English for Life Reader
Grade 9
Home Language
Compiled by Elaine Ridge
Best Books
| Strategies for reading poetry | |
| 1. | Preview the poem – notice the poem’s form: its shape, length, title (why did the poet choose that particular title?) length of its lines, and whether or not it has stanzas. |
| 2. | Visualise the images – in your mind’s eye, picture the images and comparisons the poem makes. Do the images remind you of feelings or experiences you have had? |
| 3. | Try to figure out the theme/main idea – ask yourself, “What’s the point of this poem? What message is the poet trying to send or help me create? Why did the poet write this poem in the first place?” |
| 4. | READ AND REREAD THE POEM UNTIL YOU UNDERSTAND – much “heavy reading” must be read thoroughly, considered and thought about over and over again until it is understood. If some of the most intelligent people in the world have to reread literature in order to understand it, don’t you think that you have to? |
| 5. | Above all: Enjoy and have fun! Put yourself in the “puzzle” mode trying to figure out what the poem’s message is. |
| Pre-reading | |
| 1. | How do you react to cockroaches? What do you know about them? |
| During reading | |
| 2. | An ode is written to praise someone or something. Is this what the poem does? |
Ode to cockroaches
Philip de Vos
Cockroaches are marvellous
Cockroaches are clean
Cockroaches are lovable
and never ever mean –
And yet in all the media
and each encyclopedia
you’ll very often find
that these creatures are maligned.
They're also so hygienic:
their mothers preen and wash them.
I really can’t comprehend
why we should want to squash them.
I beg of you: Please don’t despise
a creature with such soulful eyes:
a creature that’s so clever –
its kind goes on forever.
I’ll be more categoric,
these bugs are prehistoric.
They’ve been around
for many years,
yet all they get
are jeers and sneers
and never once a friendly word
from poets, bards or sonneteers.
They say the day is coming
when an awful BOMB will fall,
and trees and sky will disappear
In one big mushroom ball.
And in our empty houses
when we have gone away
will be delighted cockroaches
who’ll stay and stay and stay …
bards – poets
categoric – clear and specific
maligned – people have said unpleasant things about them that are not true
preen – to dress, or clean, very carefully
| Post-reading | |
| 3. | This poem has not been divided into stanzas but it is in distinct sections. It has a clear rhyme pattern. The first four lines are abab. The next four have a different pattern. The third section of four lines has the same pattern as the first. Then there are two six line sections. Work out the rhyme scheme of the whole poem. Then consider the effect of the sections and of the change from four to six lines. |
| 4. | The speaker seems to be urging us to see the virtues of cockroaches. How serious is he do you think? Explore some of the clues in the poem. |
| 5. | How accurate do you think the facts are that the speaker gives about cockroaches? Explain your answer. |
| 6. | What is the central message about cockroaches in this poem? Try to write your answer in one sentence. |
| 7. | What sort of bomb explodes into a huge mushroom shape? Why would our houses be empty after such a bomb fell? |
| 8. | In the second last line the speaker refers to “delighted” cockroaches. Why would the cockroaches be delighted? |
| 9. | Has this poem changed your response to cockroaches in any way? Explain why or why not. |
| Pre-reading | |
| 1. | When would we use the word ‘serpent’ instead of ‘snake’? What does the word ‘serpent’ remind you of? |
| During reading | |
| 2. | The poet has made up the word “serpenting”. What do you think it means? |
| 3. | This is a very different kind of serpent. We are given four reasons in the second stanza why the serpent had to sing. What are they? |
The serpent
Theodore Roethke
There was a Serpent who had to sing.
There was. There was.
He simply gave up Serpenting.
Because. Because.
He didn’t like his Kind of Life;
He couldn’t find a proper Wife;
He was a Serpent with a soul;
He got no Pleasure down his Hole.
And so, of course, he had to Sing.
And Sing he did, like Anything!
The birds, they were, they were Astounded;
And Various Measures Propounded
To stop the Serpent’s Awful Racket:
They bought a Drum. He wouldn’t Whack it.
They sent, – you always send, – to Cuba
And got a Most Commodious Tuba;
They got a Horn, they got a Flute,
But Nothing would suit.
He said, ‘Look Birds’ all this is futile:
I do not like to Bang or Tootle.’
And then he cut loose with a Horrible Note
That practically split the Top of his Throat.
‘You see,’ he said with a Serpent’s Leer,
‘I’m serious about my Singing Career!’
And the Woods Resounded with many a Shriek
As the Birds flew off to the End of Next Week.
propounded – put forward an idea strongly
commodious – large
futile – no use
resounded – echoed
| Post-reading | |
| 4. | Look at the many capital letters
|