NEW RESOURCE combines rich context and analysis
with carefully selected range of tasks that address
all of the Matric IEB requirements.
• Historical and literary contexts
• Literary analysis
• Content, contextual and essay
questions, as well as varied
enrichment tasks
• Unique Act-based learning format
• Section on exam readiness
• Perforated rubrics
• Rigorously annotated edition
of the text included
• Accompanying answers disc
Enriching and challenging both educators and learners
P R E S C R I B E D P O E M S A N D L E A R N I N G M AT E R I A L S F O R G R A D E 1 2
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..................................................................................... 7
INTRODUCTION
TO POETRY
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Guide to reading, understanding and analysing poetry ....................................................................... 8
Guide to answering contextual poetry questions ............................................................................. 11
RENAISSANCE
INTRODUCTION TO POETRY
Introduction to the Renaissance Period ...................................................................................................13
Biography of William Shakespeare .........................................................................................................13
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RENAISSANCE SECTION
Analysis of “When I do count the clock that tells the time” .......................................................................14
Questions on “When I do count the clock that tells the time” ....................................................................15
Biography of John Milton ......................................................................................................................18
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AND GOTHIC
Poem: “When I do count the clock that tells the time” - William Shakespeare ............................................14
Analysis of “When I consider how my light is spent” ................................................................................19
Questions on “When I consider how my light is spent” .............................................................................20
BRITISH
MODERNIST
Poem: “When I consider how my light is spent” - John Milton ..................................................................18
Introduction to the Romantic Period .......................................................................................................24
Biography of William Blake ....................................................................................................................24
AMERICAN
MODERNIST
ROMANTIC SECTION
Poem: “Ozymandias of Egypt” - Percy Bysshe Shelley..............................................................................33
Analysis of “Ozymandias of Egypt” .........................................................................................................33
Questions on “Ozymandias of Egypt” ......................................................................................................35
Biography of John Keats .......................................................................................................................39
Poem: “Ode to Autumn” - John Keats .....................................................................................................39
Analysis of “Ode to Autumn”..................................................................................................................40
Questions on “Ode to Autumn” ..............................................................................................................41
VICTORIAN AND GOTHIC SECTION
Introduction to the Victorian and Gothic Periods ......................................................................................44
Biography of Emily Brontë .....................................................................................................................44
© THE ENGLISH EXPERIENCE 2011
SOUTH AFRICAN
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Biography of Percy Bysshe Shelley .........................................................................................................32
UNSEEN POETRY
Questions on “The Tyger” ......................................................................................................................27
WILD CARD
QUESTIONS,
VISUALS, RUBRICS
Analysis of “The Tyger” .........................................................................................................................26
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APARTHEID
Poem: “The Tyger” - William Blake .........................................................................................................25
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THE COMPLETE IEB POETRY RESOURCE
Poem: “Remembrance” - Emily Brontë ...................................................................................................45
INTRODUCTION
TO POETRY
Analysis of “Remembrance” ..................................................................................................................46
Questions on “Remembrance” ...............................................................................................................47
Biography of Matthew Arnold .................................................................................................................50
Poem: “Dover Beach” - Matthew Arnold .................................................................................................50
RENAISSANCE
Analysis of “Dover Beach” .....................................................................................................................51
Questions on “Dover Beach”..................................................................................................................53
Biography of Gerard Manley Hopkins ......................................................................................................57
Poem: “Binsey Poplars” - Gerard Manley Hopkins ...................................................................................58
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Analysis of “Binsey Poplars” ..................................................................................................................59
Questions on “Binsey Poplars”...............................................................................................................60
VICTORIAN
AND GOTHIC
BRITISH MODERNIST SECTION
Introduction to the British Modernist Period ............................................................................................65
Biography of William Butler Yeats ...........................................................................................................65
Poem: “The Song of Wandering Aengus” - William Butler Yeats ................................................................66
BRITISH
MODERNIST
Analysis of “The Song of Wandering Aengus” ..........................................................................................67
Questions on “The Song of Wandering Aengus” ......................................................................................68
Biography of Cecil Day-Lewis ................................................................................................................72
AMERICAN
MODERNIST
Poem: “Will it be so again?” - Cecil Day-Lewis ........................................................................................73
Analysis of “Will it be so again?”............................................................................................................73
Questions on “Will it be so again?” ........................................................................................................75
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APARTHEID
AMERICAN MODERNIST SECTION
Introduction to the American Modernist Period ........................................................................................79
Biography of WH Auden ........................................................................................................................79
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POST-APARTHEID
Poem: “Refugee Blues” - WH Auden .......................................................................................................80
Analysis of “Refugee Blues” ..................................................................................................................81
Questions on “Refugee Blues” ...............................................................................................................82
Biography of Lawrence Ferlinghetti ........................................................................................................85
UNSEEN POETRY
