An Africa Thunderstorm

By: David Rubadiri

From the west

Clouds come hurrying with the wind
Turning sharply
Here and there
Like a plague of locusts
Whirling,
Tossing up things on its tail
Like a madman chasing nothing.

Pregnant clouds
Ride stately on its back,
Gathering to perch on hills
Like sinister dark wings;
The wind whistles by
And trees bend to let it pass.

In the village
Screams of delighted children,
Toss and turn
In the din of the whirling wind,
Women,
Babies clinging on their backs
Dart about
In and out
Madly;
The wind whistles by
Whilst trees bend to let it pass.

Clothes wave like tattered flags

Flying off
To expose dangling breasts
As jagged blinding flashes
Rumble, tremble and crack
Amidst the smell of fired smoke
And the pelting march of the storm.
 Summary

An African thunderstorm is a poem that deals with the theme man versus
nature and it is centered in a village in Africa. The poem is about a harsh
impending storm that is coming to strike the village. The children scream in
delight and due their innocence are completely unaware of the dangers of the
storm whereas their mothers dart with their children to find safety. The might
winds pass through the village even making nature bow to its power until the
storm hits.

Mood: Chaotic,

Tone: Somber

Themes: Nature, Man vs Nature,

Repetition

"trees bend to let it pass" emphasizes on how powerful the wind was that
even nature itself bowed to it

Personification

"clouds came hurrying with the wind" - showing how fast the wind is moving
as a person moves if they are late

Simile

"here and there like a plague of locusts" comparing the wind to plague of
locusts that travel in groups and come all at once like the how the wind came
all at once in to the village.
 Contrast

"screams of delighted children" the contrast between the happy screams of

the innocent children who don't know the true the danger of the storm
"Women babies clinging on their backs dart about" to the women to fear for
their lives and the lives of their children who try to flee for cover.

Imagery

"clothes wave like tattered flags flying off to expose dangling breasts"
 Once Upon a Time

By: Gabriel Okara

Once upon a time, son,

they used to laugh with their hearts
and laugh with their eyes:
but now they only laugh with their teeth,
while their ice-block-cold eyes
search behind my shadow.

There was a time indeed

they used to shake hands with their hearts:
but that’s gone, son.
Now they shake hands without hearts
while their left hands search
my empty pockets.

‘Feel at home!’ ‘Come again’:

they say, and when I come
again and feel
at home, once, twice,
there will be no thrice-
for then I find doors shut on me.

So I have learned many things, son.

I have learned to wear many faces
like dresses – homeface,
officeface, streetface, hostface,
cocktailface, with all their conforming smiles
like a fixed portrait smile.

And I have learned too

to laugh with only my teeth
and shake hands without my heart.
I have also learned to say,’Goodbye’,
when I mean ‘Good-riddance’:
to say ‘Glad to meet you’,
without being glad; and to say ‘It’s been
nice talking to you’, after being bored.

But believe me, son.

I want to be what I used to be
when I was like you. I want
to unlearn all these muting things.
Most of all, I want to relearn
how to laugh, for my laugh in the mirror
shows only my teeth like a snake’s bare fangs!

So show me, son,

how to laugh; show me how
I used to laugh and smile
once upon a time when I was like you.
 Summary

A parent is talking to his/her’s son and telling him how things used to be. The
parent tells the son that people used to be sincere, but are now superficial and
seek only to take from others. The persona tells the child that he/she has
learnt to be just like these people, but does not want to be like that anymore.
The parent  wants to be as sincere as the son.

Mood: The mood of the poem is nostalgic.

Tone: The tone of the poem is sad. The poet’s response to his nostalgia is
sadness.

Themes: Childhood experiences, Hypocrisy, Loss of innocence, Appearance vs

reality.

Repetition

This phrase is repeated at the beginning and the end of the poem. This usually
signals the beginning of a fairy tale. Therefore, it is implied that the persona is
nostalgic about the past.

Metaphor

The people’s eyes are as cold as ice. This means that there is no warmth or
real feeling in the words that they say, or how they behave. This metaphor
literally allows you to visualize a block of ice, cold and unwelcoming.
 Simile

Stanza 4, lines 20-21 emphasizes the constant changes in the persona’s face.
If you think of how often a woman changes her dress, then that is how often
the persona adjusts his/her’s personality to suit an audience. The list of faces
that follow this line emphasizes this point.

Stanza 4, lines 23-24 compares people’s faces to smiles in a portrait. If you

think about a portrait, it is usually very formal and stiff, even uncomfortable.
Therefore, the implication is that the smiles are actually fake and stiff. They
are conforming, or trying to fit, to a preconceived mold that is set up by
societal expectations.

Stanza 6, lines 38-40 compares the persona’s laugh to a snakes. When you
think of a snake, words such as sneaky and deceitful come to mind. Therefore,
the implication is that the persona is fake, just like the people he/she despises.

 
 BIRDSHOOTING SEASON

By: Olive Senior

Birdshooting season the men

make marriages with their guns
My father’s house turns macho
as from far the hunters gather
 
All night long contentless women
stir their brews: hot coffee
chocolata, cerassie
wrap pone and tie-leaf
for tomorrow’s sport. Tonight
the men drink white rum neat.
 
In darkness shouldering
their packs, their guns, they leave
 
We stand quietly on the
doorstep shivering.  Little boys
longing to grow up birdhunters too
Little girls whispering:
Fly Birds Fly.
 Summary

Birdshooting Season is a free verse poem seen through the eyes of a child. The
child takes the readers in a house where the women work contentless to
prepare for the men to Hunter in the morning while the men drink. In the
dawn the children and women stand on the doorstep of the house watching
the men leave, the little boys longing to grow up become hunters like their
fathers and the girls long for the birds to be free.

