How to Answer Poetry NECTA Questions (Questions with Answers Sample)
Poetry questions may appear in two different
ways thus calling
for different approaches.
1. Essay type question
2. Short answers type questions.
ESSAY-TYPE QUESTIONS.
v In this type of
questions you may be asked to refer to two of four poems that you have read in class. These questions are
answered just the same way as novels and plays. The only difference is the way we quote the poems. Remember
poetry is different from other genres
among other things because of its pattering. Words in poetry may be effective
because they are arranged in a certain
way. So if you quote
more than one line of a poem it is advised to write them just the same way they appear
in the poem.
E.g. Do you plead incapable
To bring about development?
v Also points
that cut across
different poems should
be discussed in one paragraph
citing those poems in the same paragraph. Additionally when the points are different, reference
has to be made in each poem individually. What is important
is to be sure that by the time you are done each of the four poems has been used at least once.
SHORT-ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS.
v These do not require
an essay. More often than not, you may have the poem printed and questions that guide you to appreciate that poem. Here do the following:
o Read the poem and understand it.
o Give the answers to the questions briefly and to the point.
o Give examples/evidences from the poem and if possible quote some verses from the poem.
EXAMPLES OF ESSAY TYPE QUESTIONS IN POETRY.
1. Like other forms of art, poems reflect social realities.
They try to make us see in a new light
and by seeing we are inspired to change. Use four poems you have studied to verify the
above statement.
A poem is a metrical composition in form of stanzas that uses imaginative language to portray social realities. It is true that like other forms of art such as plays and novels poems also reflect social realities which make us inspired to change from bad lifestyle to a good one. To verify the above statement references will be made to the following poems; “Lost Beauty” by J. Mwaikusa, “Development” by K. Faraja, “Building the Nation” by H. Barlow and “A freedom Song” by O. Macgoye. To start with “Lost Beauty” the poet portrays the following social realities which might inspire us to change.
The poet shows the effects of neo-colonialism. The poet shows that most Africans have been affected by European
culture. They try as much as possible to look
like white people
but in the process they lose their
identity altogether. He shows that his eyes “don’t see anything black” but he
sees “white skins and masks”. In a way the poet tries to remind Africans to know who they are and be proud of
their identity as he says “black is
beautiful”. This shows that he wants us to change the white’s mentality and embrace
our African identity.
Also, the poet portrays
African natural beauty. Africans were created naturally
beautiful. However, most Africans especially women have been struggling
to change their skin colour using
cosmetics, curl their hair or wear wigs to look like white women to the extent
that it is hard nowadays
to get a naturally beautiful
African lady as he says
“I want a black beauty queen”. This shows that we have lost our beauty.
So the poet urges us to change
this mentality and value our African natural
beauty.
In the poem “Development”
the poet portrays the issue of selfishness. The poet criticizes
the hypocritical behaviour of the leaders who think of themselves while the majorities are disregarded. He shows that they are more sensitive
to selfishness (egoism) than to matters pertaining to
national development. To be precise he asks whether they are incapable
“to bring about
development”. So the poet urges the leaders
to change their behaviour or else the majority should
take actions.
Additionally, there is an issue of corruption. Corruption is an obstacle to development.
It is however sad to note that the people who are corrupt are the same leaders that we have given the power to
rule us. He shows that it is difficult for a nation to develop when the leaders to whom we have entrusted power
are corrupt. So here again the poet
calls for actions so that we may change the system and put in power people who are not
corrupt if we need to get
development.
Coming to “Building the Nation”, the poet discusses about hypocrisy.
Many people in our society are hypocrites. They speak one thing and
do quite the contrary. In the poem
we see the PS goes to take a heavy lunch and leaves his driver. On coming back he claims to have eaten nothing and
says he had attended to matters of state. This is Hypocrisy and it is very bad in as much as national building
is concerned. That’s
why the poet says they were building the nation “different ways”. So the
poet calls for the masses to
take actions against hypocritical leaders.
Moreover, the
poet shows the issue of classes.
Classes are inevitable in any society
however there should be no class that exploits the other. The poet shows that there are two classes in this society.