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QUESTIONS,
VISUALS, RUBRICS
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Poem: “Constantly Risking Absurdity” - Lawrence Ferlinghetti ..................................................................86
Analysis of “Constantly Risking Absurdity” ..............................................................................................87
Questions on “Constantly Risking Absurdity” ...........................................................................................88
Biography of Sylvia Plath .......................................................................................................................90
Poem: “Mirror” - Sylvia Plath .................................................................................................................91
Analysis of “Mirror”...............................................................................................................................91
Questions on “Mirror” ...........................................................................................................................92
P H OTO C O P Y I N G O F T H I S R E S O U R C E I S I N C O N T R AV E N T I O N O F T H E C O P Y R I G H T A C T ( N O. 9 8 1 9 7 8 )
P R E S C R I B E D P O E M S A N D L E A R N I N G M AT E R I A L S F O R G R A D E 1 2
Introduction to the South African Apartheid Period ...................................................................................96
Biography of Hugh Lewin ......................................................................................................................97
Poem: “Touch” - Hugh Lewin .................................................................................................................97
INTRODUCTION
TO POETRY
SOUTH AFRICAN APARTHEID SECTION
Questions on “Touch” .........................................................................................................................100
RENAISSANCE
Analysis of “Touch”...............................................................................................................................99
SOUTH AFRICAN POST-APARTHEID SECTION
Biography of Tatamkhulu Afrika............................................................................................................105
Poem: “Trespasser” - Tatamkhulu Afrika ...............................................................................................106
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Introduction to the South African Post-Apartheid Period .........................................................................104
Questions on “Trespasser” ..................................................................................................................109
Biography of Chris Mann .....................................................................................................................112
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AND GOTHIC
Analysis of “Trespasser”......................................................................................................................108
Poem: “Crossing over” - Chris Mann ....................................................................................................113
Questions on “Crossing over” ..............................................................................................................115
Biography of Chris van Wyk .................................................................................................................118
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MODERNIST
Analysis of “Crossing over”..................................................................................................................114
Questions on “I have my Father’s Voice” ...............................................................................................121
UNSEEN POETRY
Getting to grips with the Unseen Poem: Some Guidelines.......................................................................126
“Why a Poem...or a Cat?” - Harriet Stovall Kelley ..................................................................................128
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Analysis of “I have my Father’s Voice” ..................................................................................................120
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Poem: “I have my Father’s Voice” - Chris van Wyk .................................................................................119
“Two Thieves” - Charl-Pierre Naudé .....................................................................................................133
“Identity” - Julio Noboa Polanco ..........................................................................................................136
“The Elephant Tree” - Ian McCallum .....................................................................................................138
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“George Gray” - Edgar Lee Masters .....................................................................................................131
“When I do count the clock that tells the time” - William Shakespeare ....................................................145
“When I consider how my light is spent” - John Milton ..........................................................................147
“The Tyger” - William Blake .................................................................................................................149
“Ozymandias of Egypt” - Percy Bysshe Shelley .....................................................................................151
“Ode to Autumn” - John Keats .............................................................................................................153
© THE ENGLISH EXPERIENCE 2011
WILD CARD
QUESTIONS,
VISUALS, RUBRICS
WILD CARD QUESTIONS, VISUALS AND RUBRICS
UNSEEN POETRY
“The Fear” - Lily Allen .........................................................................................................................141
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THE COMPLETE IEB POETRY RESOURCE
“Remembrance” - Emily Brontë ...........................................................................................................155
INTRODUCTION
TO POETRY
“Dover Beach” - Matthew Arnold .........................................................................................................157
“Binsey Poplars” - Gerard Manley Hopkins ...........................................................................................159
“The Song of Wandering Aengus” - William Butler Yeats ........................................................................161
“Will it be so again?” - Cecil Day-Lewis ................................................................................................163
RENAISSANCE
“Refugee Blues” - WH Auden...............................................................................................................165
“Constantly Risking Absurdity” - Lawrence Ferlinghetti ..........................................................................167
“Mirror” - Sylvia Plath .........................................................................................................................169
“Touch” - Hugh Lewin .........................................................................................................................171
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“Trespasser” - Tatamkhulu Afrika .........................................................................................................173
“Crossing over” - Chris Mann ..............................................................................................................175
“I have my Father’s Voice” - Chris van Wyk ...........................................................................................177
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...............................................................................................................181
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UNSEEN POETRY
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6
P H OTO C O P Y I N G O F T H I S R E S O U R C E I S I N C O N T R AV E N T I O N O F T H E C O P Y R I G H T A C T ( N O. 9 8 1 9 7 8 )
P R E S C R I B E D P O E M S A N D L E A R N I N G M AT E R I A L S F O R G R A D E 1 2
The influential Modernist poet TS Eliot once said ‘Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood’. No doubt, he
was referring to the emotional power of poems like William Blake’s “The Tyger” or John Milton’s sonnet “When I consider
INTRODUCTION
TO POETRY
FOREWORD
personal milieu of each poem in this resource, we hope to encourage in learners not only an understanding of poetry,
but a love of the art form.