Tone: reflective - a child relating on an experience

mood: calm, sober

Themes: Nature, Gender roles

Metaphor

"the men make marriages with their guns" - hunting substitute their wives,
the women are displaced for their guns.

Contrast

"all night long contentless women stir their brews." the women prepare the
food for the men to hunt while the men drink "tonight the men drink white
rum neat" wives the secondary role of preparing the food

Imagery

"we stand quietly on the doorstep shivering"

 West Indies U.S.A
By: Steward Brown
Cruising at thirty thousand feet above the endless green 
the islands seem like dice tossed on a casino’s baize, 
some come up lucky, others not. Puerto Rico takes the pot, 
the Dallas of the West Indies, silver linings on the clouds 
as we descend are hall-marked, San Juan glitters 
like a maverick’s gold ring.

All across the Caribbean 

we’d collected terminals – airports are like calling cards, 
cultural fingermarks; the hand-written signs at Port-
au-Prince, Piarco’s sleazy tourist art, the lethargic 
contempt of the baggage boys at ‘Vere Bird’ in St. Johns... 
And now for plush San Juan.

But the pilot’s bland, 

you’re safe in my hands drawl crackles as we land, 
“US regulations demand all passengers not disembarking 
at San Juan stay on the plane, I repeat, stay on the plane.” 
Subtle Uncle Sam, afraid too many desperate blacks 
might re-enslave this Island of the free, 
might jump the barbed

electric fence around ‘America’s

back yard’ and claim that vaunted sanctuary... ‘Give me your poor...’ 
Through toughened, tinted glass the contrasts tantalise;
US patrol cars glide across the shimmering tarmac, 
containered baggage trucks unload with fierce efficiency. 
So soon we’re climbing,

low above the pulsing city streets;

galvanised shanties overseen by condominiums 
polished Cadillacs shimmying past Rastas with pushcarts 
and as we climb, San Juan’s fool’s glitter calls to mind 
the shattered innards of a TV set that’s fallen 
off the back of a lorry, all painted valves and circuits 
the roads like twisted wires,the bright cars, micro-chips 
It’s sharp and jagged and dangerous, and belonged to someone else.
 Summary

The persona is travelling in a plane, looking down at San Juan, Puerto Rico, as
the plane descends. He is saying that this island is the wealthiest in the
Caribbean because it has won the jackpot, it has come up lucky. He then points
out that he, and others, had travelled to many Caribbean islands and received
a hint of the flavour of each island through it’s calling card, – its airport – all of
which fail when compared to plush San Juan. As they land, they are instructed
to stay on the plane if their destination is not San Juan. The persona takes
offence and states that America does not want blacks in San Juan, implying
that they might be a disruptive force. He notes the efficiency with which things
flow, enabling them to take to the skies once more. During the ascent, the
persona notes the contrast between the influences of the Caribbean and
America. He likens San-Juan to a broken TV, it looks good on the outside, but
broken on the inside.

Mood: The mood of the poem is sarcastic.

Tone: The tone of the poem is slightly bitter, which is fueled by the sarcastic
atmosphere.

Themes: Discrimination, oppression, places, culture.  

Simile

Line 2: Puerto Rico is compared to dice that is tossed on a casino’s baize, it

can either come up with winning numbers, or losing numbers. Puerto Rico
comes up with winning numbers in the game of chance, as reflected in its
wealthy exterior, which is supported by America.

Lines 7-8: San Juan’s glitter is compared to a maverick’s gold ring. The word
maverick implies non-conformist, an individualist. This implies that San Juan,
Puerto Rico is in the Caribbean, but not a part of the Caribbean. It belongs to
America.
Lines 10-11: Airports are compared to calling cards. This means that, like a
calling card, the quality of the airport gives you an idea of the island’s
economic status. The airport is also compared to a cultural fingerprint. A
fingerprint is an individual thing, therefore the airport gives the traveler an
idea of the island’s cultural landscape.

Line 39: The road is compared to twisted wires. This means that the roads,
from above, look both plentiful and curvy. This does not carry a positive
connotation, but implies confusion.

Contrast

The contrast in this poem is found in stanza 5. The American cars etc, against
the pushcarts. The American culture versus the Puerto Rican culture.

 
 Composed upon Westminster Bridge

By: William Wordsworth

Earth has not any thing to show more fair:

Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!
 Summary

The first eight lines present a view of the city as it wears the sunlit morning
like a garment and its edifices glitter beneath the sky. The last six lines then
boldly declare that this man-made "formation" is just as beautiful in the
sunlight as any natural formation, such as a valley or hill. Moreover, it is just
as calming to the observer, for even the houses seem to sleep, like the people
in them. 

Themes: Beauty of nature, Nature v Nature, Change

Tone: Admiration, Declamatory, Ecstatic

Mood: calm, romantic

Imagery

Hyperbole - "earth has nothing to show more fair"

Light - "Bright and glittering"

Simile

'This City now doth, like a garment'

Personification

'The beauty of the morning', 'The river glideth at its own sweet will', 'The very
houses seem asleep'

Contrast

London itself - buzzing city 

William Blake's poem about london
 Orchids

by Hazel- Simmons McDonald

I leave this house

box pieces of the five week life I've gathered.

I'll send them on

to fill spaces in my future life.

One thing is left

a spray of orchid someone gave
from bouquet one who
makes a ritual of flower-giving sent.

The orchids have no fragrance

but purple petals draw you
to look at the purple heart.

