Bodwell Student Responses

Below are some responses from Bodwell's English 11B class to our exchange of questions. From a teacher's perspective, I really enjoyed the exchange because we were able to discuss some topics that would not normally come up during one of our typical classes.

None of the students were able to answer Question 3 of the Maji Maji poem that refered to the line: "They fired bullets, not water, no, not water." Even Wikipedia had the answer!

Hopefully, this exchange can become the start of something special in the future.

-Mr. S. Todd July 30, 2008

Ricky's Responses:

Section A
1. The marriage of black and white

Tabon Lo Liyang’s poem”The marriage of black and white” raises the idea of rejecting racial prejudice by blending whites and blacks. The mix of white and black, “marry me, and we shall have children”, represents the combination of white and black culture, and the mixed culture has so many benefits, “…are more favor to live stronger”, “our children won’t be mules” and “the best there is from both”. On the other hand, blacks and whites “are of the same species, despite the protective coloration”, though their skins have different colors. And finally, this mixed culture can fit “a world t relative and comparative”, “a world that knows no boundary”, and a world that everybody equally will emerge. To conclude, we should break the boundaries between the blacks and the whites so that racism can disappear in the world.

2. Dual Piety

John Ssemuwanga’s poem” Dual Piety” suggests that the narrator is confused with whether the Christian culture or the African culture is the true beliefs. The narrator believes in Christian religion so “my servile soul harks to the angelic melody”, but as an African, he realized that the western religion is overcoming this native one. Every time when he “pose before the candled God”, he found the “ebb of ancestral piety”, he has to believe in God, but he also wants to leave some “old rituals” to the future generations. Otherwise, when he prayed to God for rain, the gods answered him, it shows that either culture is right. No matter which God he worships, he will get response if he is devout. Both Christian God and African gods are true, the respect for spirituality is the most important thing.

Section B

1. The Kraal

a) A Kraal fence is like a barrier that stops cows or sheep from escaping.
b) It hides quarrels, miseries, sadness and cruelty.
c) Alliteration: of wives fallen from favor.
Consonance: it hides the miseries and sadness of wives.

2. The Pauper

a) A pauper is a very poor people who live on the street like a beggar.
b) It is talking about a pauper and how is the narrator’s idea toward the pauper.
c)
d) The living condition is very bad, “sit alone on hairless goatskin”, cleaning your nails with dry saliva”,”grimg coating”.
e) The tourists don’t care about the pauper much, they took his snapshots, and the fat person mourns the pauper’s poor fate.

Section C
1. I met a thief

1. He is a boy who falls in love with a girl on the beach.
2. The imagery makes the girl’s image become more lively and real. “Her hair was like the wool of a mountain sheep.”
“Her legs,…like wine-gourds her pillowy breasts. ”
All make the girl’s face more beautiful and real.
3. The boy loves the girl, but the girl left before the boy showed his love, the boy feels like his heart is stolen. And the girl is the thief.
4. The poem is talking about a boy love a girl on the beach, but before he shows his love, the girl left.
5. While reciting, we can image the scenes and follow the feeling of the boy.

2. Maji Maji

1. The German invaded the village and killed many people.
2. The person is an mzee, an old man which is a survivor of the war, and he connects to the bullets and water, and no more happiness in this village.
3. The village is lack of water and the land dry, but the German only bring war to them.
4. The tone is sad and distressful. The words “sinister feeling”, “crumpled with agony” all bring out the tone.
5. The German finally left and war is over. But for many people died, the village is no longer happy, that’s why there is “no drums beat again”.

Seulbee's Responses:

Section A

1. In the poem” I, too”, Barry Taylor uses imagery to create the idea of life; Taylor identifies that all in vanity in life by describing how the speaker lives his life and considers his life as vanity. He spends his time of youth in a showy way. He loves a girl as he “have lain amongst roses.” “Danced with the daughter of ghosts” illustrates the image of beautiful and scared ghosts to symbolize his feelings: he has feelings of happiness and fear; because, he is glad to love her, but also he is afraid of his feelings of his first love. He suffers the difficult time of life to make him “dare(d) my cups” and “ rocked unreadily homewards leaning as a lord.” He drinks to escape from his bitter experiences and pretends to be fine from his hard time by acting like a “lord.” He also shows his serenity and enjoyment of life when he “has played with fountains.” He experiences everything, whereas, he recognizes that his feature is “simply like the rest.” He feels empty about his past. Taylor applies a full of the imagery of his journey to illustrates that life is like an empty dream.