USING THIS RESOURCE
The Complete Poetry Resource includes the full text of each of the poems identified by the IEB Matric syllabus.
ROMANTIC
one must understand the context in which it was created. By providing a thorough background to the social, political and
RENAISSANCE
how my light is spent”. As true as this statement is, we at The English Experience recognise that to understand poetry,
Each poem is accompanied by a concise biography of the poet, an in-depth analysis of the poem and a set of varied
text by thinking laterally, we have included a ‘Wild Card’ section. This section includes a longer, more creative and lateral
question on the set poems, each of which is linked to a colour visual and accompanied by a comprehensive marking
rubric.
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AND GOTHIC
questions that challenge the learner to think about the text critically. To challenge the learner to engage further with the
Renaissance period to South African post-apartheid poetry. So, for example, the first section on the Renaissance period
includes the poetry of William Shakespeare and John Milton. Each section begins with an introduction to the period
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MODERNIST
The poems are arranged into sections that illustrate the progression of English poetry through five centuries, from the
that draws attention to some of the themes that are highlighted in the analyses. This structure will help learners to
and political climate of its time. With this in mind, we recommend working through this resource in chronological order.
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MODERNIST
understand how English literature has developed over the last 500 years and how it has been influenced by the social
The English Experience is committed to combating the scarcity of genuinely fresh and complete IEB English educational
resources. As such, in addition to detailed analyses of, and questions on, all 17 poems in the Matric syllabus, this
resource contains a guide to reading, understanding and analysing poetry, and to answering contextual poetry questions.
SOUTH AFRICAN
APARTHEID
THE ENGLISH EXPERIENCE
It is our hope that this product will spark debate, encourage growth, offer personal enrichment and challenge both
educator and student alike, while focusing on achieving exam readiness and success.
WILD CARD
QUESTIONS,
VISUALS, RUBRICS
UNSEEN POETRY
Enjoy your journey through 500 years of English poetry.
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POST-APARTHEID
It also has a comprehensive unseen poetry section.
© THE ENGLISH EXPERIENCE 2011
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THE COMPLETE IEB POETRY RESOURCE
ROMANTICISM
INTRODUCTION
TO POETRY
Although the term ‘romantic’ probably conjures up visions of flowers and chocolates in your mind, it also denotes a
literary, artistic, musical and philosophical movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The movement took
different forms in different parts of the world, but, at its heart, it elevated emotion and imagination over reason and the
RENAISSANCE
natural world over life in the city, a place poets tended to equate with greed and evil.
The Romantic Movement was a reaction to two key trends in 18th century European history. The first was the Age of
Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason, during which a number of philosophies that replaced emotion and
religion with reason and science, were born. The second was the Industrial Revolution, during which technological
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innovation led to rapid economic development and the growth of the city.
Romanticism responded to these two key events by focusing on the individual, the common man, the power of the
imagination and the emotional aspect of human experience. It also regarded the natural, unspoiled environment as
having a regenerative and healing effect. These ideas are perhaps best expressed in the writings of good friends Samuel
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AND GOTHIC
Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth. In “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, for example, Wordsworth depicts nature as
an antidote to his loneliness: ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud / That floats on high o’er vales and hills, / When all at once I
saw a crowd, / A host, of golden daffodils...’