High class represented by the PS who misuses
the public funds by feasting
and lower class who work on empty stomachs. So the poet is calling for the change in which the
national resources will benefit not only the ruling class but also the masses
or else the lower class may one day stage
a revolution.
And in the poem “A freedom Song” the poetess
shows the issue ofexploitation. The poem shows that the young girl Atieno
works for her uncle as a house help but she
is not paid. The uncle gives a lame excuse that “since she is my sisters child” that why
she “…needs no pay”. This is a high
level of exploitation. Today there are a lot of people who live with their relatives’ children but they make them
work all day long yet without pay. The poetess calls
for change as this is a very bad habit.
Lastly, the poet
discusses the issue of early pregnancy among children. This is a common
problem today. The young girl Atieno gets early pregnancy and dies during delivery because of lacking proper
guidance and care from parents who are busy with work and studies. Many young girls now get engaged in premarital
sex which leads them to get early
pregnancies and as a result some drop out of school or die during delivery or contact HIV. The poetess is
calling for parents to change this behaviour and take good care of their children.
In summary,
it can be seen that poems do not develop
in a vacuum. They address issues found in our societies and
provide the way forward. If we need to achieve
sustainable development and live harmoniously we must discourage and fight against
the evils discussed in poems that are still prevalent in our societies.
There is pleasure
and enjoyment in reading poetry
which makes it different from prose genre of literature. How do you differentiate poetry from prose?
Poetry is a work of art that uses creative and imaginative language
which arouses emotions to
portray social realities to the intended audience. Poetry as a literally genre differs from other genres
in many ways. This essay disuses some of the
features that differentiate poetry from other literary genres like;
plays, novels or short stories.
Poetry is arranged
in form of verses and stanzas. Unlike prose
which is arranged
in long sentences, paragraphs, and chapters, in form of a book, poetry
is represented in the form of
verses which are grouped together to form stanzas. Example the following is a stanza with three verses.
Your pain
Yet more my pain
Shall suffocate oppression.
Poetry employs
language economy. Unlike prose which uses long sentences that form paragraphs, chapters and a whole book, poetry on the
other hand employs language economy.
This is to say words are carefully chosen so that very few words present much information. For example in a
short poem like “Building the nation” we can establish
themes like; classes,
hypocrisy, marginalization, misuse of public resources,
poverty etc
Poetry is rich in figures
of speech and sound devices. Unlike prose
poetry makes frequent use of
figures of speech such as hyperbole, personification, simile, metaphors
and other but additionally poetry has sound devices like, alliteration, assonance, consonance, rhymes, refrain,
anadiplosis etc. for example Alliteration “Highly delicate diplomatic duties…”
in Building the Nation” or a Refrain “Atieno yo” in A Freedom Song”.
Poetry employs poetic license. Unlike, prose which mostly follows standard rules
like punctuation, sentence structure
etc. Poetry has the freedom/permission to break/violate certain
grammatical rules to achieve a poetic effect.
Look at the following verses, “Forward they go” instead of
“They go forward” in “Sunrise”, “I too am America” instead of “I am an American too” in “I too sing America”, “away
they go…” instead of “they go away”
in “When I Say I Love You”
Poetry is rhythmical. Unlike prose poetry is arranged in form of regular
beats that make it possible to be sung. There are regular beats that fall on stressed
and unstressed syllables that
make the poem easy to be sung. Stressed syllables cause rising sound while unstressed syllables cause a falling sound.
By alternating the rise and fall of
sounds the poet creates rhythm.
In poetry
the character is the persona
and rarely bears
a name. Unlike prose which
has many characters with names performing different roles, poetry hardly has characters with names. With exception of few narrative
poems like “A freedom song” most personas in many poems are
named after their jobs, relationship or the class
they belong to. Example, in “Building the nation” the persona is the driver. He
is named after his job.
Poetry is meant to be sung or recited. Unlike novels which are meant to be read, and plays which are meant to be performed,
poetry is meant to be sung or recited. Poems
are patterned in a way that they can be sung or recited that’s why they have sound devices like rhymes, alliteration,
consonance, assonance, reiteration, and refrain which bring about music and add effect to
the poem.
