PALMRIDGE

SECONDARY SCHOOL

GRADE 11

NOVEMBER 2019

ENGLISH HOME LANGUAGE P2

MARKS: 80

TIME: 2½ hours

This question paper consists of 11 pages

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INSTRUCTIONS AND INFORMATION
1 . Please read this page carefully before you begin to answer questions.
2 . Do not attempt to read the entire question paper.
3 . This question paper consists of THREE sections.
SECTION A: POETRY (30)
SECTION B: NOVEL (25)
SECTION C: DRAMA (25)
4 . Follow the instructions at the beginning of each section carefully.
5 . Answer FIVE QUESTIONS in all: THREE in SECTION A, ONE in
SECTION B and ONE in SECTION C.
6 . Number the answers exactly as the questions have been numbered in the
question paper.
7 . Start each section on a NEW page.
8 . Write neatly and legibly.
9 . Suggested time management:
SECTION A: approximately 40 minutes
SECTION B: approximately 55 minutes
SECTION C: approximately 55 minutes
10. LENGTH OF ANSWERS:

 Essay questions on poetry should be answered in 200–250

words.
 Essay questions on the Novel and Drama sections should be

answered in 350–400 words.

 The length of answers to contextual questions should be determined by
the mark allocation. Candidates should aim for conciseness and
relevance.
 Answer ONE ESSAY QUESTION and ONE CONTEXTUAL
QUESTION. If you answer the essay question in SECTION B,
you must answer the contextual question in SECTION C. If
you answer the contextual question in SECTION B, you must
answer the essay question in SECTION C.

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SECTION A : POETRY

CHOOSE TWO POEMS FROM THE PRESCRIBED POETRY AND UNSEEN

POEM IS COMPULSORY.

QUESTION 1

Read the following Poem carefully and then answer the questions which follow:

Mid-term break (1966) - Seamus Heaney

I sat all morning in the college sick bay

Counting bells knelling classes to a close.
At two o’clock our neighbours drove me home.

In the porch I met my father crying –

He had always taken funerals in his stride – 5
And Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow.

The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram

When I came in, and I was embarrassed
By old men standing up to shake my hand

And tell me they were “sorry for my trouble”; 10

Whispers informed strangers I was the eldest,
Away at school, as my mother held my hand

In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs.

At ten o’clock the ambulance arrived
With the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the nurses. 15

Next morning I went up into the room. Snowdrops

And candles soothed the bedside; I saw him
For the first time in six weeks. Paler now,

Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple,

He lay in the four foot box as in his cot. 20
No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear.

A Four foot box, a foot for every year.

QUESTION:

In a carefully planned essay, critically discuss how the poet uses the title and
imagery to convey the message of the poem. Your essay must be 200–250 words
(about ONE page) in length. [10]

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 OR
QUESTION 2
Read the following Poem carefully and answer the questions which follow:

Anthem for doomed youth(1917)- Wilfred Owen

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor be 5
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs -
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells,
And bugles calling for them from sad shrires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?

Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes 10
Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.
The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

Questions:
2.1 Identify two elements of a sonnet that apply in this poem. (2)
2.2 Quote two words or phrases from the poem that slow the poem is about war.
(2)
2.3 How does the simile, “die as cattle” impact your understanding of the battlefield.
(2)
2.4 Explain how the consonance in “stuttering rifle’s rapid rattle” links with the subject
matter of the poem. (2)
2.5 Discuss the effectiveness of the title of the poem. (2)

[10]

OR

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Question 3

Read the following Poem carefully and answer the questions which follow:

Sonnet 130 – William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

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 damasked, red and white, 5
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; 10
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.