Other notable British Romantic poets include William Blake, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron and John Keats. One of the
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most famous novels of the time (and one which is still read today) is Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley. The novel
examines human advancement and ambition, as exemplified in the technological innovations of the Industrial Revolution,
and suggests that these go against nature.
European Romanticism heavily influenced the form of the movement in America. Writers like Edgar Allen Poe embraced
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MODERNIST
Gothicism, a melodramatic offshoot of Romanticism as exemplified in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. Other
American Romantic writers, such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson were attracted to the
promise of individual spirituality, which marked a departure from the austerity of Calvinism.
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APARTHEID
WILLIAM BLAKE
(1757 - 1827)
The Romantic poet and artist William Blake, might be described as embodying the spirit of
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the era. During his own lifetime, he was labelled an eccentric because of his unconventional
ideas – many of which were simply ahead of their time; for instance, Blake believed in the
equality of all human beings, regardless of gender or race.
The poet and artist was born in London in 1757. In his early years, he displayed a quick,
UNSEEN POETRY
WILD CARD
QUESTIONS,
VISUALS, RUBRICS
24
inquisitive and creative mind, and so, at the age of 15, he was apprenticed to a professional
engraver. When he completed his apprenticeship in 1779, Blake enrolled briefly at the Royal
Academy before finding work with a book publisher.
During the rest of his career, Blake relied on independent commissions from poets and
patrons to support his family while composing his own volumes of illustrated poetry; for example, in 1800 Blake and his
wife moved to a village in West Sussex to illustrate the work of a poet named William Hayley while he simultaneously
composed the epic poem “Milton”.
P H OTO C O P Y I N G O F T H I S R E S O U R C E I S I N C O N T R AV E N T I O N O F T H E C O P Y R I G H T A C T ( N O. 9 8 1 9 7 8 )
P R E S C R I B E D P O E M S A N D L E A R N I N G M AT E R I A L S F O R G R A D E 1 2
Blake believed fervently in the power of the imagination.
INTRODUCTION
TO POETRY
Perhaps the best adjective for this feature of Blake’s
work is ‘mythic’ as he often used religious and
mythological themes in both his poetry and etchings.
the Songs of Innocence, published in 1789, and the
Songs of Experience, published in 1794.
When Blake died in 1827, despite his relative commercial and critical success, he and his wife were virtually penniless.
RENAISSANCE
The most accessible and enduring examples of this are
His work was rediscovered thirty years later by the biographer Alexander Gilchrist. Blake was then hailed as a genius as
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well as a mystic, a reputation which he holds to this day.
THE TYGER
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
1
In the forests of the night,
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AND GOTHIC
(WILLIAM BLAKE)
What immortal hand or eye
In what distant deeps or skies
5
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
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MODERNIST
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
AMERICAN
MODERNIST
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder, & what art.
10
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Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
15
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
UNSEEN POETRY
When the stars threw down their spears,
And water’d heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
20
WILD CARD
QUESTIONS,
VISUALS, RUBRICS
Did He who made the Lamb make thee?
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POST-APARTHEID
What the hammer? what the chain?
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
© THE ENGLISH EXPERIENCE 2011
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THE COMPLETE IEB POETRY RESOURCE
ANALYSIS
INTRODUCTION
TO POETRY
As has been discussed, the Renaissance represented a cultural and social revolution in Western thought. This revolution
began when Copernicus claimed that the Earth was not the centre of the universe, an assertion that was regarded as
heretical because a geocentric universe (which has the Earth and, by extension, humanity as its centre) was fundamental
to many doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. Questioning these doctrines led contemporary thinkers to challenge
RENAISSANCE
the Church’s dominant role in the politics of the day.
These formerly heretical ideas had taken hold of the European imagination by the late eighteenth century, when
British poet William Blake and his fellow Romantics wrote. Many of these poets no longer subscribed to a formal or
institutionalised religion, but recognised a vast spiritual power in the natural world and even in the depth of the human
ROMANTIC
imagination. Both of these ideas are evident in Blake’s powerful “The Tyger”, which was first published in 1794 as part
of the illustrated volume Songs of Experience.
“The Tyger” poses a question that has intrigued scholars for centuries. Referring to a tiger, the speaker asks: ‘What
immortal hand or eye / Could frame thy fearful symmetry?’ (lines 3–4). Read literally, this question asks what type of
VICTORIAN
AND GOTHIC
deity could conceptualise a creature like the tiger. The speaker’s basic assumption is that the nature of this beast could
tell us something about the nature of its Creator, much as we expect a poem like this to tell us something about the poet.