Poetry uses imaginative language. Poetry employs imagery and symbolism that makes the reader to dig deeper to uncover
the underlying meaning. Poetry is not to be taken
at face value because some poems contain two layers of meaning. Some words carry an extra meaning in poetry apart
from their literal meaning. Consider for instance words like “little
bird, and “honey
bee”, in Mwaikusa’s “When I say I Love you” they might be representing girls/women also he used
imagery like “sweetness” (image of taste), soft
soil, standing hard (image of touch), hasty ploughs/climbing your tree, images
of motion, and as I sing an image of sound. All these make the poem enjoyable.
Poetry arouses
emotions and feelings. Unlike prose, poetry appeals
to the five senses of touch, smell, taste, sight, and sound. The poem can move someone’s emotions and they cry or laugh. It can
make you annoyed, angry, sad, embarrassed, sympathetic
or amused, excited, and happy. For example the poem “If we Must Die” C. McKay and “Your Pain” by A Guebuza arouse
the feeling of hatred against the white people.
Poetry has the first
letter of each line capitalized (In Most poems).
Unlike prose in which capitalization occurs only at the
beginning of a new sentence or proper nouns,
in most poems the first letter of each line is capitalized. This happens
even when the sentence is still in
progress. Look at the following stanza from Okot’s “The graceful giraffe
cannot become a monkey”
Listen,
Ostrich plumes differ From chicken feathers, A monkey’s tail
Is different from that of a giraffe…
As a way of conclusion however it should be noted that the different features
discussed above are not necessarily
to be found in every poem. Some poems contain
some features and lack others. But there are some features which are
found in almost every poem.
3. With reference to two poems you have studied, discuss the main ideas you experienced in relation to your society. Four main ideas from each poem
Poems usually
have main ideas or the themes they want to communicate to the society for the purpose of educating,
criticizing, or correcting the societal ills. This statement can be proved by the main ideas presented in, “A
Freedom Song” by M, Macgoye and
“Development” by K. Faraja. To start with “A Freedom Song” the poetess communicates the following main ideas.
One of the main ideas discussed is the issue
of child labour. This has become a burning
issue that attracts the attention of most social activists. Atieno in the poem represents children who are working as
house girls and are not taken to school. Atieno is working at the age of 8 and strangely enough without pay. In ourcountry today we see many
children in the streets selling things like plastic bags, washing cars and so
on. This has to be stopped
immediately.
The second main idea is
Exploitation and Oppression. The young girl in the poem is not only exploited but also
oppressed by her own uncle. Although she works
and does all the domestic
chores she is not paid nor given
any good care. Here says the poetess.
Since she is my sister’s child/Atieno needs no pay
This is common in Tanzania today
where many people are working but are not paid
according to their labour.
Another main idea is the issue of Early pregnancy. This is another
common problem among the teenagers
today. Many girls today have failed to reach their educational
goals because when they become pregnant, they are kicked out of schools altogether. At the age of fourteen
Atieno becomes pregnant. This is partly due to poor parental care. As the poetess says that her aunt has gone to
study and uncle is busy with the work while
poor Atieno has no one to teach her what is right..
The poet also discusses
the issue of Poor parental
care. It is evident
from the poem that Atieno’s
parents are irresponsible. They have no time to make regular
follow- ups to check the
kind of upbringing their child goes through. Atieno goes to work in her uncle’s home at the age of eight, and
her parents are not making follow-ups. Atieno’s uncle is also portrayed as a bad parent since he mistreats his
own niece. Today most parents are avoiding this most important responsibility claiming to be so busy.
The poet talks about selfishness. We see the high class misuses
the national resources
at the expenses of the lower. Kundi Faraja criticises the hypocritical behaviour of most African leaders who
think of themselves (being the minority) while
the majority whose efforts are wasted are disregarded. Their selfish
tendencies are expressed by the poet in these terms.
