taken to the bathroom.
 Line 1: The poem’s first line starts off with a little derision from the speaker.
The book is described as “ill-formed offspring.” This is a metaphor that makes
the book’s contents into some kind of mutant child. Note that the author
blames herself (“feeble brain”).
 Line 2: Continuing with the metaphor, the speaker essentially claims that she
hid her “ill-formed” child (her book) from the public.
 Lines 3-4: The situation has become dire. The speaker’s friends kidnapped
(“snatch[ed]”) this “ill-formed” child and exposed it to the world! Exposure is
here a metaphor for the friends’ decision to get the book published.
 Line 8: The speaker says she blushed a lot when she discovered that her
“rambling brat” of a book-child called her her mother… in print! This is a very
poetic way of saying, “My book was published with my name on it.” The whole
“rambling-brat” bit is a metaphor for both the book’s “rambling” journey across
the Atlantic to England (to be published).
 Lines 9-10: Like we said, the speaker isn’t the best mother. Here she basically
tries to disown the book (“I cast thee by”) because she finds it so annoying
and irritating (“irksome”).
 Lines 11-12: As a mother, however, the author can’t quite ignore her “child.”
She wants to, but she can’t, because it is her child, she feels some affection
for it and wants to “amend” its “blemishes.” That last part there is definitely a
metaphor for “revise the work’s faults.”
 Lines 13-14: The metaphor of revision-as-cleaning continues here - now the
speaker starts to seem like a better mom. She tries to rub the metaphorical
dirt off the child-book, or wash its face, but with little success. She finds more
“defects” and creates even more “flaws.”
 Lines 17: The speaker attempts to give her poems a “better dress.” This
metaphor (a mother dressing her kids in nice clothes) makes the speaker
seem a little more motherly than she has appeared so far.
 Line 22: These lines give us our first indication that we’re dealing with a single
mom in this poem. The absence of the father (“say thou hadst none”) is a
metaphor for the fact that the speaker wrote these poems - gave birth to them
- all by herself, with no help from anybody else.
 Lines 23-24: Well, this “mother” is poor, which is why she “turned” her child
“out of door.” That’s a metaphor for the fact that she sent the child-book away
for publication - she sold it.
Writing and Revision - Symbol Analysis

This poem is about the relationship between and author and her book and about
writing and revising poetry. The speaker uses metaphors (“stretcht,” “washed,”

“rubbed”) to describe the act of revision. No matter how hard she tries, the speaker
just can’t seem to revise her writing to her satisfaction.
 Lines 11-12: The speaker uses a metaphor to compare the work of revision to
amending “blemishes.” Revision, then, is a kind of fixing or cleaning.
 Lines 13-14: The metaphor of cleaning off dirt - amending “blemishes” -
continues in these lines, where it is even more explicitly compared to washing
dirt from a child’s face. As we've probably all experienced, her revisions reveal
more “flaws,” and in some cases, seem to make things worse, or “dirtier.”
 Lines 15: The speaker uses the metaphor of stretching to describe her
attempts to fix the meter of her poems (“make thee even feet”). It seems that
revising poetry - making it metrically “even” or smooth - entails an act of
violence (“stretcht”).
 Line 16: The speaker’s attempts at revision have failed. The poems still seem
like “hobbling” works of art, which is a metaphor for the way in which they
appear metrically uneven: rough, not smooth.
 Lines 17: To trim in better dress - that phrase refers to decking out one’s kid in
nice clothes, and here it’s a metaphor for making the poems better.
Specifically, it probably refers to using better or more “poetic" language.
 Line 18: The “home-spun cloth” is also a metaphor for the poems' language. It
is “home-spun,” i.e. plain and boring, rather than elaborate or elegant.
Analysis: Sound Check
The poem reflects the sounds of revision and writing, with all their frustrations: “I
stretch thy joints to make thee even feet, / Yet still thou run'st more hobbling than is
meet.” Every line in this poem, you could say, is “stretcht” to make it be five beats
(pentameter). This line mimics the sound of the stretching—notice the assonance, all
those long E sounds at the end (“thee even feet”). Longer vowels take longer to
pronounce, giving the line the effect of being longer or more “stretched.” This
“longer” sound also imitates the speaker’s own perception of writing and revision as
a kind of prolonged torture.
In fact, if you take a glance at the poem, you will notice that long vowels are all over
place. They are less pleasant than their shorter counterparts, and they give the
poem a slightly more melancholic or doleful tone, especially when the word is a word
like “feeble” (1) or “poor” (23). This reinforces the speaker’s own frustration, mirroring
the content.
Title
“The Author, to Her Book”—in short, the title of this poem tells us that what we are
reading is what the author said to her book, or rather is what the author feels towards
her book.
Contextual Questions:
1. List four words that show that the speaker sees her offspring in a negative
light. (4)
2. How does the metaphor in line 1 affect your understanding of the author's
book that the poem is addressed to? (4)
3. Do you empathise with the speaker? Do you find yourself reflecting critically
on work of your own creation? (2)