Read in isolation, the first stanza is deceptively naive, for example, the description ‘burning bright’ (line 1) has positive
connotations of starlight, perhaps, or a cheerful bonfire, and is used to refer to the orange of the tiger’s coat. The only
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MODERNIST
hint of the violent threat the tiger represents, is the adjective ‘fearful’ (line 4).
As the speaker’s question and the metaphor of fire are developed over the next three stanzas, the beast’s capacity for
violence becomes clear. In stanza two, the speaker wonders whether the fire of the tiger’s eyes comes from hell, the
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‘distant deeps’ or heaven, the ‘skies’ (line 5). In stanza
four, the speaker suggests that the tiger’s brain was
forged in a blacksmith’s fire. The tension of these lines
is heightened by the repetition of the word ‘what’, a
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poetic device known as anaphora.
The metaphor of fire is effective because it refers to the
colour of the tiger’s coat. It is also effective because
the nature of fire is essentially contradictory. Fire can
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POST-APARTHEID
be both a creative element and a destructive force. It is
the element at the centre of humankind’s survival and
development, as well as a force which can easily run out of control and burn down an entire city. This dichotomy is
further complicated by the fact that fire can purify and even create through destruction, as new vegetation grows after
UNSEEN POETRY
a veld fire.
The implicit contradiction of the metaphor is made explicit in the fifth stanza. The speaker describes how the Creator
smiles even as the heavens cry before asking: ‘Did He who made the Lamb make thee?’ This variation on the question
of the previous four stanzas refers to another poem written by Blake, titled “The Lamb”. This poem was published in the
WILD CARD
QUESTIONS,
VISUALS, RUBRICS
volume Songs of Innocence five years before the publication of Songs of Experience.
“The Lamb” is an almost child-like revelation of the beauty and innocence of the natural world, which (just as in this
poem) is thought to reveal the nature of its Creator. In that poem, the speaker asks: ‘Dost thou know who made thee?’ In
light of this, the question posed by the speaker in “The Tyger” takes on a more sinister dimension. The speaker is asking
26
P H OTO C O P Y I N G O F T H I S R E S O U R C E I S I N C O N T R AV E N T I O N O F T H E C O P Y R I G H T A C T ( N O. 9 8 1 9 7 8 )
P R E S C R I B E D P O E M S A N D L E A R N I N G M AT E R I A L S F O R G R A D E 1 2
question that has plagued scholars for centuries: how can good and evil exist in the same world?
It is in light of the tension between the tiger’s capacity for violence and the lamb’s innocence, and the moral implications
of this, that the last stanza repeats the lines of the first stanza. While the first stanza was deceptively naive, the last
INTRODUCTION
TO POETRY
how to reconcile the innocent and violent aspects of the natural world, and therefore of this world’s Creator. This in the
speaker asks ‘What immortal hand or eye / Could frame thy fearful symmetry?’ (lines 3–4); in the last, he replaces the
word ‘could’ with ‘dare’ (line 24).
The last stanza might be described as angry or even accusing. The speaker seems to be asking what right the Creator
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stanza is unsettling and threatening. There is a crucial difference in the last line of either stanza: in the first stanza, the
the poem lacks resolution. It cannot give us an answer to the problem it poses; however, other critics argue that this last
stanza holds a vital clue. The lines ‘Tyger! Tyger! burning bright / In the forests of the night’ (lines 1–2) retain their initial
beauty and power, and so the speaker might be suggesting that beauty and violence, good and evil, are intertwined and
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has to create a world in which both violence and innocence, good and evil, exist. Some critics argue that, for this reason,
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cannot be separated. This is the nature of a dichotomy.
QUESTIONS
(3)
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1. Identify the Figure of Speech that is used in line 1 and explain its effectiveness.
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2. Represent the rhyme scheme of the poem (using the form ABCD).
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3. Who is the speaker addressing in the poem? Justify your answer by quoting from the poem.
(2)
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© THE ENGLISH EXPERIENCE 2011
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4. Define the verb ‘dare’ in your own words, explaining why the poet has repeated it in lines 7, 8, 16 and 24.
(3)
INTRODUCTION
TO POETRY
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5. Paraphrase stanza three.