I watered them once

when the blossoms were full blown
like polished poems.
I was sure they'd wilt
and I would toss them out with the five week litter.

They were stubborn.

I starved them.
They would not die.

This morning the bud at the stalk's tip unfurled.

I think I'll pluck the full-blown blooms

press them between pages of memory.

Perhaps in their thin dried transparency

I'll discover their peculiar poetry.

 Summary

The Poem titled Orchids composed by Hazel Simmons McDonald, focuses on

the authors contemplation on a brief five weeks life on a single orchid plant
and although the orchids had very little value to the author, The orchid is the
symbol of her reaction to brief five week life.
The line “one who makes a ritual of flower-giving sent.” shows that the gift of
the orchid held no particular sentimental value  as the one giving the gift
normally gives flowers as presents to loved ones.. As she contemplates on her
past few weeks she finds herself being resentful and hostile to the flower. The
author is so "unbothered"and sure that like her five week relationship the
orchids would wither and become but a faint memory to be tossed out with
the five week litter.
Her hostility towards the by watering them once then leaving them to starve
she was sure they would have withered of neglect. But Its blossoms surprise
the persona and “the blossoms were full blown like polished poems”. This
simile shows how well developed, perfect the blossoms are. "The comparison
to polished poems means that the blossoms are refined and great care was
placed in their creation".
When leaving her five week life concluded her orchids still bloomed and
thrived even after their abusive conditions, possibly like the poet. As she was
prepared herself to leave she admired their resilience to its environment ,
which was when she plucked their bloom, and pressed them between pages of
memory possibly in the hope of understanding the lessons that can be drawn
from her orchids someday.

Mood: The mood of the poem is pensive, or thoughtful.

Tone : The tone of the poem is one of almost bored musing.

Themes: Death, Nature, Survival

 Simile

lines 13-14 The orchid’s full blown blossoms are being compared to a

polished poem. The word polished in this comparison implies perfection,
shiny and pleasant to read.

Metaphor

lines 1-2The persona compares her experience over a five week period with
boxes that she uses to pack her belongings in.
 The Woman Speaks To The Man Who Employed
Her Son
By: Lorna Goodison

Her son was first known to her

as a sense of unease, a need to cry
for little reasons and a metallic tide
rising in her mouth each morning.
Such signs made her know
that she was not alone in her body.
She carried him full term
tight up under her heart.

She carried him like the poor 

carry hope, hope you get a break
or a visa, hope one child go through
and remember you. He had no father.
The man she made him with had more
like him, he was fair-minded
he treated all his children 
with equal and unbiased indifference.

She raised him twice, once as mother

then as father, set no ceiling
on what he could be doctor
earth healer, pilot take wings.
But now he tells her is working
for you, that you value him so much
you give him one whole submachine gun
for him alone.
He says you are like a father to him
she is wondering what kind of father
would give a son hot and exploding
death, when he asks him for bread.
She went downtown and bought three
and one-third yard of black cloth
and a deep crowned and veiled hat
for the day he draw his bloody salary.

She has no power over you and this

at the level of earth, what she has
are prayers and a mother's tears
and at knee city she uses them.
She says psalms for him
she reads psalms for you
she weeps for his soul
her eyewater covers you.

She is throwing a partner

with Judas Iscariot's mother
the thief on the left hand side
of the cross, his mother is the banker, her draw though
is first and last for she still throwing two hands as mother and father.
She is prepared, she is done. Absalom.
 Summary

The persona in this poem is telling the story of a mother who loved her son.
The mother became aware of the child’s presence when she experienced
morning sickness. She placed all her hopes in the child and raised him as a
single parent because his father was indifferent to the child’s existence. The
mother had set no barriers on what the child could become, but is told that he
has an employer who values him so much that he is given his own submarine
gun. The son tells his mother that his employer is like a father  to him, but the
mother wonders at the father figure who purposefully endangers his child.
She prepares for her son’s death by going downtown to buy funeral apparel.
The mother feels powerless, so she prays for her child and says protective
psalms for him. On the other hand, she reads psalms of retribution for the
employer and weeps for her son. Her situation does not look good and is
likened to a partner system in which she draws both the first and the last
hand.

Mood: The mood of the poem is reflective.

Tone: The tone of the poem is pragmatic and pessimistic.

Themes: Death, love/love and family relationship, survival, dreams and

aspirations, childhood experiences, religion

Simile

Lines 1-2: The persona emphasizes that the mother placed all her hopes in
her son. When you are poor, generally, you have no prospects, you only dream
and hope. Therefore, the persona uses this metaphor to emphasize the
mother’s dependence on her son’s success.
 Sarcasm

The persona appears to praise the child’s father by referring to him as ‘fair-
minded’. She is, however, chastising him for not only ignoring his son, but all
of his other children.

Irony

The son innocently tells his mother that his employer values him so much that
he gave him a whole submachine gun for himself. The irony in this situation is
that if you really care about someone, you do NOT give them a gun due to the
negative results that are bound to occur.
 It is the Constant Image of your Face
By : Dennis Brutus

It is the constant image of your face

framed in my hands as you knelt before my chair
the grave attention of your eyes
surveying me amid my world of knives
that stays with me, perennially accuses
and convicts me of heart's-treachery:
and neither you nor I can plead excuses
for you, you know, can claim no loyalty - 
my land takes precedence of all my loves.