Essay
In an essay of approximately 250-300 words, critically discuss how Bradstreet
uses figurative language and diction to provide the speaker with a critical
voice. (l0)
The child who was shot dead by soldiers at Nyanga by Ingrid Jonker
(Translated by Jack Cope and William Plomer – 1968)
The child is not dead 1

the child lifts his fists against his mother
who screams Afrika shouts the scent
of freedom and the veld
in the locations of the cordoned heart 5
The child lifts his fists against his father

in the march of the generations
who are shouting Afrika shout the scent
of righteousness and blood
in the streets of his warrior pride 10
The child is not dead

not at Langa not at Nyanga
not at Orlando not at Sharpeville
not at the police station in Philippi
where he lies with a bullet through his brain 15
The child is the shadow of the soldiers

on guard with rifles saracens and batons
the child is present at all gatherings and law-giving
the child peers through the house windows and into the hearts of mothers
the child who just wanted to play in the sun at Nyanga is everywhere 20
the child grown to a man treks all over Africa

the child who became a giant travels through the whole world
Without a pass
Glossary
cordoned – enclosed, closed off as if with a line of police or soldiers, or with
fences
saracens – armoured military vehicles
pass – permit for moving around (as a non-white person) during Apartheid 18
About the poet and poem

 1933 – 1965
 South African
 She had a very difficult childhood (parents’ divorce, poverty, rejection by her
father)
 She travelled often and became an acclaimed poet before her suicide in
1965.
 Ingrid Jonker wrote this protest poem in Afrikaans, in the aftermath of the
Sharpeville massacre.
 It was translated by Jack Cope and William Plomer.
 In Afrikaans it is referred to as “Die Kind” (The Child).
 Nelson Mandela read an English translation at the opening of the first
democratic Parliament on 24 May 1994.
 The poem reflects on the pass laws of Apartheid South Africa.
 The child was killed while on his way to the doctor with his mother – the
senseless of his death is a result of the senselessness of the apartheid laws.
 The repetition of “the child” throughout the poem emphasises the age and
innocence of the youth and highlights how many children were killed because
of the apartheid laws.
 There is a parallel structure in “not at” repeated third stanza. This rhetorical
device gives examples of where police brutality occurred. It gives an historical
accuracy to the poem.
 There is an allusion to the Bible (Gospel of Mark 38-43: “38 When they
came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with
people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, “Why all this
commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.”)
 The sense of pain, outrage, loss and wasted potential filters through the
poem. The poet fiercely longs for a time when a child is able to mature,
become a man and make an impact on the world, free from the restrictions of
the ‘pass’, which limits his freedom of movement.
 The poem is written in free verse – there is no formal structure – it does not
contain any rhyme and there is no regular rhythm.
HOWEVER – there is a pattern that the poet deliberately set for the poem,
which is evident in the repetition of phrases such as “the child is not dead”,
“who shouts Afrika” and “the child”.
Questions
1. What is the main difference in meaning between the title of the poem and
most of the poem’s lines? (2)
2. What is the purpose of this deliberate contrast? (2)
3. What does the child in the poem symbolise? (1)
4. What expression in the poem defines resistance, defiance and rebellion?
(1)
5. What does the altered repetition of “The child lifts his fists against his
mother / father” reveal about the generation gap that is reflected in responding
to the laws of apartheid? (2)
6. Comment on the effect of the denials in the third stanza. (2)
7. This poem was written in the 1960s in South Africa. Discuss its relevance
for the context in which it was written. (4)
8. What happened at Sharpeville? (And when?) (3)
9. Discus the effectiveness of the last, short line of the poem. (2)
10. During the Parliamentary address, Nelson Mandel commented that “in the
midst of despair, Jonker celebrated hope.” Does this poem celebrate hope?
Discuss your answer in a brief paragraph. (5)
11. How does the speaker succeed in criticising apartheid and South African
history? Quote in support of your answer. (Write 10 lines.) (5)