2. In the lyric poem “Dual Piety”, John Ssemuwanga criticizes Christian religion by describing his inner conflict between Christianity and his ancestral religion. The speaker confuses his religion “between the two temples.” He goes to the church and pronounces the Holy Bible which is “the words of holy stories”; yet, he doesn’t totally believe Christianity. He stays in the church “with recusant worshippers” and with “my skeptical self stealthily.” Although he behaves as the Christian, he is complicates by his “dual piety.” He is confused and feels heavy in his chest, because the ancestral religion might be his traditional religion. Then, he acts what he can do about his inner conflict to Christianity. The response comes from the ancestral religion: “The gods” give a pleasure as “rain.” Ssemuwanga states that Christianity is superficial and just formal through his inner conflict.

3. Taban Lo Liyong’s lyric poem “The marriage of Black and White” illustrates that the new generation can change the racism and cultural problems in our society. It is difficult to break the stereotype of skin colors. Most people feel unfamiliar and uncomfortable about different races and cultures, so racists make an invisible boundary even for population. Although there are difficulties of removing racism and making effective work for the multiculturalism, the next generation could remove fixed ideas about races and cultures. The world is getting smaller since many people travel to other countries. It creates opportunities to become married with people who live in the “various latitudes.” Liyong uses the imagery of skin to show that the mixed blood in new generations is more superior and perfect as they “will not need sunbathing” by adding humor. They can make a bridge “of culture and skins.” Liyong discusses that the high wall of race and culture will be collapsed by new generations who have a new angle on the social problem.


Section B

1. The Kraal- Stella Ngathu
a. The Kraal fence is a reed fence in the Kraal. The Kraal is the villages in South Africa. In the poem, the Kraal fence exists for hiding the sadness and conflict.
b. The Kraal fence hides “quarrels of jealous wives”, “the miseries within and sadness”, “the cruelty of the husband within to the tortured wife” and “plenty.” Moreover, they want to cover their barbarity like a spouse abuse.
c. In the poem, Ngathu uses the metaphor about the Kraal fence. The Kraal fence is society that hides our problems and pretends to be fine. The Kraal fence is not just a fence. It represents a criticized view of society.
In the poem, Ngathu uses the irony about the Kraal fence. The Kraal fence “spells laughter, joy.” It looks happy and delighted, but it “hides the cruelty.” It ironically has a problem in realities.

2. The Pauper- Richard Ntiru

a. A pauper is a group of poor people. They live in the bad living condition.
b. Richard Ntiru’s poem “The Pauper” describes how poor people live their lives and how the other people look at poor people. The writer demonstrates that poor people has no guilt for being poor.
c. Ntiru doesn’t use rhyme.
d. The pauper lives in poor living condition. They don’t have their houses or live humble houses like a “leafless tree.” They have jiggers and lice. They cannot eat properly, so they look like their “ribs and bones reflecting the light.” They cannot buy new stuff for their lives, so they “gullied like the soles of modern shoes.”
e. The pauper is different with rich people. They have lots of money and live in beautiful cities. They want to show that they help poor people, but, in realities, they are not helpful. They just ignore and pretend to help the pauper.

Section C

I Met a Thief.

1. The writer describes the person who is his lover in the poem.
2. The writer uses imagery in the poem to show how his lover is beautiful. He describes her hair is soft as “the wool of a mountain sheep.” Her eyes are deep and silky as “a pair of brown-black beans floating in milk.” Her breasts are smooth and warm like a pillow. Her voice is sweet as “fresh banana juice.” He illustrates her appearance as a beauty.
3. The title of the poem fits with the poem. She is very attractive to the speaker. He falls in love and only thinks about her as “an innocent heart for her to steal.” She is a kind of the “thief” who steals his mind.
4. The poem “I Met a Thief” describes how he falls in love with his attractive lover. She is kind and beautiful, so the speaker loves her. However, she leaves to “high and south.” He is upset and promises that his mind is always toward his lover as “left my carcass roasting in the fire she’d lit.” The writer shows about the experience of his love.
5. The speaker meets a girl. She is nice, “plucks the nuts for me” and bright to “presses close.” She is also beautiful and her appearance is charming. He loves her. When she leaves him, he is very sad and feels empty.