Yet I beg mitigation, pleading guilty

for you, my dear, accomplice of my heart
made, without words, such blackmail with your beauty
and proffered me such dear protectiveness
that I confess without remorse or shame
my still-fresh treason to my country
and hope that she, my other, dearest love
will pardon freely, not attaching blame
being your mistress (or your match) in tenderness.
 Summary

The persona reflects on the image of someone he cares for. This love interest
accused him, with their eyes, of breaking their heart. The persona admits that
both of them (he and the love interest) can make no excuses for his behaviour
because the love interest does not take precedence over his land, or country.
Despite this fact, the persona begs for mercy, pleading guilty for being
seduced by his love interest’s beauty. This person protects him dearly and he
admits that, as a result of this, he has committed treason against his country.
He hopes that his country, his other dearest love, will pardon him because he
loves both his country and his love interest.

Mood: The mood of the poem is reflective.

Tone: The tone of the poem is sadness and guilt

Theme: Love, guilt, patriotism, places, desires/ dreams

Personification

Lines 4, 6-7: The love interest’s eyes constantly accuses and convicts the
persona. This device highlights the extent to which the persona has hurt this
person.

Lines 18-20: The persona hopes that his country, his other dearest love, will
forgive him for the treasonous act of loving another. This highlights the
patriotism that defines the persona’s relationship to his country.

Oxymoron

The term heart’s-treachery implies that the heart, something so vital and
indicative of love, has committed a terrible crime. It highlights the heartbreak
that the persona has caused his love interest.
 God's Grandeur

By: gerard manley hopkins

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.

It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;

It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil

Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil

Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;

There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

And though the last lights off the black West went

Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent

World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
 Summary

The poem is a Petrarchan sonnet, which is “a sonnet form popularized by

Petrarch consisting of an octave with the rhyme scheme abbaabba and of a
sestet with one of several rhyme schemes, as cdecde or cdcdcd. The poem is
heavily dominated by the concept of God and his presence on earth; his
vitality and his power. His power is undeniable, even though nothing is
permanent n earth not the even earth itself, his power remains constant. The
speaker expresses his feelings in the poem, saying that nature, the natural
world is inseparable from the deity. The speaker questions the innocence of
some people who are either oblivious to the power of God or fails to recognize
it. The world in which in every spectrum the God is present and one can feel
the strong presence of his power, but men irrespective of this has been
destroying and polluting the surface of the earth, they have built series of
industry and has been corrupting the innocence of earth. The speaker seems
to state all the human activities which have destructed the innocence of
Mother Earth.

Themes: Nature, Power, Religion

Tone: introspective, critical of man, awestruck of God, nature

Mood: serene, tranquil

Metaphor

Line 1: the presence earth as an undercurrent has been representing through

the word “charged”.

Simile

 Line 2: “flame out, like shining from shook foil”; the world is temporary and
will hence wear out like a flame.

Line 3-4: “it gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil”; it implies to the
temporary nature of earth, where once it reaches its peak will definitely fall.

 Line 4: “rod” is the symbol of God’s wrath.

 Onomatopoeia

 Line 5: “trod” has been repeated thrice.

Personification

Line 7: earth has been personified by the use of the word “wear”.
 A Stone's Throw
By : Elma Mitchell

We shouted out
'We've got her! Here she is!
It's her all right '.
We caught her.
There she was -

A decent-looking woman, you'd have said,

(They often are)
Beautiful, but dead scared,
Tousled - we roughed her up
A little, nothing much

And not the first time

By any means
She'd felt men's hands
Greedy over her body - 
But ours were virtuous,
Of course.

And if our fingers bruised

Her shuddering skin,
These were love-bites, compared
To the hail of kisses of stone,
The last assault
And battery, frigid rape,
To come
Of right.

For justice must be done

Specially when
It tastes so good.

And then - this guru,

Preacher, God-merchant, God-knows-what -
Spoilt the whole thing,
Speaking to her
(Should never speak to them)
Squatting on the ground - her level,
Writing in the dust
Something we couldn't read.
And saw in her
Something we couldn't see
At least until
He turned his eyes on us,
Her eyes on us,
Our eyes upon ourselves.

We walked away
Still holding stones 
That we may throw
Another day
Given the urge.
 Summary

This poem is about men who caught a prostitute and since prostitution is a sin
their punishmentfor her was stoning. When they caught her, they roughed her
up but still had their ownintentions. They taught they weren’t doing anything
wrong as it wasn’t the first time she’d feltmen’s hands greedy over her body.
The prostitute who was Mary Magdalene was dead scared because she was
assaulted. She knew that her fate had in store for her.But then, Jesus squatted
down to her level and wrote something in the dust and looked at her. The men
couldn’t understand what he wrote until he turned to them. They realized
their mistake and walked away; still holding their stones waiting to use day
another day given the urge to do so.

Themes: Societal Issues, Male/Female Relationships, Morality, Stereotyping,

Justice

Tone: The tone of the poem is mixed

Mood: reverent

Sarcasm
     
The persona is making the point that the lady was in fact NOT decent looking.

Personification
     
This device is particularly effective because the word ‘kisses’ is used. Kiss
implies something pleasant, but it is actually utilized to emphasize something
painful that has happened to the lady; she was stoned.

Contrast

Lines 13-15: These lines show that the men who were ‘holding stones’ believe
they are more morally upright than the other men with whom the woman
associates.  
 Irony

One would think that men with ‘virtuous’ hands would have only pure
thoughts, but these men intend to stone the woman , who  seems utterly
defenseless. Also, images of cruelty are used, such as ‘bruised’, ‘kisses of
stone’, ‘battery’ and ‘frigid rape’. 
 Test Match Sabina Park
By: Stewart Brown

Proudly wearing the rosette of my skin

I strut into Sabina
England boycotting excitement bravely,
something badly amiss.

Cricket. Not the game they play at Lords,

the crowd - whoever saw a crowd
at a cricket match? - are caged
vociferous partisans, quick to take offence.