We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar
We wear the mask that grins and lies, 1

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes –
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties. 5
Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.
We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries 10
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask! 15
Glossary:
grins – smiles broadly
guile – cunning, sly, clever at tricking people
myriad – many (from the Greek word myrias meaning 10 000)
subtleties – clever and indirect methods
vile – unpleasant, morally bad, wicked
About the poet and the poem

 1872 – 1906
 American
 His parents were former slaves – they escaped to Canada and later
returned to the USA where his father enlisted in the segregated army. His
mother was a washerwoman for the Wright family.
 Dunbar was well-educated and attended school with the Wright brothers,
the inventors of the first successful aeroplane.
 At the turn of the century Dunbar was well-known as a poet and he was the
first African American to make a living from writing.
 Times were tough in America during the turn of the century. Many changes
were occurring, and many people had a difficult time coming to terms with
them. Black Americans in particular found themselves
caught in a culture that appeared somewhat better than it had been before
and during the Civil War. But the fact of the matter was: things just were not
better than before.
 Paul Lawrence Dunbar's poem, first published in Lyrics of Lowly Life (1896),
is a reaction to the racial climate of the late 19th century. He talks about

hypocrisy, deception, and the fact that black Americans often resorted to
seeming content with their social circumstances. But behind all that seeming,
though, is just a bunch of lies trying to cover up the fact that they were feeling
awful and unable to talk about their feelings in an honest way.
 "We Wear the Mask" is a lyrical exploration of all that pretending and the
truth that hides behind it. And since the truth is a rather painful one, we get the
sense that all of those masks aren't doing such a great job of covering things
up. However, Dunbar approached this poem objectively: he took a step back
and looked at things in a less personal, less emotional way, making "We Wear
the Mask" applicable to all sorts of people and circumstances. By doing that,
he opened up the world of poetic interpretation in a much more universal way.
 This poem addresses the concealed pain and suffering of those who have
been disempowered and are living in a society dominated by a specific
cultural or ethnic group. The disempowered often need to conceal emotions
such as pain, anger and frustration to ensure their safety.
 As you read "We Wear the Mask," consider not only the courage that came
with writing it (a black man was not supposed to speak out about prejudice)
but also the message that we can still apply to today's culture.
After all, it's not like somebody suddenly waved a magic wand and made all of
the prejudices and hypocrisies of the world disappeared. These kinds of
problems are still around today, and if people don't speak up about them,
none of us can really expect to see them change.
 The poem is written in the form of a rondeau / round.
 The metre is mostly in iambic tetrameter and it repeats “We wear the mask”
as a refrain.
 The poem has a musical quality.
 The theme is sad – it is a lament which has a strong connection to the blues
music originating mainly among African Americans.
 Dunbar avoided including any specifics in "We Wear the Mask." He did this
on purpose, perhaps with the intention of amplifying his poetic references to
masks and deception. But there's no getting around the history and motivation
for this particular poem, which is a clear reaction to the stifling racial climate of
the late nineteenth century.
 In Dunbar's "We Wear the Mask" society looks cold and even a little dumb,
when it comes to the realities to which the speaker refers. And since the
speaker is talking to a pretty big audience, we get the sense that he's
not limiting this poem to any one society or class. Everyone gets served up a
nice dish of poetic criticism.
Questions
1. What words indicate the duality behind the poem, in terms of "seeming" and
the reality behind the mask?(3)
2. How does the symbolism of "cheeks" and "eyes" contribute to this theme of
lies and deceit? (3)
3. How does the phrase "human guile" suggest this theme of lies and deceit in
a more universal way? (2)
4. How does the poem's refrain contribute to the theme of "seeming?" Why is
it repeated? (3)
5. How do we know that the suffering the speaker refers to is not just
experienced by him alone? Which words
indicate that the suffering is felt by a larger group? (3)
6. Which lines in accent the suffering that occurs due to the duality of the
emotional conflict the speaker
addresses? (2)
7. Why does the speaker appear more emotionally distraught in the third
stanza than the previous ones? Which
words in particular heighten the severity of the speaker's suffering? (3)

