| Pre-reading | |
| 1. | What do you picture when you hear the word ‘silver’? |
| During reading | |
| 2. | While reading, notice how often the word silver is repeated. What effect does this have? |
Silver
Walter de la Mare
Slowly, silently, now the moon
Walks the night in her silver shoon;
This way, and that, she peers and sees
Silver fruit upon silver trees.
One by one the casements catch
Her beams beneath the silvery thatch;
Couched in his kennel, like a log,
With paws of silver sleeps the dog;
From their shadowy cote the white breasts peep
Of doves in a silver-feathered sleep;
A harvest mouse goes scampering by,
With silver claws and a silver eye;
And moveless fish in the water gleam,
By silver reeds in a silver stream.
shoon – shoes
cote – place where doves sleep
casements – windows
| Post-reading | ||
| 3. | What is the effect of the word silver appearing in so many places in the poem?Refer to line 4: “Silver fruit upon silver trees”. Are fruit or trees usually silver? What has made them and many other things silver now? | |
| 4. | The poem has a clear rhyme scheme. The word “moon” at the end of line 1 rhymes with “shoon” at the end of line 2. The first line is always “a” and because the second line rhymes with it, it is also “a”. The word “sees” does not rhyme with lines 1 and 2, so we call this “b”. The word “trees” in line 4 rhymes with the word “sees” in line 3, so is also “b”, so the rhyme scheme of the first four lines is aabb. Complete the rhyme scheme of the poem. | |
| 5. a) | Work out how many syllables each of the lines has. Note: a syllable is a unit of sound, e.g. (1)slow(2)ly, (3)si(4)lent(5)ly (6)now. | |
| b) | Based on your answer, suggest a reason why the poet might have chosen to write the poem in this way. | |
| Pre-reading | |
| 1. | How do you feel when you are tired and about to go off to sleep? |
| During reading | |
| 2. | While you are reading the poem consider why the poet has shaped the poem in this way. |
Into sleep
Jeremy Gordin
Night air
quivering
nosed icily inwards.
The moon
making bars
upon the bed
enfolded me
in mist.
and I slept.
quivering – shaking because of the cold
| Post-reading | |
| 3. | The moon is “making bars” on the bed. What does this suggest about the windows? |
| 4. | What do the words “enfolded me in mist” suggest about the way the speaker was feeling? Explain your answer. |
| 5. | How does this poem leave you feeling? Peaceful? Sleepy? Excited? Scared? |
| Pre-reading | |
| 1. | Before reading think about the sounds the sea makes when we have stormy weather. |
| During reading | |
| 2. | In this poem, the sea is described during two different times of the year. While reading, see if you can see when there is a change of seasons. Remember this poem is set in the northern hemisphere. |
The sea
James Reeves
The sea is a hungry dog.
Giant and grey.
He rolls on the beach all day.
With his clashing teeth and shaggy jaws.
Hour upon hour he gnaws
The rumbling, tumbling stones,
And ‘Bones, bones, bones, bones!’
The giant sea-dog moans,
Licking his greasy paws.
And when the night wind roars
And the moon rocks in the stormy clouds,
He bounds to his feet and snuffs and sniffs,
Shaking his wet sides over the cliffs,
And howls and hollos long and loud.
But on quiet days in May or June,
When even the grasses on the dune
Play no more their reedy tune,
With his head between his paws
He lies on the sandy shores,
So quiet, so quiet, he scarcely snores.
gnaw – biting away at something hard
dune – a hill on the beach made of sand
| Post-reading | ||
| 3. | The poet describes the sea as a dog throughout this poem. He does not say that the sea is like a dog, (a simile) he says the sea IS a dog. What is this kind of comparison called? How effective do you think this is? | |
| 4. | The poet makes extensive use of onomatopoeia (the sound of the words echo the meaning/sound like what they mean). | |
| a) | Which words describing the sea make it sound like a hungry dog? | |
| b) | Which word suggests the gentle sound of the sea? | |
| 5. | Which stanza do you like best? Explain your choice. | |
| Pre-reading | |
| 1. | In Africa, the first real event is a welcome event. Can you explain why? |
Thundershower
Patrick Cullinan
When the rain, the first real rain of the year
Flashes on our black tin roof, we smile across
The room and know, surer than the calendar
Twelve months have passed: yet there is no loss.
We only remember how small we grow
At this sound: how a child is warm in bed
And hears the same rain heard a year ago.
The air is warm. The green days lie ahead.
| Post-reading | ||
| 2. | What time of the year does the first thunderstorm come? Quote from the poem to support your answer. | |
| 3. | What does the word “flashes” suggest about the rain? | |
| 4. | The speaker does not expect us to believe that we literally grow small when we hear the sound of
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