ENGLISH FIRST LANGUAGE HG
GRADE 12
LITERATURE
PAPER 2
JUNE 2005
TIME: 3 HOURS
CHOICE OF QUESTIONS
Answer all the questions.
ARRANGEMENT OF ANSWERS:
Begin each section on a new page.
Do not write headings for your answers.
Write only the question numbers.
SUGGESTED LENGTH OF ESSAY ANSWERS:
Approximately two pages at eight words a line; 500 words
LENGTH OF CONTEXTUAL ANSWERS:
Aim at conciseness and relevance.
Be guided by the mark allocation.
Answer in your own words as far as possible, except when actually quoting.
PRESENTATION:
Accuracy in grammar, spelling and punctuation, as well as neat presentation, will count in your favour.
For errors of grammar, spelling and punctuation in the contextual questions, a candidate may be penalised by a deduction of up to a maximum of one third of the mark obtained.
PERSONAL JUDGEMENT:
Do not hesitate to give your personal judgement frankly. The examiners will assess your answers on the competence with which they are expressed and the understanding of the texts which they reveal.
SECTION A
POETRY
QUESTION 1(POETRY)
White child meets black man
She caught me outside a London
suburban shop, I like a giraffe
and she a mouse. I tried to go
but felt she stood
lovely as light on my back
I turned with hello
and waited. Her eyes got
wider but not her lips.
Hello I smiled again and watched.
She stepped around me
slowly, in a kind of dance,
her wide eyes searching
inch by inch up and down:
no fur no scales no feathers
no shell. Just a live silhouette,
wild and strange
and compulsive
till mother came horrified
'Mummy is his tummy black?'
Mother grasped her and swung
toward the crowd. She tangled
mother's legs looking back at me
As I watched them birds were singing.
1.1 Where is this poem set?
London a
(1)
1.2.1 Quote a simile from the first stanza.
I like a giraffe a
(1)
1.2.2 Explain what is compared with what in the simile you quoted in 1.2.1.
The black man is very tall a and his length is compared with the length of a giraffe. a
(2)
1.3 What emotion or feeling is the little girl experiencing in stanza 2?
Surprise/shock a
(1)
1.4 Why did the little girl step around the man?
She wanted to take a good look at the man a
(1)
1.5 Why does the poet say the man had “no fur no scales no feathers”?
The poet says that although the man was black, he was not an animal. There was nothing extraordinary about him, only his colour. a a
(2)
1.6 Why was the mother horrified?
She could be shocked that her daughter stared like that, that she asked the question, that she embarresed the mother. a
(1)
1.7 Choose the correct answer.
The little girl behaved like this because she thought:
A the black man was an animal
B she came from Apartheid South Africa
C she has never seen a black person before a
D she is naturally curious
(1)
/10/
QUESTION 2
2.1 Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow:
Robert Browning (1812-1889)
My Last Duchess
FERRARA
1 That's my last Duchess painted on the wall,
2 Looking as if she were alive. I call
3 That piece a wonder, now: Frà Pandolf's hands
4 Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
5 Will 't please you sit and look at her? I said
6 "Frà Pandolf" by design, for never read
7 Strangers like you that pictured countenance,
8 The depth and passion of its earnest glance,
9 But to myself they turned (since none puts by
10 The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)
11 And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst,
12 How such a glance came there; so, not the first
13 Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, 'twas not
14 Her husband's presence only, called that spot
15 Of joy into the Duchess' cheek: perhaps
16 Frà Pandolf chanced to say, "Her mantle laps
17 Over my Lady's wrist too much," or "Paint
18 Must never hope to reproduce the faint
19 Half-flush that dies along her throat"; such stuff
20 Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough
21 For calling up that spot of joy. She had
22 A heart . . . how shall I say? . . . too soon made glad,
23 Too easily impressed; she liked whate'er
24 She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.
25 Sir, 'twas all one! My favour at her breast,
26 The dropping of the daylight in the West,
27 The bough of cherries some officious fool
28 Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule
29 She rode with round the terrace--all and each
30 Would draw from her alike the approving speech,
31 Or blush, at least. She thanked men,--good; but thanked
32 Somehow . . . I know not how . . . as if she ranked
33 My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name
34 With anybody's gift. Who'd stoop to blame
35 This sort of trifling? Even had you skill
36 In speech--(which I have not)--to make your will
37 Quite clear to such an one, and say, "Just this
38 Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,
39 Or there exceed the mark"--and if she let
40 Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set
41 Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse,
42 --E'en then would be some stooping; and I chuse
43 Never to stoop. Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt,
44 Whene'er I passed her; but who passed without
45 Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;
46 Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands
47 As if alive. Will 't please you rise? We'll meet
48 The company below, then. I repeat,
49 The Count your Master's known munificence
50 Is ample warrant that no just pretence
51 Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;
52 Though his fair daughter's self, as I avowed
53 At starting, is my object. Nay, we'll go
54 Together down, Sir! Notice Neptune, though,
55 Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,
56 Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me.
2.1 What are the implications of the Duke's statement that in the painting the Duchess looks "as if she were alive"?
The duke obviously prefers the portrait a of the Duchess to the living wife a he once had.