(4)
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6. What does the lamb symbolise and why is this symbol important in the context of the poem?
(4)
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7. a. Choose one of the references to fire in the poem. Explain it in your own words stating whether you think the
metaphorical usage is effective. Offer sound reasoning for your response.
(5)
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UNSEEN POETRY
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P H OTO C O P Y I N G O F T H I S R E S O U R C E I S I N C O N T R AV E N T I O N O F T H E C O P Y R I G H T A C T ( N O. 9 8 1 9 7 8 )
P R E S C R I B E D P O E M S A N D L E A R N I N G M AT E R I A L S F O R G R A D E 1 2
metaphor of fire develops the theme of the poem.
(5)
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INTRODUCTION
TO POETRY
7. b. Consider your response to the previous question. In a well-constructed paragraph, explain how the extended
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8. What effect is created by repeating the first stanza of the poem at the end?
(3)
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9. b. Considering your answer to the previous question, explain what the speaker might be implying. (Note: there may be
several answers to this question, not all of which have been covered in this analysis.)
(3)
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POST-APARTHEID
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(3)
UNSEEN POETRY
9. a. Using your own words, explain what the speaker is explicitly asking in the poem.
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© THE ENGLISH EXPERIENCE 2011
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THE COMPLETE IEB POETRY RESOURCE
10. Some more recent editions of this poem use the modern spelling of ‘tiger’; others don’t. Can you think of a good
INTRODUCTION
TO POETRY
reason for retaining the archaic spelling of ‘tyger’?
(2)
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11. a. “The Tyger” and other poems by William Blake have influenced generations of musicians, from classical composers
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to rock bands. Why do you think this is?
(3)
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____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
VICTORIAN
AND GOTHIC
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
BRITISH
MODERNIST
11. b. Did you appreciate the poem? Offer sound reasoning for your response.
(3)
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
AMERICAN
MODERNIST
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
SOUTH AFRICAN
APARTHEID
12. Compare William Blake’s “The Tyger” with “The Horses” by the Modernist Ted Hughes. (A copy of “The Horses”
follows this question). Like “The Tyger”, “The Horses” uses simple but emotive language and rhythm to convey complex,
even unsettling ideas about spirituality and one’s relationship with the natural world. Write a paragraph discussing the
SOUTH AFRICAN
POST-APARTHEID
different ways in which the two poets address their subject.
(5)
THE HORSES
(TED HUGHES)
UNSEEN POETRY
I climbed through woods in the hour-before-dawn dark.
1
Evil air, a frost-making stillness,
Not a leaf, not a bird,
WILD CARD
QUESTIONS,
VISUALS, RUBRICS
A world cast in frost. I came out above the wood
Where my breath left tortuous statues in the iron light.
5
But the valleys were draining the darkness
30
P H OTO C O P Y I N G O F T H I S R E S O U R C E I S I N C O N T R AV E N T I O N O F T H E C O P Y R I G H T A C T ( N O. 9 8 1 9 7 8 )
P R E S C R I B E D P O E M S A N D L E A R N I N G M AT E R I A L S F O R G R A D E 1 2
Till the moorline—blackening dregs of the brightening grey—
INTRODUCTION
TO POETRY
Halved the sky ahead. And I saw the horses:
Huge in the dense grey—ten together—
10
RENAISSANCE
Megalith-still. They breathed, making no move,
With draped manes and tilted hind-hooves,
Making no sound.
ROMANTIC
I passed: not one snorted or jerked its head.
Grey silent fragments
Of a grey still world.
15
VICTORIAN
AND GOTHIC
I listened in emptiness on the moor-ridge.
The curlew’s tear turned its edge on the silence.
Orange, red, red erupted.
Silently, and splitting to its core tore and flung cloud,
20
BRITISH
MODERNIST
Slowly detail leafed from the darkness. Then the sun
And the big planets hanging—
I turned
Stumbling in a fever of a dream, down towards
The dark woods, from the kindling tops,
25
SOUTH AFRICAN
APARTHEID
AMERICAN
MODERNIST
Shook the gulf open, showed blue,
SOUTH AFRICAN
POST-APARTHEID
And came to the horses.
There, still they stood,
But now steaming, and glistening under the flow of light,
Stirring under a thaw while all around them
30
The frost showed its fires. But still they made no sound.