England sixty eight for none at lunch.

'What sort o battin dat man?
dem kaaan play cricket again,
praps dem should-a-borrow Lawrence Rowe!'

And on it goes, the wicket slow

as the batting and the crowd restless.
'Eh white bwoy, how you brudders dem
does sen we sleep so? Me a pay monies
fe watch dis foolishness? Cho!

So I try to explain in my Hampshire drawl

about conditions in Kent,
about sticky wickets and muggy days
and the monsoon season in Manchester
but fail to convince even myself.

The crowd's loud 'busin drives me out

skulking behind a tarnished rosette
somewhat frayed now but unable, quite,
to conceal a blushing nationality. 
 SUMMARY

The persona, a white male, proudly enters Sabina Park to watch a cricket
match between England and the West Indies. The persona notices that the
game is slow and that the crowd is not reacting well. He is, in fact, initially
shocked that there is a crowd at all because this is usually not the case at
Lords. By lunch, England is sixty eight for none, and the crowd gets abusive.
They even state that maybe they should borrow Lawrence Rowe. The persona
tries to explain the reason behind the slow pace of the British side, but fails to
convince even himself. His embarrassment at England’s performance has
hieventually skulking out of the venue.

Mood: The mood of the poem is tense.

Tone: The tone of the poem is one of frustration (West Indian) and
embarrassment (English man).

Theme: Discrimination, places, culture and sports

RHETORICAL QUESTION

Stanza 2, lines 6-7: This question reveals that, despite the fact that cricket is a
popular sport in England, the venues for the matches are not crowded. This
question could also point to the fact that Sabina Park was very crowded.

Stanza 3, line 10: This question represents the general frustration of the West
Indians in the crowd. They are annoyed that the cricket match is progressing
so slowly.

Stanza 4, lines 16-18: These questions imply that the West Indian crowd’s
level of frustration has escalated.
 ALLUSION

The allusion to Lawrence Rowe, a very colourful and successful West Indian
cricketer, emphasizes the fact that the match is slow and boring.

SARCASM

 To ‘boycott’ is to abstain from, or to stop, doing something. Therefore, the

persona is being sarcastic because excitement is a good thing. People usually
boycott for something negative, therefore the persona is, again, highlighting
the slow and boring pace of the cricket match.
 Theme for English B
By: by Langston Hughes

The instructor said,

         Go home and write

         a page tonight.
         And let that page come out of you—
         Then, it will be true.

I wonder if it’s that simple?

I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.   
I went to school there, then Durham, then here   
to this college on the hill above Harlem.   
I am the only colored student in my class.   
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem,   
through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas,   
Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y,   
the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator   
up to my room, sit down, and write this page:

It’s not easy to know what is true for you or me   

at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I’m what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you.
hear you, hear me—we two—you, me, talk on this page.   
(I hear New York, too.) Me—who?

Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.   

I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.   
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
or records—Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn’t make me not like
the same things other folks like who are other races.   
So will my page be colored that I write?   
Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be
a part of you, instructor.
You are white—
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That’s American.
Sometimes perhaps you don’t want to be a part of me.   
Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that’s true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me—
although you’re older—and white—
and somewhat more free.

This is my page for English B.

 Summary

The persona’s lecturer gave him an assignment to write a page that reflects
‘him’, or his character. The persona wonders if this is a simple task, and begins
to think about his life. Things like his age, place of birth, race and place of
residence. Based on these musings, he surmises that he is confused due to his
youth. He guesses that he is what he feels, sees and hears, which is Harlem,
New York. He continues his musing about what he likes, and concludes that he
likes the same things that people of other races like. On this basis, he
questions whether or not his page will be influenced by race. He concludes
that it will not be white. He admits that his instructor, as well as the fact that
this instructor is white, will have some influence on his page. He states that
they both influence each other, that is what being American is about. He
believes that both of them might not want to influence each other, but it
cannot be helped. He concludes that both of them will learn from each other,
despite the fact that the instructor has the advantage of being older, white and
‘more free’. All of these musings and conclusions become his page for English
B.

Moods: The mood of the poem is reflective.

Tone:  The tone of the poem is also reflective.

Themes: Racism, places
 RHETORICAL QUESTION

Stanza 2, line 6: The persona ponders the ease of what he is asked to do. This
question, in turn, actually highlights the difficult nature of the task.

Stanza 3, line24: This question highlights the persona’s confusion as to who

he is, or his character. He is unsure.

Stanza 4, line 32: The persona is wondering whether his race will affect  what
he writes on the page. This is despite the fact that he concludes that race does
not hinder people, in general, liking the same things.

REPETITION

This repetition emphasizes the profound impact that Harlem, New York,
has had on the personality of the persona.
 Dreaming black boy
By: James Berry

I wish my teacher’s eyes wouldn’t

go past me today. Wish he’d know
it’s okay to hug me when I kick
a goal. Wish I myself wouldn’t hold back when answer comes.
I’m no woodchopper now
like all ancestors.

I wish I could be educated

to the best of tune up, and earn
good money and not sink to lick
boots. I wish I could go on every
crisscross way of the globe
and no persons or powers or
hotel keepers would make it a waste.

I wish life wouldn’t spend me out

opposing. Wish same way creation
would have me stand it would have
me stretch, and hold high, my voice
Paul Robeson’s, my inside eye
a sun.Nobody wants to say
hello to nasty answers.

I wish torch throwers of night

would burn lights for decent times.
Wish plotters in pyjamas would pray
for themselves. Wish people wouldn’t
talk as if I dropped from Mars.
 Summary

The poem is about a black boy who wishes that he could have regular things in
life. Things such as a congratulatory hug, to be educated to the highest level
and to travel without harassment. The persona yearns to stop fighting for the
basic right to be successful and to rise above societal expectations.

