English for Life Reader Grade 8 Home Language. Elaine Ridge
on the foot of the bed
I ask the worst and best of his day,
trying to imagine a pre-primary universe,
its Liliputian taps and urinals,
its lockers with towels and mugs on hooks
with battered brown cases on shelves,
its corridors boisterous with children.
He turns and stretches a moment,
the heel of a foot shoved in the air,
rubbing at a sticker
of dinosaurs rearing on the wall,
then says with a grimace,
‘At break I was so lonely,
I went to the swings and when I came back
the friends I was playing with had gone.’
The words pierce my adult composure.
I find little comfort in thinking that pain matures us
that he is already his own human being.
I start to make healing suggestions,
which he considers for a moment
then grunts at in reply,
the silence deepening,
the heel continuing to rub at the door.
pierce – to make someone feel a strong emotion
composure – the state of being calm
| Post-reading | |
| 3. | Quote one line that tells you that the child is reluctant to get ready for bed. Why do you think the boy does not want to go to bed yet? |
| 4. | How does the child show that he loves and trusts the speaker (probably his parent or grandparent)? |
| 5. | Give an example from the poem of behaviour that is ‘boisterous’. |
| 6. | The word ‘pierce’ has been chosen because it is associated with discomfort or even pain. Why does the speaker feel upset? |
| 7. | Is the problem resolved at the end of the poem? Explain how you found your answer. |
| Pre-reading | |
| 1. | What memories do you have of being on a swing? What feelings come to mind? |
| During reading | |
| 2. | At what point do we move from seeing this poem as about a boy swinging to having a sense of what is going on in his mind? |
Boy on a swing
Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali
Slowly he moves
to and fro, to and fro,
then faster and faster
he swishes up and down.
His blue shirt
billows in the breeze
like a tattered kite.
The world whirls by;
east becomes west
north turns to south;
the four cardinal points
meet in his head.
Mother!
Where did I come from?
When will I wear long trousers?
Why was my father jailed?
| Post-reading | |
| 3. | In this poem, the boy’s perspective literally changes as he swings backwards and forwards, up and down. What does this mean? |
| 4. | How does the poet help us imagine the action of the swing? |
| 5. | Quote the simile (comparison) in stanza 2. How does it help you to picture the boy? |
| 6. | What are the “four cardinal points”? (If you don’t know, you can work this out from the context.) Explain how they become confused in the boy’s mind. |
| 7. | The first two questions he asks his mother are typical questions a young boy asks. |
| a) | What is important about wearing long trousers? |
| b) | The third question takes us by surprise. What does “Why was my father jailed?” tell you about everyday life where the boy lives? |
| Pre-reading | |
| 1. | Look at the illustration. What do we mean when we talk about ‘the man in the moon’? |
| During reading | |
| 2. | During reading this poem, decide who ‘they’ are. |
Message to the moon
Millicent L. Pettit
You’re not as dead as you look.
They’re after you.
They’ll strike oil on you.
They’ll build refineries on your forehead
and run freeways from your eyes to your mouth.
They’ll fill your pores with scrap iron
and your nostrils with smog.
Your chin will break out in a rash of billboards
and your cheeks will be pockmarked with trailer camps.
Try to look deader. Forget to wax.
Keep on waning. Get off your orbit.
Eclipse!
Don’t just sit there mooning.
billboard – large board for displaying advertisements along the road
eclipse – a time when the moon cannot be seen because it is in the earth’s shadow
mooning – idly dreaming
orbit – the path of the moon around the earth
smog – dirty air caused by smoke from factories or exhaust fumes from cars
trailer camps – caravan parks
waning – becoming smaller
wax – become larger
| Post-reading | |
| 3. | What basic warning is given to the moon in this poem? |
| 4. | Whose point of view does this poem reflect? (an advertiser, an environmentalist, a health fanatic, or a lawyer) Explain your answer. |
| 5. | Pores are the tiny holes in our skin. What is the speaker referring to when he says to the moon, “They’ll fill your pores with scrap iron”? |
| 6. | How does the moon stand a better chance against the “developments” mentioned in the poem if it forgets to wax and keeps on waning? |
| 7. | What other advice is given to the moon? Explain the humour in each suggestion. |
| 8. | Mention two ways in which the moon is personified and comment on the effectiveness of each. |
| Pre-reading | |
| 1. | This poem was written while James Matthews was in jail as a political prisoner. What do you think people in jail might long for? |
| During reading | |
| 2. | There is no punctuation and there are no capital letters in the poem. Why do you think the poet made this decision? |
i console myself
James