Questions:

3.1 Name two things to which the speaker compares his mistress. (2)
3.2 Outline two features of a Shakespearean sonnet that you can identify. (2)
3.3 How does the metaphor of music in stanza 3 impact on your understanding
of the poem? (2)
3.4 Explain what the speaker means when saying his mistress “treads on the
ground”? (2)
3.5 Discuss whether you think the speaker’s love is sincere. (2)

[10]

OR

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QUESTION 4

Read the following Poem carefully and answer the questions which follow:

FUNERAL BLUES – W.H. Auden

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,

Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead 5

Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crépe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,

My working week and my Sunday rest, 10
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood; 15
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

4.1 On which sense does the speaker focus in stanza 1? (1)

4.2 Comment on the contrast between the carelessness of “Scribbling”
something and the message “He is Dead”. (2)
4.3 Refer to line 13: “The stars … every one”. Comment on the
appropriateness of this image in the context of the poem. (2)
4.4 Discuss critically the effectiveness of the use of language devices in
stanza 1, 2 and 3. (3)
4.5 Refer to line 9. Discuss the effectiveness of the metaphor. (2)

[10]

AND

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QUESTION 5
UNSEEN POEM – COMPULSORY

Read the following Unseen poem carefully and answer the questions which
follow:

In a station of the metro (1916) – Ezra Pound

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;

Petals on a wet, black bough.

Questions:
5.1 Describe the speaker’s experience at the metro station. (4)
5.2 How does the metaphor of “The apparition” shape your understanding of
what the speaker felt when he saw these faces? (2)
5.3 Idetify and explain the sound device used in “black bough”. (2)
5.4 Discuss whether the length of this poem supports its message. (2)
[10]

Total = [30]

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SECTION B- NOVEL – TSOTSI – Athol Fugard
Question 6 – Contextual Questions

Read the extract below carefully and then answer the questions that follow.

Extract 1

There had been a silence, as always happened at about the same

time, a long silence when none of them moved except maybe to lift
up a glass and hold it high over their heads for the dregs to drip into
their open mouths, or to yawn and stretch and then slump back
into their chairs, when one of them might scratch himself, another 5
consider the voice of the woman in the backyard, the old woman
who was scolding, rattling her words like stones in a tin, and all of
them in their own time looking at the street outside, and the shadows,
wondering if they were not yet long enough. It was not a deliberate
silence; there was no reason for it, being at first just the pause between 10
something said and the next remark, but growing from that because
they were suddenly all without any more words. It ended, as always
happened at about the same time, when the young one, the youngest
of the four, the one who had said the least, who had sat there and
listened to the other three, the one called Tsotsi, leant forward 15
and brought his slim, delicate hands together, the fingers interlocking
in the manner of prayer. The three looked up at him and waited.
Before that the one called Boston had been telling his story. Boston
always had a story. He started early in the afternoon when they came
together in Tsotsi’s room and settled down with the first bottle of 20
beer, telling it from then for a long time, almost to the hour when the
shadows were long enough and Tsotsi told them what they would be
doing that night.
Chapter 1

6.1 Refer to lines 1-5. What do these opening lines imply about the nature of the
men sitting in the room? (3)
6.2 Comment on the effectiveness of the image ‘rattling her words like stones in a tin’
(lines 6-7). (3)
6.3 Refer to lines 11-16. Discuss the descriptions of Tsotsi that contrast with his
character. (3)
6.4 The passing of time is measured in the length of the shadows. Mention two ways
in which this affects the reader’s interpretation of the scene. (2)
6.5 The author refers to the passing of time as ‘shadows’ that are either ‘not yet long
enough’ or the sun that ‘must be low’. What is the effect of these references? (1)

[12]

AND

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Extract 2

Morris Tshabalala was his name and he was also a man. But his
stature, the extent of his manliness, was not his body, because there was
very little left of it since the accident, and what there was he dragged
knee-high through the streets, using his arms like oars; nor was it in his hope,
because there was even less of that. How then did he measure 5
himself as a man? …because he used that word, throwing it back at the children
when they smiled, even though they had done so in pity,
screaming it once at a prostitute who laughed at his money and
desperation. Ask him and he will tell you. Bend down low where he
sits on the fringe of the forest of legs rushing past on the pavement; 10
better still, squat there so that he can look you straight in the eye.
Don’t smile, even in pity, don’t try to bribe him with a penny, because
only then will he give you the measure of his manhood.
‘I tell anyma – anyman I tell you – I tell you to go to hell Mister!
Go to hell and cook for your black sins!’ 15
Whatever else you could say or see about him, Morris Tshabalala
was not afraid. That is why, when the foot came down on his hand on
the pavement of Terminal Place, he had no hesitation in saying in
anger: ‘Whelp of yellow bitch!’
… 20
But this time it was different. The man said nothing and he didn’t
move, not even to smile or scowl. He simply remained standing in
front of the cripple on the pavement. Finding his way still blocked,
Morris Tshabalala threw back his head to swear again. But he didn’t.
He was moved to caution. Something in the eyes looking down at 25
Him, as remote as mountain peaks, as cold as sheer with threat, made
Him keep his peace.