Mood: sadness

Theme: Racism, survival, oppression, desire/dreams, childhood experiences

Tone: hurt, strong desires

REPETITION
The constant repetition of the phrase ‘I wish’ points to a yearning, a
desperation even, for the basic things that life has to offer. The repetition gives
credence to the idea that the persona might believe that his wishes are
actually dreams that might not come true.

ALLUSION
Stanza 1, lines 6 and 7, alludes to slavery, the state of lacking control over
one’s own life and destiny. The fact that reference is made to this hints to how
the persona feels about his life. He does not feel as if he has control over it.

Stanza 3, lines 19 to 20, alludes to Paul Robeson, a black intellectual, who

attained success despite difficult circumstances. The persona yearns to be like
this person. He wants room to stretch intellectually.

Stanza 4, lines 22 to 25, alludes to the klu klux klan. Burning lights refers to
the burning of crosses and the pyjamas alludes to their white outfits that look
like pyjamas. The persona wants them to leave him alone, find something else
to do other than make his life difficult by contributing to his wishes remaining
in the realm of the dreams. 
 My Parents
By: Stephen spender

My parents kept me from children who were rough

Who threw words like stones and wore torn clothes
Their thighs showed through rags they ran in the street
And climbed cliffs and stripped by the country streams.

I feared more than tigers their muscles like iron

Their jerking hands and their knees tight on my arms
I feared the salt coarse pointing of those boys
Who copied my lisp behind me on the road.

They were lithe they sprang out behind hedges

Like dogs to bark at my world. They threw mud
While I looked the other way, pretending to smile.
I longed to forgive them but they never smiled.
 Summary

The poem is about the desire to belong and fit in. though the persona partly
blames his parents as the title suggests, he in fact laments the fact that he does
not fit in with the other boys. on one hand he hates the bullies for their cruelty
but also envies their fitness and physique.

Themes: childhood, isolation, interaction between the boys and poet, poet's
attitude towards the boys

Tone: reflective, awkward, longing

Mood: Anger, hate

Imagery

Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses.
For example, “Who threw words like stones and wore torn clothes”; “Their
jerking hands and their knees tight on my arms” and “Their thighs showed
through rags they ran in the street.”

Simile

It is a figure of speech used to compare something with something else to

make the meanings clear. There is one simile used in the fourth line, “I feared
more than tigers their muscles like iron”. He compares their muscles with
iron.

Contrast

The verbs applied to the lower class children are full of action (‘threw’, ‘ran’,
‘climbed’, ‘tripped’, ‘sprang’) while the narrator’s verbs are passive an weak
(‘feared’, ‘longed’ and ‘pretending’)
 Dulce et Decorum Est
By: Wilfred Owen

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.—
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams before my helpless sight,

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace

Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
 Summary

Wilfred Owen, the poet, tells of his first hand experience in war. He tells the
tale of tired and wounded soldiers walking through dirt and sludge. Suddenly,
there is a warning about gas, which the soldiers hurriedly and awkwardly
heed by donning their helmets. Unfortunately, one soldier is too late in
donning the helmet and his companions watch him ‘drowning’ in the gas. The
unfortunate soldier was thrown in the back of a wagon, where it is implied
that he was left to die. The persona points out that if you (the reader/ listener)
could have witnessed these events, then you would not tell children the old
lie: dulce et decorum est pro patria mori (It is sweet and honourable to die for
one’s country).

Mood: reflective

Tone: sarcastic, ironic.

Theme: War, death, survival,  patriotism

SIMILE

Stanza 1, line 1: This simile introduces the exhaustion of the soldiers. Stanza 1,
line 2: This emphasizes not only the tiredness of the soldiers, but the fact that
they might be sick as well.

Stanza 2, line 19: This device gives a visual image of how the soldier physically
reacted to the gas. Floundering implies flopping about, therefore, the soldier
was flopping about violently. We know it was violent because fire and lime
illicit excruciating pain.

Stanza 4, line 39: This device gives a visual image of the expression on the
soldier’s face. This is a particularly grotesque image that highlights the soldier
in the throes of death.
Stanza 4, line 39: Cancer is a horrible disease that takes many lives on a daily
basis. Therefore, to compare this dying soldiers face to this disease is to
emphasize the agony that the soldier was going through, which was reflected
on his face.

Stanza 4, lines 39-40: This is another graphic comparison that compares the
soldier’s face to incurable sores. ‘Sores’ is a disgusting visual image of
degradation which, in turn, highlights the soldier in the throes of death.

ALLITERATION

Stanza 1, line 7: This device points to the level of fatigue that the soldiers were
undergoing. Stanza 1, lines 7-9: This highlights not only the fatigue that the
soldiers were feeling, but the fact that they were injured as well. Stanza 4,
lines 29-30: This device highlights a visually graphic death mask. The soldier
is in the throes of impending death.
 This is the Dark Time, My Love

By: Martin Carter

This is the dark time, my love,

All round the land brown beetles crawl about.
The shining sun is hidden in the sky.
Red flowers bend their heads in awful sorrow.

This is the dark time , my love.

It is the season of oppression, dark metal and tears.
It is the festival of guns, the carnival of misery.
Every where the faces of men are strained and anxious.

Who comes walking in the dark night time?