Maji Maji

1. The poem “Maji Maji” alludes to historical events. There are African groups. They believe their own spirits. Suddenly, the Germans come with guns and ruin those groups.
2. In the poem “Maji Maji”, the speaker is angry about this historical event. He might be the member of African groups.
3. In the poem, “they fired bullet; not water, no not water”. This means that the Germans started to shoot people who are in African groups
4. The tone of the poem is angry and fearful. When the speaker talks about the Germans, his face is distorted “with agony.”
5. In the poem “Maji Maji”, “the Germans came and went/ and for many long years/ no drums beat again.” This means that African groups are killed by the Germans. They celebrate their own spirits with drums, but, now, they cannot celebrate. That means people of African groups died because of the Germans.

Yu's Responses:

I Met a Thief

1. Who is the person in the poem?
The person in the poem is the speaker’s love.
2. Explain the use of imagery in the poem.

In this poem, the speaker defines his love as a thief who steals his heart. It vividly converts his feeling of miserable for losing his love. And other imageries in the poem, like “idle, whispering coconut towers”, describes the environment and mood the poem based on

3. How appropriate is the title of the poem?
The title of the poem is just the main imagery the poet creates, and it perfectly fits the poem.

4. In your own words, explain what the poem is talking about.
The poem is talking about a man who loves a lady very much, but he loses her at last.

Maji Maji

1. What historical event does the poem allude to?
It is Maji Maji rebellion, which happened in 1905 and 1906.
2. Who is the persona and what connection does he have to the event?
He is a mzee(old man) who experienced and survived in the rebellion.
4. What is the tone of the poem? Identify words that bring out the tone.
It’s grave and oppressive. “dim grey eyes”, ”a face crumpled with agony”, “still and silent”, “gravely”, “sighed”, etc.

The Kraal

a. Find out what a kraal is – a kraal fence
A kraal in this poem stands for the home.
b. What four things does the kraal fence hide?
The kraal fence hides quarrels of jealous wives, miseries, sadness, and the cruelty of the husband.
c. Identify any two stylistic devices used in this poem.
a) Imagery: It describes a home as a kraal.
b) Alliteration: “of wives fallen from favor”
“to the tortured tormented wife”

The Pauper

a. Who is a pauper?
A pauper is a very poor person.
c. Identify use of rhyme in this poem.
“And when you trudge on the horny pads,
Gullied like the soles of modern shoes,
Pads that even jiggers cannot conquer:
Does he admire your sense of endurance
Or turn his head away from your impudent presence?”
d. What is the pauper’s living condition?
The pauper sits alone on hairless goatskins, and crouches in beautiful verandas.
e. How do different people react to the pauper?
Some people don’t admire his sense of endurance, and they turn their heads away from his impudent presence.
Some people pat his paunch at the wonderful sight.
Tourists take his snapshots.


Paragraphs

1. In paragraph form and with reference to “I, Too”, discuss how imagery contributes to theme.

The poem “I, Too”, composed by Barry Taylor, portrays a man’s deep memory of the past and a change in mind he is going to have by using a series of imagery. “I, too, have lain amongst roses and danced with the daughter of ghosts.” A rose is the symbol of love, and the daughter of ghost gives people an image of a girl who is beautiful, perfect, and out of touch to his inner mind. A romantic picture of love is created. “I, too, have dared my cups in goblet and in grape.” This imagery shows us that the man was able to drink a lot in the past. And from the context, we also can see the man used to like playing, even “rocked unreadily homewards”. However, after he has done his damndest to be through with it all, he is “simply like the rest”. He is thinking about to change his life. When a man is getting older, he is more likely to live quietly and easily, although he may have experienced a lot of unusual things. Now, this man is going to change his life style after experiencing all he needs to experience. So, imagery in this poem helps the poet to describe a man’s activity in his deepest thoughts and converts a sad mood towards the change.

2. In paragraph form and with reference to “Dual Piety”, discuss the narrator’s inner conflict.

In the poem “Dual Piety”, composed by John Ssemuwanga, the narrator shows same piety simultaneously towards Christianity and an African traditional religion, and he wanders between them. The narrator used to have a “servile soul” and murmur “the words of the third commandment”. It vividly shows the narrator’s respect and faith to one religion. But the piety he owns “dimmed by Christian chime”, and the “Latinized devotion” is defied. Thus his “confused self floats between the two temples, and his “skeptical self stealthily wanders”. He gets lost between religions. The narrator used to strongly respect his own traditional religion. However, days have changed, and cultures are communicated and combined. He should respect another religion. And he really does. But he is confused about his beliefs in himself. In conclusion, the narrator wanders his dual piety between two different religions.

