Leisure by William Henry Davies

Stare: to look at something or someone for a long time without moving your eyes.

Bough: a main branch on a tree.

Streams: it shines through an opening into a place or onto surface.

Glance: to quickly look at someone or something.

Enrich: to improve the quality of something

Stanza 1

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

The poet asks of how this life would mean if we have the time to take a rest and feel the beauty of life.

Stanza 2

No time to stand beneath the bough

And stare as long as sheep or cows.

Working people nowadays have no time to rest and have some leisure time as they are too busy earning money for living.

Stanza 3

No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

We have no time to experience the fresh air and the excitement of spending time in the jungle watching how the nature of the Earth works as we are too busy working in the town.

Stanza 4

No time to see, in broad daylight.

Streams full of stars, like stars at night.

Since nowadays people work very hard in the daylight, they turn to be tired at night. As a result, they have no time to enjoy the beauty of the night seeing that they need to sleep for their body need to rest to start working early in the morning the next day.

Stanza 5

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance.

We have no time to care about our mothers; how they take care of us and doing the house chores in order to raise us and to make us live in a happy and comfortable environment.

Stanza 6

No time to wait till her mouth can

Enrich that smile her eyes began.

We have no time to even take a look at our mothers to curve a smile again and the eyes that hide all the pain and suffer in raising us.

Stanza 7

A poor life this is, if full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

The poet feels that a life without appreciating the nature is seen as a lifeless life because we don’t have the time for our self to care of the beauty of nature. 

SAMPLE QUESTIONS:

i.                     What does the persona long for? Explain why.

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(1 mark)

ii.                   Give one  example of something he has overlooked so far because of his work or study.

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(2 marks)

A Fighter’s Lines by Marzuki Ali.

Worn: the past participle of wear.

Independence: political freedom from control by the government of another country.

Remnants: a small parts of something that remains after the rest of it has been used.

Crippled: who is unable to walk properly because their legs are damaged or injured.

Deceit: behaviour that is intended to make someone believe something  that is not true.

Erect: in a straight upright position.

Heirs: the person who has the legal right to receive the property or title of another person when they die.

Stanza 1

I am old and worn

And have lost all my strength

Sufferings

And the history of the fight for independence

Have forced sacrifices

That know no name

Or life

The first stanza explains on the condition of the poet who was once a combatant; a retired soldier. He is unable to fight anymore like he used to because he is old and has lost all the strength that he has had before. He explains that the war for independence sacrificed many lives.

Stanza 2

From the wheelchair of the rest of my days

I, body and energy crushed

See and cannot do much

These times are too big a challenge

For the remnants of my crippled years

The net of deceit spread everywhere

Disturbs me.

In the second stanza, through the word wheelchair we can recognize that the poet is a paralyzed person. These days are too challenging for him as he is unable to do many things on the wheelchair for him to spend his spare life.  He also includes that he is uncomfortable and disturbed by the dirtiness played by the people nowadays.

Stanza 3

In the name of justice

Wake up and form ranks sons of our ancestors

Be brave

And erect a wall of people

Stand up heirs of our freedom

In the third stanza, the poet urges the youngsters to wake up and unite to speak for their freedom and continue as what they ancestors had done many years ago.

Stanza 4

I have no more voice

It is you now who should speak

The last two lines shows that the poet has already given up and ready to give the responsibility to the new generation to continue their fight.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS:

i.                     What does the persona mean by sacrifices that know no name or life in stanza 1?

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(1 mark)

ii.                   Why is the persona urging the younger generation to continue the fight for freedom?

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(2 marks)

Heir Conditioning - by M.Shanmughalingam

Flustered: confuse or nervous.

Fluttered: insects or birds fly by moving their wings lightly up and down.

Necessities: something that you need to have in order to live.

Ignorance: lack of knowledge or information about something.

Pollution: the process of making air, water, soil etc dangerously dirty and not suitable for people  to use.

Destruction: the act or process of destroying something or of being destroyed.

Streams: a long and almost continuous series of events, people, objects etc.

Stanza 1

Grand dad did you breathe

Before air cons were invented

Was it hard staying

Alive without modern inventions?

Grandma weren’t you flustered

As you fluttered with paper fans?

Could you communicate before

Faxes and long distance calls

Became basic necessities?

In the first stanza, the poet asks his grandparents about the life before the technology arouse and become the important usage in the world nowadays. He asks his grandfather was it complicated to live in the life without technology as he refers the technology to the invention of the air cons. Then he asks his grandmother regarding the condition when she used paper fans to cool herself. He also asks his grandmother what were the possibilities for them to communicate without faxes and long distance calls compared to the world nowadays.

Stanza 2

Grandchild we lived

Before your age. Because

Of our ignorance,

We did not know

Pollution, stress, traffic jams

Destruction of forests, streams and

Hills

We feared God and nature

Now nature fears you and

Money is your new God.

The second stanza shows the answers given by the poet’s grandparents that sum up all the questions in one simple answer. The reason on why they did not experience all the pollution, stress, traffic jams, and destruction of forests, streams and hills is because of their ignorance; they were lack of knowledge by that time. His grandparents add, the only thing that they fear is God and nature but now, the nature turns to fear the entire human race and money is the only obsession to human.

SAMPLE QUESTIONS:

i.                     What does the phrase “did you breathe” in Stanza 1 convey to you about the child’s reaction?

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(1      mark)

ii.                   Explain one message that is implied in Stanza 2.

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(2 marks)

I Wonder - by Jeannie Kirby

Stanza 1

I wonder why the grass is green,

And why the wind is never seen?

The poet questions on why the colour of the grass is green but not the other colours. In this world we have so many colors like blue, yellow and gray. However, we can only see green as the colour of the grass throughout the Earth. The poet also questions on why is the wind cannot be seen. As human, we can feel things via the sense of touch through contacts made with our skin. Nevertheless, we cannot see the wind although we can feel it on our skin.

Stanza 2

Who taught the birds to build a nest,

And told the trees to take a rest?

In the first line, the poet wonders who gave the birds the knowledge to build such a perfect nest to live on. This is because; most birds build their own nest for their little ones and for them to live. As compared to animals, human need to be taught to learn some skills or abilities. The second line shows the curiosity of the poet on the trees that don’t move like other living things.

Stanza 3

O, when the moon is not quite around,

Where can the missing bit be found?

We all know that the moon is round in shape. However, sometimes the moon loses its shape and become half or three quarter of its real shape. The poet is curious on where would the other parts of the moon have gone to.

Stanza 4

Who lights the stars, when they blow out,

And makes the lightning flash about?

The stars always appear at night but disappear as the morning comes. This occurrence makes the poet to think that there is a person who light up the stars as the night comes and the lightning flash in the night sky.

Stanza 5

Who paints the rainbow in the sky,

And hangs the fluffy clouds so high?

Rainbow is the combination of 7 lines that appears in 7 colors after the rain stops. The poet is curious on how would the rainbow appear in the sky. Looking at the rainbow also makes the poet to question about the clouds located up in the sky that looks like they are hanging.

Stanza6

Why is it now, do you suppose,

That Dad won’t tell me, if he knows?

The poet is wondering on why his father refuses to explain all the questions above. This is maybe because of the poet is too small to understand all the consequences that happen naturally in this world.  

SAMPLE QUESTIONS:

i.                     Why does the persona think that the trees are taking ‘a rest’?

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(1 mark)

ii.                    What is the nature of the child who is asking all the questions

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(2 marks)