8. What's the connection between lies/deceit and human suffering? How can
all the suffering be alleviated or
prevented all together? (3)
9. Even if we didn't know the history behind Dunbar's poem, how can we still
apply the speaker's messages to
issues of race and society? (2)
10. What do you think is the endpoint of the "long mile" the speaker mentions
in the third stanza? How does
this mile reflect the ultimate goal that each class strives to achieve? (3)
11. How do symbols—like masks and smiles—help illuminate the poem's
themes? Why is it necessary for the
speaker to repeat them throughout the poem? (3)
12. Why does the speaker use a rhetorical question in the second stanza?
What's he really saying here? (3)
13. What about the ambiguity of the word "we?" Why do you think the speaker
chooses to omit any specific
identifiers? (2)
14. Quote two words from line 10 that clearly contradict each other. Discuss
the effectiveness. (3)
In Detention – Jeremy Cronin


Grade 11 Poetry 2o2o 2

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ENGLISH HOME LANGUAGE

BRETTONWOOD HIGH SCHOOL

Amiable Consoling Friendly Playful

Grade 11 Poetry Page 1

Humour-Irony-Sarcasm Tone / Attitude Words

Amused Bantering Bitter Caustic

Sorrow-Fear-Worry Tone / Attitude Words/ Negative

Aggravated Despairing Hopeless Paranoid

Neutral Tone / Attitude Words

Grade 11 Poetry Page 2

Grade 11 Poetry Page 3

 What do you think is the theme of the poem?

Bringing it all together

Grade 11 Poetry Page 4

Grade 11 Poetry Page 5

How to write a poetry essay

1 Sonnet 130: My Mistress Eyes… William Shakespeare

2 Eating Poetry Mark Strand

3 The Man Sethamo Motsaphi

4 The Second Coming W.B.Yeats

5 The Author and her book Anne Bradstreet

6 In detention Jeremy Cronin

7 We wear the mask Paul Laurence Dunbar

8 Amagoduka at Glencoe Station Oswald Mtshali

9 The Child who was shot at Nyanga Ingrid Jonker

10 Free Town Sly Cheney Coker

Grade 11 Poetry Page 7

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;

 This sonnet compares the speaker’s lover to a number of other beauties—and

Grade 11 Poetry Page 8

she (14): woman.

Grade 11 Poetry Page 9

with false compare (14): i.e., by unbelievable, ridiculous comparisons.

 In writing Sonnet 130, Shakespeare relied very heavily on strong sensory

 Shakespeare draws on sight, sound and smells when he compares his

Grade 11 Poetry Page 10

4. What is the historical and literal significance of Shakespeare’s use of the

Grade 11 Poetry Page 11

Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain, Metaphor

1 abroad - outside; over a wide area; overseas

Anne Bradstreet (about 1612-1672, England/USA)

The Author to Her Book Summary

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 The speaker continues talking about her book’s journey “abroad.”

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Yet being mine own, at length affection would

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I stretcht thy joints to make thee even feet,

 The speaker continues to describe a metaphorical cleaning up or fixing of her

 Metaphorical descriptions of the editing process are found here.

Grade 11 Poetry Page 16

Mothers and Children - Symbol Analysis

Writing and Revision - Symbol Analysis

Grade 11 Poetry Page 18

Analysis: Sound Check

Grade 11 Poetry Page 19

The child is not dead 1

The child lifts his fists against his father

The child is not dead

The child is the shadow of the soldiers

the child grown to a man treks all over Africa

About the poet and poem

Grade 11 Poetry Page 21

We wear the mask that grins and lies, 1