Chapter 6

6.6. Like Gumboot Dhlamini, Morris Tshabalala is also a man. Discuss how these
two characters are different kinds of men. (4)
6.7. Explain fully what the sentence ‘The man said nothing and he didn’t move, not
even to smile or scowl’ reveals about the situation in which Morris finds himself. (3)
6.8. What is the significance of Morris Tshabalala’s referring to Tsotsi as the ‘Whelp
of yellow bitch’? (3)
6.9. Discuss the irony of the description of Morris, ‘Don’t smile, even in pity, don’t try
to bribe him with a penny’. (3)

[13]
[25]

OR

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Question 7- Essay question

The Novel illustrates how humankind can be deeply and profound affected by
events. Discuss this statement in light of the character called Tsotsi. Your response
should take the form of a well-constructed essay of 350 - 400 words.

[25]

TOTAL = [25]

SECTION C- DRAMA –THE MERCHANT OF VENICE- Walter Saunders

Question 8 – Essay Question

When the trial starts, Antonio is prepared to die. Outline what happens at the trial,
showing how Portia saves Antonio. Explain what we learn about Portia’s character
from the way she behaves at the trial scene. Your response should take the form of
a well-constructed essay of 350 - 400 words.

[25]
OR
Question 9 - Contextual question

Read the extract below carefully and then answer the questions that follow.

Extract 1

PORTIA Is this true, Nerissa?

NERISSA Madam it is, so you stand pleased withal.
BASSANIO And do you, Gratiano, mean good faith?
GRATIANO Yes, faith, my lord.
BASSANIO Our feast shall be much honoured in your marriage. 5
GRATIANO We’ll play with them the first boy for a thousand ducats.
NERISSA What? And stake down?
GRATIANO No, we shall ne’er win at that sport and stake down.
But who comes here? Lorenzo and his infidel!
What? And my old Venetian frien, Solerio? 10
(Act3, Scene 2, p106,108)

9.1 Place the extract in context. (2)

9.2 Refer to line 3: BASSANIO: And do you, Gratiano mean good faith? What is
Bassanio referring to? (2)
9.3 Before Bassanio make his choice, Portia asks him to wait for a day or two, Why
do you think she does this? (2)
9.4 Refer to line 6: Gratiano: We’ll play with them the first boy for a thousand ducats.
This is figurative language. Briefly explain what Gratiano is talking about. (2)
9.5 In line 9, Gratiano says, … But here comes Lorenzo and his infidel.
9.5.1 Who is the infidel Gratiano is referring to? (1)
9.5.2 Why does Gratiano refer to the person as an infidel? (1)
[10]

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 AND

Extract 2

ANTONIO Mark you this, Bassanio 1

The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose; 2
An evil soul producing holy witness 3
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek, 4
A goodly apple rotten at the heart. 5
O what a goodly outside falsehood hath! 6

(Act 1, Scene 3 p.44)

9.6 Who says these lines? (1)
9.7 To whom is he speaking, and of whom does he say this? (1)
9.8 What business is being conducted while this discussion takes place? (2)
9.9 What is the person of whom this is spoken trying to justify with his scriptural
story? (1)
9.10 What was the speaker’s view of this matter? (1)
9.11 Name and explain the figure of speech in lines 2 and 3. (2)
9.12 Explain the metaphor in line 5. (2)
9.13 Is the speaker’s assessment of the situation justified? Refer to the themes of
the play in your answer. (2)
9.14 Could the lines, in a deeper sense, be an unintended reference to the speaker
himself? Substantiate your answer with reference to the play. (3)

[15]

Total= [25]
Grand Total= [80]

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