Whose boot of steel tramps down the slender grass?
It is the man of death, my love, the strange invader
Watching you sleep and aiming at your dream.
 Summary

The persona speaks to someone that he cares for. He tells this person that this
is the dark time, which is, in essence, a time of sadness. It is implied, by certain
key terms; such as ‘dark metal’, that it is a time of war. The persona warns his
‘love’ that it is a dark, sad time.

Mood:The mood of the poem is a sad one.

Tone: The tone of the poem is also a sad one.

Themes: Racism, War, Oppression, Dreams and Aspirations, places.

REPETITION

Stanza 1, line 1 & stanza 2, line 7: The repetition of this phrase highlights that
there is something seriously amiss. The persona is telling his ‘love’ that this is
a sad and terrible time.

ALLITERATION

This device literally draws the reader’s’ visual attention to the sentence. The
sentence implies that everything that is good and positive is hidden away, or
gone. This alliteration sets a sad tone at the very beginning of this poem.

PERSONIFICATION

This device emphasizes the sad tone of the poem. This is the case because
flowers are usually associated with feelings of happiness and cheerfulness.
Therefore, if the flowers – ambassadors of joy –  are sad, then it highlights
how really sad the times have become.
 METAPHOR

The contrast in this device is startling. The terms ‘festival’ and ‘carnival’ not
only describes fun and festivity, but also a large amount of each. Both words
are associated with huge crowds. This emphasizes how terrible the times have
become because guns and misery are plentiful.

RHETORICAL QUESTION

Stanza 3, line 13: This device informs the reader/ audience that a threat
exists and that it comes in the dark of night.

Stanza 3, lines 14 – 15: It is implied that the threat is a soldier through the
term ‘boot of steel’. The ‘slender grass’ is the innocent youth who is cut down
and trampled by these ‘boots of steel’. The fact that we are given this
information through the use of rhetorical question adds mystery and intrigue
to the poem.
 Ol' Higue
By: Mark McWatt

You think I like this stupidness! -

gallivanting all night without skin,
burning myself out like cane-fire 
to frighten the foolish?
And for what? A few drops of baby blood?
You think I wouldn't rather
take my blood seasoned in fat
black-pudding, like everyone else?
And don't even talk 'bout the pain of salt
and having to bend these old bones down
to count a thousand grains of rice!

If only babies didn't smell so nice!

And if I could only stop 
hearing the soft, soft call
of that pure blood running in new veins,
singing the sweet song of life
tempting an old, dry-up woman who been
holding her final note for years and years,
afraid of the dying hum ...

Then again, if I didn't fly and come

to that fresh pulse in the middle of the night, how would you, mother,
name your ancient dread?
And who to blame
for the murder inside your head ...?
Believe me -
As long as it have women giving birth
a poor ol' higue like me can never dead.
 Summary

In this poem, the Ol’ Higue / soucouyant tells of her frustration with her
lifestyle. She does not like the fact that she sometimes has to parade around,
in the form of a fireball, without her skin at night. She explains that she has to
do this in order to scare people, as well as to acquire baby blood. She explains
that she would rather acquire this blood via cooked food, like every-one else.
Her worst complaint is the pain of salt, as well as having to count rice grains.
She exhibits some regret for her lifestyle but implies that she cannot resist a
baby’s smell, as well as it’s pure blood. The ‘newness’ of the baby tempts the
Ol’ Higue, and she cannot resist because she is an old woman who fears death,
which can only be avoided by consuming the baby’s blood. She affirms her
usefulness in the scheme of things, however, by claiming that she provides
mothers with a name for their fears (this being the death of a child), as well as
some-one to blame when the evil that they wish for their child, in moments of
tired frustration, is realized. She implies that she will never die, so long as
women keep having babies.

Mood: reflective.

Tone: The tone of the poem is slightly bitter and resigned.

Theme: Supernatural

SIMILE

Cane-fire has a very distinct quality. It burns very quickly and its presence is
felt through it’s pungent smell. Therefore, when the Ol’ Higue compares
herself to cane fire in her fireball state, it implies that she uses a lot of energy
quickly, and is very visible. 
 RHETORICAL QUESTION

Stanza 1,line 4: This rhetorical question highlights the scant regard that the
Higue has for the average person. She is thoroughly annoyed that she has to
literally waste her energy on them.

Stanza 1, line 5: This highlights the fact that, again, she is annoyed that she
has to expend so much energy to obtain a few drops of baby blood.

Stanza 1, lines 6-8: The Ol’ Higue is emphasizing the fact that regular people
ingest blood too, just in a more palatable manner. She would not mind if she
could ingest it in the same manner as well.

Stanza 3, lines 22-23: At this point the Ol’ Higue is making excuses for her
presence, claiming that she serves an actual purpose in the scheme of life. If a
child dies of unknown causes, she can be scapegoated for it.

Stanza 3, lines 24-25: ‘The murder inside your head’ refers to the moments,
when out of pure frustration and tiredness, a mother might wish ill on her
child. The Ol’ Higue is implying that, again, she can be used as a scapegoat if
something unfortunate happens to the child. The mother is relieved of bearing
the burden of guilt.

REPETITION

The repetition of the word ‘soft’ emphasizes the fact that the call of the child’s
blood has captured and beguiled the Ol’ Higue’. She implies that she cannot
resist that call.
 Mirror

By: Sylvia Plath

I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see I swallow immediately
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.
I am not cruel, only truthful,
The eye of a little god, four-cornered.
Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long
I think it is part of my heart. But it flickers.
Faces and darkness separate us over and over.

Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,

Searching my reaches for what she really is.
Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.
I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.
She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I am important to her. She comes and goes.
Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.
In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman
Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.
 Summary
In this poem, a mirror describes its existence and its owner, who grows older
as the mirror watches.

