English home language
Grade 7
Module 9
Understanding poems
Read the following poems and then answer the questions that follow.
POEM 1:
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Angry waves roll and roar
over the rocky shore
crashing, thundering
over a jagged rock
as if the rocks need
a beating for bad behaviour
What has made the sea so cross?
Perhaps it is the oily sludge
from our wrecked oil tankers
perhaps it is man who should get the hiding.
P.&B. Louw
POEM 1:
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Angry waves roll and roar
over the rocky shore
crashing, thundering
over a jagged rock
as if the rocks need
a beating for bad behaviour
What has made the sea so cross?
Perhaps it is the oily sludge
from our wrecked oil tankers
perhaps it is man who should get the hiding.
P.&B. Louw
Read the poem "Crime and Punishment."
2)
- What words do the poets use to help create an atmosphere of anger?
(4)
- Who has committed the "crime" mentioned in the name of the poem?
(1)
- Name three other ways in which the sea is polluted. (3)
Total: [10]
Read the poem "The hungry sea".
- What is the first stanza of this poem describing? (2)
- Explain what is meant by " ... but no-one could foresee the strange and cruel power of the sea ..." (3)
- Who is "the voice from above"?
(1)
- What was the danger of the oxygen pipe stretching?
(2)
- Briefly explain, in your own words, what has happened in the last stanza.
(2)
- The tone of this poem is (serious; humorous). (1)
Total: [10]
- When reading these poems, we are reminded that we should respect the sea.
- In what way should we respect the sea in the light of the first poem?
- In what way should we respect the sea in the light of the second poem?
- Complete the following table to explain your answer:
2 x 2 = (4)
Language
- Underline all the adjectives in the first poem.
- What adjectives are used to describe the power of the sea in the second poem?
- Write down three words from the second poem that help to show that the manned probe was not strong enough to face the power of the sea.
- Find the meaning of the words in bold in both poems.
Writing
Choose an animal and look at its appearance, body, how it moves and the sound that it makes. Then use the information you have gathered to write your own metaphor (comparison) poem.
Different kinds of adjectives
- "Asking" adjectives (Interrogative)e.g.
Which dog do you prefer?
- Possessive Adjectives - these show ownershipe.g. Peter never brushes
his hair.
- Adjectives of quality.e.g. He has a
tall brother.
- Adjectives of quantity - these deal with the amount of something.e.g. She had
enough food to feed an army.
- Distinguishing or Demonstrative Adjectives.e.g.
Those dogs and
these cats are for sale.
Underline the adjectives in the sentences below and say what kind they are:
- Peter lost his flipper out at sea, while his older brother was trying to catch fish.
- The man who was in the boat close by, saw it sink to the bottom of the sea. He said, "That flipper will never be found."
- There were enough fish to feed an army.
- Which fish do you prefer?
Adjectives: degrees of comparison
Adjectives can have three forms of comparisons in order that one person or thing may be compared with others.