(2)
2.1.1 What does the title "Fra" tell us about die painter?
He was a friar of a monk. a
(1)
2.1.2 Why do you think he was chosen to do the portrait?
He would have taken a vow of chastity and this would presumably have prevented him form having amourous thoughts about the Duchess; he would not be in a position to get sexually involved with the Duchess. a a
(2)
2.3 What do the words "if they durst" (line 11) indicate about die Duke's character?
He is a formidable character, everyone is afraid of him. It would take considerable courage to contradict or ask a question to the Duke. a a
(2)
2.4 Comment on die significance of the Duke's repeated mention of his late wife's reaction to others - her "spot of joy" (lines 14-15; line 21), "half-flush" (line 19) and "blush" (line 31).
The repetition is most effective as it indicates his intense jealousy and possessiveness; that he expected her to pay attention and respond only to himself/ This ‘ spot of joy’ seems to be almost an obsession, a source of extreme anger and resentment. a a a
(3)
2.5 What, in your opinion, were the "commands" that the Duke gave?
He ordered the Duchess to be ‘silenced’. He gave instructions that she be put to death. a a
(2)
2.6 Explain in your own words the warning the Duke is subtly conveying to the Count?
If his daughter doesn’t behave in a manner that is acceptable to him, she may face the same fate as the last Duchess. a
(1)
2.7 In what way is the reference to the rare sculpture in the last few lines an indication of the Duke's attitude to his wife?
He likes things of value not for their beauty alone, but for their value and rarity. The picture of the Duchess and the scupture of the horse are merely two works of art that he possesses. He does not regret the death of his wife. a a
(2)
2.8 Identify the overall tone of the poem and explain why this is so appropriate.
It has a conversational tone that is very appropraite for a monologue - the whole poem is a narrative, a one-sided conversation. a a
(2)
(17)
QUESTION 3
W.B. Yeats (1865–1939). The Wild Swans at Coole. 1919.
The Wild Swans at Coole
1. THE TREES are in their autumn beauty,
2. The woodland paths are dry,
3. Under the October twilight the water
4. Mirrors a still sky;
5. Upon the brimming water among the stones
6. Are nine and fifty swans.
7. The nineteenth Autumn has come upon me
8. Since I first made my count;
9. I saw, before I had well finished,
10. All suddenly mount
11. And scatter wheeling in great broken rings
12. Upon their clamorous wings.
13. I have looked upon those brilliant creatures,
14. And now my heart is sore.
15. All’s changed since I, hearing at twilight,
16. The first time on this shore,
17. The bell-beat of their wings above my head,
18. Trod with a lighter tread.
19. Unwearied still, lover by lover,
20. They paddle in the cold,
21. Companionable streams or climb the air;
22. Their hearts have not grown old;
23. Passion or conquest, wander where they will,
24. Attend upon them still.
25. But now they drift on the still water
26. Mysterious, beautiful;
27. Among what rushes will they build,
28. By what lake’s edge or pool
29. Delight men’s eyes, when I awake some day
30. To find they have flown away?
3.1 What do you think the “swans”symbolise?
Any beautiful incedent that gives meaning to life. a
(1)
3.2 Account for the poet’s writing “clamourous” wings in the sixth line of the second stanza, and “bell beat of their wings”in line 17.
These two phrases demonstrate the way in which we can let our mood affect our senses (what we see, hear, smell, etc.) When he was young and in love, the sound of the wings was like the song of bells. But now that he is old and rejected, the same sound is noisy and unpleasant (clamorous)a a a
(3)
3.3 Why does the poet use the negative form in line 19 and 22 - “unwearied” and “Their hearts have not grown old”?
He is saying the opposite of these things. The swans are unwearied because he is wearied. Their hearts have not grown old while he feels old. a
(1)
3.4 Show how the tone changes in the last stanza and explain why this is so.
The tone changes because the thought changes. The tone becomes more positive and philosophical. He must not allow the sadness from the past to influence his enjoyment of the present. a a
(2)
(7)
QUESTION 4
Mantis
1. He lifts his small hands
2. To god of nothingness.
3. Jagged legs stand
4. On pale green crutches.
5. The pear-shaped pod
6. Flanged for flight
7. All dainty lines
8. Except the head:
9. Except the triangle terrible as death.
10. Responding to his hands, I touched him once.
11. His minute mouth roared
12. In such a horror of silence that I saw;
13. I saw his face grow large as mine
14. The tender spring green blades of him
15. Thrust like vengeance. His vicious eyes
16. Glared. His mouth was red
17. As hell, the pointed face
18. Filling with knowledgeable malice.
19. His hands -
20. Came for me, crept for me, felt for me through the space
21. Of cosmic distances that make an inch.
22. Now that I am brittle as a twig
23. Time having squeezed the sap and wrung me dry
24. To the bone, to the outdistancing brain,
25. Being careftd to be quiet and restrained,
26. Would the terrible triangle of my face
27. Make him afraid?
4.1 Explain the paradox in lines 11 and 12.
The paradox is in the words ‘roared’ and ‘in silence’ - an impossibility. Although the insect did not make sound, it looked as if it was shouting. a a
(2)
4.2 Why does the poet repeat the words “I saw” in lines 12-13?
She repeats the words because they are a moment of revelation in which she both understood and imagined something. She imagined her won terror andhow she too would open her mouth and scream. She suddenlty understood - hence her repeating the word ‘saw’ - the relativity of things, in this case the size of one thing relative to another. a
(1)
4.3 How does the poet achieve a sense of horror in line 20?
She use repetition to achieve horror. She repeats the words ‘for me’. a
(1)
4.4 Comment on the effectiveness of the image in line 22.
She is old and dried out and has lost the moisture and sap of youth. She is like a twig, easily snapped. It is a particularly effective simile in the context of the poem which is about a stick-like insect. a a