The mirror first describes itself as “silver and exact.” It forms no judgments,
instead merely swallowing what it sees and reflecting that image back without
any alteration. The mirror is not cruel, “only truthful.” It considers itself a
four-cornered eye of a god, which sees everything for what it is.

Most of the time, the mirror looks across the empty room and meditates on
the pink speckled wall across from it. It has looked at that wall for so long that
it describes the wall as “part of my heart.” The image of the wall is interrupted
only by people who enter to look at themselves and the darkness that comes
with night.

The mirror imagines itself as a lake. A woman looks into it, trying to discern
who she really is by gazing at her reflection. Sometimes, the woman prefers to
look at herself in candlelight or moonlight, but these are “liars” because they
mask her true appearance. Only the mirror (existing here as lake) gives her a
faithful representation of herself.

Because of this honesty, the woman cries and wrings her hands. Nevertheless,
she cannot refrain from visiting the mirror over and over again, every
morning. Over the years, the woman has “drowned a young girl” in the mirror,
and now sees in her reflection an old woman growing older by the day. This
old woman rises toward her out of the mirror like “a terrible fish.”

Tone: Melancholic

Mood: Sadness

Theme: Apperace, time, transformation, woman and femininity

 Personification
"Mirror" is a personification poem. That is, the poet has given the mirror a
first-person voice. So the poem begins:I am silver and exact. I have no
preconceptions.

Metaphor
In the first stanza the mirror declares:
I am not cruel, only truthful,
The eye of a little god, four-cornered.

Simile
The final few words (like a terrible fish) constitute a simile.
 South
by Kamau Braithwaite
But today I recapture the islands
bright beaches: blue mist from the ocean
rolling into the fishermen's houses.
By these shores I was born: sound of the sea
came in at my window, life heaved and breathed in me then
with the strength of that turbulent soil.

Since then I have travelled: moved far from

the beaches:
sojourned in stoniest cities, walking the lands of the north
In sharp, slanting sleet and the hail,
crossed countless saltless savannas and come
to this house in the forest where the shadows oppress me
and the only water is rain and the tepid taste
of the river.

We who are born of the ocean can never seek solace

in rivers: their flowing runs on like our longing,
reproves us our lack of endeavour and purpose,
proves that our striving will founder on that.
We resent them this wisdom, this freedom: passing us
toiling, waiting and watching their cunning declensions down to the sea.

Bright waves splash up from the rocks to refresh us,

blue sea-shells shift in their wake
and there is the thatch of the fishermen's houses, the path
made of pebbles, and look!
Small urchins combing the beaches
look up from their traps to salute us:
they remember us just as we left them.
The fisherman, hawking the surf on this side
of the reef, stands up in his boat
and halloos us: a starfish lies in its pool.
And gulls, white sails slanted seaward,
fly into limitless morning before us.
 Little boy Crying
By: Mervmy Morris

Your mouth contorting in brief spite and

Hurt, your laughter metamorphosed into howls,
Your frame so recently relaxed now tight
With three-year-old frustration, your bright eyes
Swimming tears, splashing your bare feet,
You stand there angling for a moment’s hint
Of guilt or sorrow for the quick slap struck.

The ogre towers above you, that grim giant,

Empty of feeling, a colossal cruel,
Soon victim of the tale’s conclusion, dead

At last. You hate him, you imagine

Chopping clean the tree he’s scrambling down
Or plotting deeper pits to trap him in.

You cannot understand, not yet,

The hurt your easy tears can scald him with,
Nor guess the wavering hidden behind that mask.
This fierce man longs to lift you, curb your sadness
With piggy-back or bull-fight, anything,
But dare not ruin the lessons you should learn.

You must not make a plaything of the rain.

 Summary

Stanza 1
The poem begins with a description of a child crying. However, his cries seem
harsh and fierce “Your laughter metamorphosed into howl”.  This also
suggests that the child is normally a happy one and something happened to
have changed his happiness. The last line in the stanza informs us that the
reason why the child is crying is because he has been beaten “the quick slap
struck”. The little boy is also staring at the parent hoping that he might be
feeling guilty for hitting him. This might mean that the child is trying to play
on the parent’s emotion “you stand there angling for a moment’s hint”.

Stanza 2
It is important to note that the stanza is giving the point of view of the parent.
The parent is imagining that the child is demonizing him for hitting him “The
ogre towers above you, that grim giant,// empty of feeling a colossal
cruel”. From this, we can understand that the parent thinks that the child
believes that he is cruel and evil for hitting him and therefore is thinking of
ways to overcome or get away from the parent.

 Stanza 3
Poet makes it clear that the father loves his son. However, he is slapping him
for is own good. He also suggests that the father is hurt by the son’s tears and
would do anything to make him stop crying. “This fierce man longs to lift
you//……” Yet, the lesson must be taught. 

Stanza 4
Maybe this stanza suggests that no matter that there are often important
behaviour or lessons children must learnt by children.

Themes: Parent Child Relationship, Childhood Experiences, Parenting

Tone: Changes, hateful, soft, regretful

Mode: Suffering, depressed

 Metaphor

The ogre towers above you, that grim giant, Empty of feeling, a colossal cruel,
Soon victim of the tale’s conclusion, dead At last. You hate him, you imagine
Chopping clean the tree he’s scrambling down Or plotting deeper pits to trap
him in.

Imagery

Your mouth contorting in brief spite and Hurt, your laughter metamorphosed
into howls, Your frame so recently relaxed now tight With three-year-old
frustration, your bright eyes Swimming tears, splashing your bare feet, You
stand there angling for a moment’s hint Of guilt or sorrow for the quick slap
struck.