UNSEEN POETRY
Their draped stone manes, their tilted hind-hooves
Their hung heads patient as the horizons,
High over valleys, in the red levelling rays—
© THE ENGLISH EXPERIENCE 2011
WILD CARD
QUESTIONS,
VISUALS, RUBRICS
Not one snorted or stamped,
31
THE COMPLETE IEB POETRY RESOURCE
In din of the crowded streets, going among the years, the faces,
35
INTRODUCTION
TO POETRY
May I still meet my memory in so lonely a place
Between the streams and the red clouds, hearing curlews,
Hearing the horizons endure.
RENAISSANCE
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ROMANTIC
____________________________________________________________________________________
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____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
VICTORIAN
AND GOTHIC
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____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
BRITISH
MODERNIST
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
AMERICAN
MODERNIST
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
[50]
SOUTH AFRICAN
APARTHEID
SOUTH AFRICAN
POST-APARTHEID
UNSEEN POETRY
WILD CARD
QUESTIONS,
VISUALS, RUBRICS
32
P H OTO C O P Y I N G O F T H I S R E S O U R C E I S I N C O N T R AV E N T I O N O F T H E C O P Y R I G H T A C T ( N O. 9 8 1 9 7 8 )
P R E S C R I B E D P O E M S A N D L E A R N I N G M AT E R I A L S F O R G R A D E 1 2
INTRODUCTION
TO POETRY
UNSEEN POETRY
TWO THIEVES
(CHARL-PIERRE NAUDÉ)
1
RENAISSANCE
That was the day I lost everything I owned.
Cleaned out, ransacked, completely unexpected.
By two strangers, a young woman and a little girl.
There was a warning out on this latest tactic.
5
ROMANTIC
They use innocents, then ambush you from behind.
I heard the soft, shy knocks at my front door.
Like a Visitation, from the Other Side.
I waited for the crowbar sounds, a bread knife in my hand.
Until the laughter left, the crystal sacrament.
10
VICTORIAN
AND GOTHIC
Testing, of course, if someone is home
In a flutter, like two pigeons from a silk bag.
BRITISH
MODERNIST
But I remained prepared. I still don’t understand.
I heeded the warning. I knew they would return.
But none of this saved me from the terrible deception.
15
They’ve almost given up hope, the woman said.
Her daughter would like a leaf from my tree, because it’s silver.
AMERICAN
MODERNIST
I opened the door, the knife behind my back.
Lurking behind, the reason for the decoy.
They were poor, but crowned with smiles.
20
Ask God for a leaf, it’s His tree, I said grumpily.
SOUTH AFRICAN
APARTHEID
I looked right past them for the danger
I watched them walk away, cloaked in their music.
Mother and daughter. With their miracle, their little leaf.
25
Nobody attacked me. Nothing else happened.
Except that I lost my desire to own anything.
And if you lose the desire, you lose everything.
UNSEEN POETRY
Oblivious to the fact that then she would be dead.
SOUTH AFRICAN
POST-APARTHEID
Another man wanted to shoot us, the child said proudly;
WILD CARD
QUESTIONS,
VISUALS, RUBRICS
They robbed me blind, those two thieves.
© THE ENGLISH EXPERIENCE 2011
133
THE COMPLETE IEB POETRY RESOURCE
QUESTIONS
INTRODUCTION
TO POETRY
1. Explain why the opening line of the poem is arresting.
(1)
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
RENAISSANCE
2. The first three lines of this poem are all fragmented (incomplete) sentences. They are also all end-stopped. How does
this affect the way the poet wants us to read the lines?
(2)
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
ROMANTIC
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
VICTORIAN
AND GOTHIC
3. What ploy was the speaker expecting the robbers to use? Was he prepared for it? Substantiate your answer.
(3)
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
BRITISH
MODERNIST
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
AMERICAN
MODERNIST
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
SOUTH AFRICAN
APARTHEID
4. What phrase in lines 1 to 10 subtly changes the reader’s attitude to the robbers and why?
(2)
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
SOUTH AFRICAN
POST-APARTHEID
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
5. Explain how the mother and child had robbed the poet of ‘everything’.
(2)
UNSEEN POETRY
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
WILD CARD
QUESTIONS,
VISUALS, RUBRICS
134
____________________________________________________________________________________
P H OTO C O P Y I N G O F T H I S R E S O U R C E I S I N C O N T R AV E N T I O N O F T H E C O P Y R I G H T A C T ( N O. 9 8 1 9 7 8 )
P R E S C R I B E D P O E M S A N D L E A R N I N G M AT E R I A L S F O R G R A D E 1 2
those two thieves’. Explain.
