English for Life Reader Grade 9 Home Language. Elaine Ridge
readers’ interpretations of their parts, and whether they have captured the tone and meaning of the particular part of the poem.
| Pre-reading | |
| 1. | We have quite a number of indigenous eagles in Africa. With what do you associate an eagle, other than keen eyesight (eagle-eyed)? |
| During reading | |
| 2. | Why are the eagle’s feet described as “crooked hands”? What literary device is being used? |
The eagle
Lord Tennyson
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring’d with the azure world he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls
azure – bright blue like the sky on a clear day
crag – mountain top
thunderbolt – flash of lightning
| Post-reading | |
| 3. | How does the rhyme scheme of the poem affect the way we imagine the eagle? |
| 4. | Why are the places where the eagle lives described as “lonely lands”? |
| 5. | The writer describes the sea as “wrinkled”. Why does he use such an unusual metaphor for the sea? |
| 6. | Look at the last line. |
| a) | Punctuation, line divisions and capitalised words are some ways of signalling how a poem should be read. The last line begins with “And”, and the line before ends with a comma, marking a pause. How does this invite us to say the line and imagine the dramatic dive of the eagle onto its prey? |
| b) | The king of the Roman gods threw thunderbolts at wrongdoers to punish or destroy them. How well does the image of the eagle as “like a thunderbolt” fit with its image in the rest of the poem? |
| c) | What does the last stanza suggest about the eagle’s effectiveness as a bird of prey? How successful a hunter do you think he is? |
| 7. | Which image in the poem do you think is the most effective one? Explain your choice. |
| Pre-reading | |
| 1. | “Leviathan” is an old word for a ‘large sea monster’ or whale. Those of you who are familiar with the Bible or the Koran will know the story of Jonah (Yunus) and the whale (or great fish). Jonah was swallowed by the whale, and then brought up alive on a shore so he could do important work there. In this poem the ‘monster’ is a puff-adder which is likened to the whale thats swallowed Jonah. |
| During reading | |
| 2. | How does the speaker invite us to sense the surprising speed with which the lizard is caught and then swallowed? |
Leviathan
Douglas Livingstone
A puff-adder, khaki,
Fatter than a stocking of pus
except for its short thin tail,
obese and quick
as certain light-footed dancers
took a dozing lizard.
Scaly little monster
With delicate hands and feet
Stupidly sluggish in the sun.
Panting, true,
But lizards breathe mostly
As if their lives depended.
Gone.
Enveloped by a slack bowel.
O Jonah, to tumble to
Those sickly deadly depths,
Slick-walled, implacably black.
obese – very fat
implacably – determinedly or unchangeably
| Post-reading | |
| 3. | Compare the two creatures in the poem. Which one has the speaker’s sympathy? |
| 4. a) | There is a reason why the slow snake could catch the quick little lizard. Can you find it, in the first stanza? |
| b) | Explain what looks like a contradiction between “obese and quick”? In what sense was the snake quick? |
| 5. | To what unattractive or even disgusting things is the puff-adder compared? How is it like them? (Are these metaphors or similes?) |
| 6. a) | How is the lizard’s experience like Jonah’s? In what way is its fate different? |
| b) | Which two words in the last two lines tell us that this is the end for the lizard? |
| Pre-reading | |
| 1. | We have all seen nightwatchmen whose job it is to stay awake all night to guard property. What are the hardships of doing this job and what dangers does a nightwatchman face? |
| During reading | |
| 2. | In this poem we are presented with the idea that things might not always be what they seem to be. The fire looks warm. The watchman seems to be smiling. |
The nightwatchman
Fhazel Johennesse
the fire looks warm from here
and a red reflection diffuses and
glows across his face
he sits quite still a grey overcoat
drawn taut over his back
then I see his fingers move agitate
and briefly a flicker of firelight
paints a smile on his face and then
melts it again
i watch his fingers they slowly
slip across the scalloped edge
of the knobkerrie
and suddenly I know
i know that he waits for the
cracking of skulls and the
breaking of bones.
agitate – move in a disturbed way
diffuses – spreads
knobkerrie – a wooden fighting stick with a heavy knob on the end
scalloped – carved wavy design on the knob to make the stick more dangerous
taut – tight as if he is ready for action
| Post-reading | |
| 3. | Write down two things you can tell about the speaker from the way he describes this scene. |
| 4. | The scene seems |