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- 1. Multiple Choice
The speaker returns to his childhood home in
Durban
Lushington, PE
Natal
Limpopo
- 2. Multiple Choice
Tick the applicable boxes about the type and form of the poem.
The poem is written in free verse
There is only two stanzas
The first stanza is in narrative form
The last stanza is written in the present tense
- 3. Multiple Choice
This poem is written about a true account of Mzi Mahola revisiting his childhood town after
50 years
20 years
53 years
40 years
- 4. Fill in the Blank
"I stood at the ruins
of my former school
where I was patiently moulded;
wild plants owned every space now'
my soul was paralyzed"
The school has been abandoned and in a _____ condition.
- 5. Multiple Choice
"I stood at the ruins
of my former school
where I was patiently moulded;
wild plants owned every space now'
my soul was paralyzed"
personification, school is personified as helping him.
Metaphor, he is being compared to a moulding process where you carefully cut something out, i.e. teachers used patience/time to teach him.
Hyperbole, to mould is to cut out
- 6. Multiple Choice
"I stood at the ruins
of my former school
where I was patiently moulded;
wild plants owned every space now'
my soul was paralyzed"
Personification- wild plants have the ability to own the school, this is to emphasise that the yard was overgrown with weeds.
Metaphor, wild plants are compared to a person owning the school.
Hyperbole, he exaggerates the state of the school.
- 7. Multiple Choice
"I stood at the ruins
of my former school
where I was patiently moulded;
wild plants owned every space now'
my soul was paralyzed"
He was in awe
He was in a state of shock after witnessing the neglect
He was angry
He felt nothing
- 8. Multiple Choice
"What happened to the roofs
the doors and the windows?
Can these dumb lonely walls still recognise me?" Select applicable boxes
rhetorical question
vandalism
theft
confusion
- 9. Multiple Choice
What happened to the roofs
the doors and the windows?
Can these dumb lonely walls still recognise me?
Metaphor, walls compared to lonely and dumb to emphasise ruins
Personification, wall personified dumb and lonely to emphasise they cannot speak (dumb) and is abandoned and empty (lonely).
simile, walls compared to lonely and dumb to emphasise ruins
- 10. Multiple Choice
What happened to the roofs
the doors and the windows?
Can these dumb lonely walls still recognise me?
The poet is feeling
insecure
a sense of loss
angry
betrayed
- 11. Multiple Choice
"Everything has changed;
the ground where we ran and laughed
and the corner of the playground
where I pummeled a schoolmate almost to a pulp
are scarfed wattle
to conceal my shame"
Things got worse
Things changed for the better
Despair is evident
His memories are fading
- 12. Multiple Choice
"Everything has changed;
the ground where we ran and laughed
and the corner of the playground
where I pummeled a schoolmate almost to a pulp
are scarfed wattle
to conceal my shame"
to slap someone
To hug someone
to strike repeatedly with fists
- 13. Fill in the Blank
"Everything has changed;
the ground where we ran and laughed
and the corner of the playground
where I pummeled a schoolmate almost to a pulp
are scarfed wattle
to conceal my shame"
The hyperbole is to emphasise the _____________ in the fight. Remember he was a boxer and this was an isolated incidence.
- 14. Multiple Choice
"where I pummeled a schoolmate almost to a pulp
are scarfed wattle
to conceal my shame" Choose the best explanation of this metaphor...
The trees are growing around and through the abandoned school building like a scarf.
He feels your past is wrapped around you like a scarf.
The place where the fight took place is now hidden by a tree, as a scarf would hide your face, this is to emphasise how ashamed he now feels.
- 15. Multiple Choice
"A short distance away stands a renovated church
(A Dutch Reformed formerly, now a Methodist)
embraced by a mute little cemetery
that claims the past"
This statement is
to give more detail
to show in contrast to the school
his attachment to church
- 16. Fill in the Blank
"A short distance away stands a renovated Church
(A Dutch Reformed formerly, now a Methodist)
embraced by a mute little cemetery
that claims the past"
This statement shows that times have _________ as Dutch reformed was traditionally White and Methodist is more liberal.
- 17. Multiple Choice
"A short distance away stands a renovated church
(A Dutch Reformed formerly, now a Methodist)
embraced by a mute little cemetery
that claims the past"
kissed
hugged
punched
renewed
- 18. Multiple Choice
"A short distance away stands a renovated church
(A Dutch Reformed formerly, now a Methodist)
embraced by a mute little cemetery
that claims the past"
quiet
to not be able to speak
still
death
- 19. Multiple Choice
"A short distance away stands a renovated church
(A Dutch Reformed formerly, now a Methodist)
embraced by a mute little cemetery
that claims the past"
Shows stillness at cemetery
Antithesis between embrace and mute
Shows there is no dividing line between church and cemetery
- 20. Multiple Choice
"A short distance away stands a renovated church
(A Dutch Reformed formerly, now a Methodist)
embraced by a mute little cemetery
that claims the past"
There is no symbolism
symbolism of defeat
Takes away the future
Graves remind us of the past and the people who used to live there
- 21. Multiple Choice
'(the dividing fence has vanished)
though growth strangles it to near extinction;
cold names of departed whites
who were part of this community
and made monumental contributions
are etched on the headstones"
This is symbolic for
deterioration
the line between holy and unholy has been blurred
sin
- 22. Multiple Choice
'(the dividing fence has vanished)
though growth strangles it to near extinction;
cold names of departed whites
who were part of this community
and made monumental contributions
are etched on the headstones" This personification shows
the plants have covered the dividing fence so that you cannot even see it anymore
Strangles suggest anger
None of these answers
- 23. Fill in the Blank
'(the dividing fence has vanished)
though growth strangles it to near extinction;
cold names of departed whites
who were part of this community
and made monumental contributions
are etched on the headstones"
This is a _________ that shows not only the deceased, but also strangers.
- 24. Multiple Choice
'(the dividing fence has vanished)
though growth strangles it to near extinction;
cold names of departed whites
who were part of this community
and made monumental contributions
are etched on the headstones"
simile
metaphor
euphemism
personification
- 25. Multiple Choice
"Sometimes whites come here to clean
and put flowers on their family graves;
a voice whispers next to me
but I do not recognise its face
Because Lushington has changed
except the graveyard.
It is written in Italics to
make it stand out
show a new person speaking
for contrast
- 26. Fill in the Blank
"Sometimes whites come here to clean
and put flowers on their family graves;
a voice whispers next to me
but I do not recognise its face
Because Lushington has changed
except the graveyard.
The concluding lines are to emphasise that everything in Lushington where he grew up has changed, except the
- 27. Multiple Choice
Themes that you should be able to explain
denial
past versus present
change
diversity
- 28. Multiple Choice
The following tone and mood is shown in this poem.
1. When he first sees the school.
2. When he thinks back of when he was in school.
3. The last stanza
sad; nostalgic, low spirited
low spirited, sad, nostalgic
nostalgic, low spirited, sad
- Answer choicesTagsAnswer choicesTags