3. In paragraph form and with reference to “The Marriage of Black and White”, discuss theme.

The poem “The marriage of Black and White”, written by Toban Lo Liyong, illustrates that a black man is persuading a white woman to marry him, and also, shows the combination of two different races. If they get married, their children will own the color that is “True representatives/Of the race of future”, which means the combination of races will be the main stream in the future, and their children can be representatives. In addition, their children are “People who speak a language/That is universal”. Their children won’t be strange, instead, they will know more than one culture, and they can be easily accepted by the world. In spite of their children, they “are not freaks”, and they are “of the same species”. So, although they may come from different places, and their skin has different colors, their marriage is still a common thing because they are both “Nature’s own invention”, which means they are equal. Thus, the entire poem shows the combination of two races by marriage.

Poems from Mrs. Ogega's Form 2 class, Longonot

Forefathers

Listen more often to things rather than beings
Hear the fire’s voice.
Hear the voice of water.
In the wind hear the sobbing of trees,
It is our forefathers breathing.
The dead are not gone forever.
They are in the paling shadows
And in the darkening shadows.

The dead are not beneath the ground
They are in the rustling tree,
In the murmuring wood,
In the still water,
In the flowing water,
In the lonely place in the crowd;
The dead are not dea.

Listen more often to things rather than beings.
Hear the fire’s voice.
Hear the voice of water.
In the wind hear the sobbing of the trees
It is the breathing of our forefathers
Who are not gone, not beneath the ground.Not dea.

The dead are not gone forever.
They are in a woman’s breast,
A child’s crying, a glowing ember.
They are flickering in the fire,
In the weeping plant, groaning rock,
The wooded place, the home,
The dead are not dea.

Listen more often to things rather than beings.
Hear the fire’s voice.
Hear the voice of water.
In the wind hear the sobbing of the trees
It is the breathing of our forefathers.
- Birago Diop

American Indian Prayer

When I am dead
Cry for me a little
Think of me sometimes
But not tood much
Think of me now and again
As I was in life
At some moments it’s pleasant to recall
But not for long.
Leave me in peace
And I shall leave you in peace
And while you live
Let your thoughts be with the living.
- Anon

Questions to answer (click on 'comment' below to write your answers):

1. What different instructions are given to the living through these two poems? Complete the following statements.
a)In Forefathers, we are told to….
b)Whereas in the American Indian Prayer, the speaker tells the reader to…

2.Which poem do you prefer? Give some reasons why you chose that one. Was it the ideas within it? The language? The repetition? What made you choose that poem?

The Pauper – by Richard Ntiru - Questions from Mrs. Rahab Ogega of Longonot Secondary

1. Who is a pauper?
2. Who and what is this poem talking about?
3. Identify use of rhyme in this poem
4. What is the pauper’s living condition
5. How do different people react to the pauper

The Kraal – Stella Ngathu - questions from Mrs.Rahab Ogega of Longonot Secondary

1. Find out what a Kraal is – a Kraal fence
2. What four things does the Kraal fence hide?
3. Identify any two stylistic devices used in this poem

Maji Maji - Questions from Ms. Anne Gitahi of Maai Mahiu Secondary

1. What historical event does the poem allude to?

2. Who is the persona and what connection does he have to the event?

3. What is the implication of the following line: "They fired bullets; not water, no not water"

4. What is the tone of the poem? Identify words that bring out the tone.

5. Explain the meaning fo the following lines:
'The Germans came and went
And for many long years
No drums beat again'

I met a Thief - questions from Ms. Anne Gitahi (Maai Mahiu Secondary)

1. Who is the person in the poem

2. Explain the use of imagery in the poem

3. How appropriate is the title of the poem?

4. In your own words, explain what the poem is talking about.

5. How can one enhance the recitation of this poem?

Poems from East Africa Literary Response Questions

Greetings from Bodwell High School!

Here are some questions that imitate the style of the British Columbia Provincial Exam poetry section. Responses should be 125 - 150 words for each question:

1. In paragraph form and with reference to the poem I, Too, discuss how imagery contributes to theme.

2. In paragraph form and with reference to the poem Dual Piety, discuss the inner conflict of the narrator.

3. In paragraph form and with reference to the poem The Marriage of Black and White, discuss theme.

- S. Todd