I reckon the minority
More sensitive to
egoism Than to national development
This is common among
many post-colonial African leaders who are thinking in terms of me, myself and
I.
Moreover the poet has portrayed the issue of corruption. He shows that it’s not the common people who are at the forefront in giving and receiving corruption but the leaders. Critically speaking, the issue of development is even more complicated when we come to think of the fact that those to whom we have entrusted power are the same who are corrupt. Thus the poet comes to a poet when he shows there is no way a country whose leaders have invested in corruption can develop. He says
When the people to
whom We have entrusted power Are corrupt?
This is common in our country where we see ministers signing bogus treats that affect the country’s economy because of corruption.
Furthermore the issue
of Classes and marginalization is also
presented. Realistically speaking, classes in any society are
inevitable. In most cases it has been evident that whenever these classes exist,
the high class oppresses, exploits and marginalises the lower. To show how
detrimental class division can be in any society, the poet uses strong
metaphorical comparisons to bring the message home. While the minority (whom he
calls privileged few) enjoy the national cake, the majority have been
marginalized and disregarded.
I plead the stomachs Of the privileged few
Greater than the rift
valley They cannot be satisfied With a normal share.
This is common in
Tanzania where we see most government officials (the high class) enjoying life,
buying luxury cars living in decent mansions while the majority can hardly
afford the three basic meals of a day.
Generally it can be said that poems do not develop in a vacuum. They usually have something to communicate to the society that emanates from the society in which we live. They criticise bad behaviours so that we may reform and they educate on the good morals.
AN EXAMPLE OF SHORT-ANSWER-TYPE QUESTION.
Behold!
The sun has arisen,
And with it the sons of the land have arisen too Forward they go,
Well armed,
Singing praises to the beauty of the sunrise, With the determination of long-term warriors, Challenging the enemy
With the courage of a free mind And the vigour of a clear purpose. Sit and wait brethren,
Wait and see what glory they bring at sunset;
How they pay homage to the land - And their people!
Questions (NECTA 2011)
(a) What is the poem about?
The poem is about the sons of the land who have risen up singing the beauty of the sunrise. They challenge the enemy waiting for victory at sunset. Which is to say, they have started up a struggle for redemption of their land and hope to bring victory at the end of the struggle.
(b) For whom does the poem tell us that the sun has risen?
The sun has risen for the sons of the land which symbolically means the oppressed ones; the peasants, workers, or the proletariat class.
(c) What does the word “sunrise” symbolize?
The word ‘sunrise’ symbolizes the beginning of the struggle just as it signifies the beginning of the day.
(d) What type of poem is this?
This is a sonnet because it is made up of fourteen verses.
(e) Comment on the structure of this poem. It is a free-verse poem with no rhyming pattern
There is variation in the length of verses; some are very short and some very long. Also the poet has employed poetic licence when he says ‘Forward they go” which is not a normal English structure of SVA. ‘They go forward’
(f) The poem contains two major images. Mention them
1. Sunrise this symbolises the beginning of the struggle (or the war of liberation).
2. Sunset this symbolises the end of the struggle.
(g) The poet talks about “challenging the enemy” who do you think the enemy might be?
The enemy might be the colonialists who oppress, humiliate, and exploit the Africans.
(h) What do we learn from this poem?
Struggle for freedom is not a simple thing it needs determination.
Unity is very important in any struggle. (the sons have risen with unity)
(i) Suggest 4 themes from the poem
a. Armed struggle for freedom.
Wait and see what glory they bring at sunset. How they pay homage to the land
And their people
b. Unity.
In the poem the ‘sons of the land’ rose in unity, marched forward with determination.
c. Sacrifice and determination.
Any armed struggle needs both courage and sacrifice. With the determination of long-term warriors Challenging the enemy
With the courage of free mind
d. Awareness.
The sons of the land are very aware of their enemy, they are aware of the means to fight against the enemy (armed struggle) and they have a clear purpose. They have the reasons to fight against the enemy.
With the courage of free mind And the vigour of a clear purpose
3. Suggest the title of the poem
The title of the poem could be “SUNRISE”
