Poems from Different Culture and Traditions
In the exam you will be asked to write about more than one poem and you
are advised to spend 45mins on your response. In the time available you
cannot write down everything you know about the poems, so it is important
you understand what the examiner is looking for. An examiner is looking
for your ability to do the following:
Read with insight and engagement, making appropriate references to the text:
You are prepared to explore the poems and can show some understanding
of them. You refer to particular parts of the poems to support what you
are saying.
Develop and sustain interpretations of texts:
You can explore the poems in some detail, and argue a particular point of
view about meaning.
Make cross-references:
You are able to make links either between different parts of a poem or
between two poems.
Select material and collate from different sources:
You can draw on evidence from more than one poem as you compare
ideas and approaches.
Understand and evaluate structural and presentational devices:
You are able to describe and explain the ways poems are set out. You
show some understanding of why and how poems are organised into
stanzas, how lines are arranged, how poets use features such as rhyme
which makes patterns in poems.
Understand and evaluate interesting uses of language:
You have the ability to explore ideas on the significance of particular
words and phrases. You can explore and explain poets’ use of imagery
and various uses of words chosen for their sound as in the case of
alliteration and onomatopoeia, for example.
These are the key assessment objectives. The questions you are asked will
cover one or more of these areas.
© 2004 www.teachit.co.uk
106750933
Page 1 of 4
Poems from Different Culture and Traditions
Poem
Traditions Differences Belonging Roots/identity People Protest
and the
and
to two
and
and
past
change
different
place
conflict
cultures
Limbo
Nothing’s
Changed
Protests
about
injustice
Island Man
Explores a
migrant’s
connection
with his
birthplace
Blessing
Two
Scavengers..
A response
to obvious
differences
in social
class
Night of the
Scorpion
Vultures
What Were
They Like?
© 2004 www.teachit.co.uk
A
response
to human
cruelty
Is based
on the
war in
Vietnam
106750933
Page 2 of 4
Poems from Different Culture and Traditions
Ring any bells?
Task 1
Match the poem with the poet.
Limbo
Nothing’s Changed
Island Man
Blessing
Two Scavengers..
Night of the Scorpion
Vultures
What Were They Like?
Grace Nichols
Kamau Braithwaite
Denise Levertov
Imtiaz Dharker
Tatamkhulu Afrika
Chinua Achebe
Nissim Ezekiel
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Task 2
Alongside the poets’ names write the country/ies they are
associated with.
Task 3
Read the quotes below. Which poems are they taken from?
a)
silver crashes to the ground ..
b)
More candles, more lanterns, more neighbours,
c)
as if anything at all were possible / between them ..
d)
.. the cool couple ..
e)
.. they picked / the eyes of a swollen / corpse ..
f)
When bombs smashed those mirrors / there was only time to
scream.
g)
The skin cracks like a pod.
h)
From the huts / a congregation ..
i)
- flash / of diabolic tail in the dark room –
© 2004 www.teachit.co.uk
106750933
Page 3 of 4
Poems from Different Culture and Traditions
Task 4 Sample Essays! You will be allocated one of the following essay
titles. In your pair plan a response to the title and be prepared to
feedback
a)
‘What Were They Like?’ And ‘Vultures’ are by writers from very
different cultural backgrounds but both poems explore conflict
and the cruelty of war. Discuss.
b)
Although the two poems originate in two very different cultures,
compare the ways in which both ‘Nothing’s Changed’ and ‘Two
Scavengers in a Truck’ are focused on a particular moment and
are concerned with the inequalities of the societies in which they
are set.
c)
Compare they ways in which the poets use very vivid descriptive
language to create pictures and mood in ‘Blessing’ and ‘Vultures’.
d)
In ‘Limbo’ and ‘Night of the Scorpion’, the poets share similarities
and differences in the way they use language in particular ways to
describe important experiences.
e)
‘Nothing’s Changed’ and ‘Night of the Scorpion’ are both ‘story’
poems in which an experience has a starting point, development
and conclusion. Both ‘stories’ are told in a largely chronological
way. Demonstrate this in your essay.
Task 5 Choose one of these titles and write a timed essay yourself at
home! Good luck!
© 2004 www.teachit.co.uk
106750933
Page 4 of 4