(2)
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
TO POETRY
6. The title of the poem “Two Thieves” changes its meaning by the time we get to the last line: ‘They robbed me blind,
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
RENAISSANCE
____________________________________________________________________________________
OZYMANDIAS OF EGYPT
I met a traveller from an antique land
ROMANTIC
(PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY)
1
Who said: ‘Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
VICTORIAN
AND GOTHIC
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
5
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
BRITISH
MODERNIST
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
10
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.’
7. Are there any similarities in the themes of these two poems or are they as different (regarding theme) as they are in
style, tone and structure?
(3)
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____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
SOUTH AFRICAN
APARTHEID
AMERICAN
MODERNIST
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!”
SOUTH AFRICAN
POST-APARTHEID
“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
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UNSEEN POETRY
____________________________________________________________________________________
[15]
© THE ENGLISH EXPERIENCE 2011
WILD CARD
QUESTIONS,
VISUALS, RUBRICS
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135
P R E S C R I B E D P O E M S A N D L E A R N I N G M AT E R I A L S F O R G R A D E 1 2
THE COMPLETE IEB POETRY RESOURCE
RUBRIC
INTRODUCTION
TO POETRY
WILD CARD QUESTION
“DOVER BEACH” - MATTHEW ARNOLD
Class: _________________________________________
Date: __________________________________________
RENAISSANCE
Name: _________________________________________
BRITISH
MODERNIST
VICTORIAN
AND GOTHIC
In an essay of 400–600 words, discuss the emotional state of
the poet in “Dover Beach” comparing and contrasting it with the
emotions expressed in Edvard Munch’s famous painting “The
Scream” alongside.
ROMANTIC
ESSAY QUESTION
OUTSTANDING
ACHIEVEMENT
LEVELS
LEVEL 1–2
LEVEL 3–4
LEVEL 5–6
LEVEL 7
0 –1.5
2 - 2.5
3 - 3.5
4-5
MARKS
/5
FOCUS AND
STRUCTURE
MARKS
Too many random ideas that
are not linked effectively.
/5
LANGUAGE
CONVENTIONS
MARKS
Essay lacks cohesion.
0 –1.5
Bland, pedestrian diction and
blunt, inappropriate tone.
Grammatical, punctuation
and spelling errors impede
meaning.
/15
0 - 5.5
Not enough detail provided.
CONTENT
No or few links made between
the poem and the visual.
Mostly clichéd or predictable
ideas.
No insight.
TOTAL MARKS:
Several sections are not
relevant.
Essay is disjointed in some
sections, but a general
discussion of aspects of the
topic emerges.
Many ideas are discussed, but
some detail is irrelevant.
Ideas are mostly well linked,
but one or two ideas are not
sequenced logically.
2 - 2.5
Diction and tone
generally appropriate, but
unsophisticated.
Some serious grammatical,
punctuation and spelling
errors.
Some analysis of the poem
and visual.
Some insights present.
Ideas progress logically and
are exceptionally well linked.
3 - 3.5
4-5
Some highly effective diction and
shifts in tone.
Masterful use of appropriate
diction, subtle shifts in tone
and very few grammatical
errors.
Several grammatical errors, but
generally a good command of
punctuation, syntax and spelling.
6 - 8.5
Enough detail only provided
in parts of the essay.
Essay discusses relevant
ideas in great detail.
9 - 11.5
Excellent expression.
12 - 15
Sufficient detail given.
Excellent, precise and varied
selection of detail.
Relevant analysis of the poem
and visual.
Insightful, mature discussion
of ideas.
Interesting ideas and good links
made, but essay not distinctive.
A deep understanding
revealed in analysis of the
visual and poem.
SOUTH AFRICAN
APARTHEID
SUBSTANTIAL - MERITORIOUS
ACHIEVEMENT
SOUTH AFRICAN
POST-APARTHEID
MODERATE - ADEQUATE
ACHIEVEMENT
UNSEEN POETRY
INADEQUATE - ELEMENTARY
ACHIEVEMENT
WILD CARD
QUESTIONS,
VISUALS, RUBRICS
CRITERIA
AMERICAN
MODERNIST
© (Wikimedia Commons)
/25
© THE ENGLISH EXPERIENCE 2011
157
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