| Pre-reading | |
| 1. | To ‘chivvy’ someone means to make someone do something more quickly or in a different way, usually in a way that annoys that person (often a child). Can you think of some of the things said to chivvy you that used to annoy you? |
| During reading | |
| 2. | Why do you think the poet has used so little punctuation? |
Chivvy
Michael Rosen
Grown-ups say things like:
Speak up
Don’t talk with your mouth full
Don’t stare
Don’t point
Don’t pick your nose
Sit up
Say please
Less noise
Shut the door behind you
Don’t drag your feet
Haven’t you got a hankie?
Take your hands out of your pockets
Pull your socks up
Stand up straight
Say thank you
Don’t interrupt
No one thinks you’re funny
Take your elbows off the table
Can’t you make your own mind up about anything?
| Post-reading | |
| 3. | This poem consists of fifteen orders or commands, two questions, and one statement! Which one is the statement? |
| 4. | What reason does the speaker have for giving this list of orders, one after another? What is he or she trying to suggest? |
| 5. | This poem is written from the point of view of a child. How would the first line of the poem have to change if it were told from the point of view of an adult? |
| 6. | Read the poem again before answering these questions. |
| a) | In the light of all the commands that the child is given, what is the irony in the last question? |
| b) | What makes this a humorous poem? |
| 7. | Can you think of one command (or maybe more) that adults say or have said to you that is not in this list of imperatives? Write it down; or perhaps take it in turns to go around the group, each person adding his or her contribution to the list. |
| Pre-reading | |
| 1. | What do you know about rainforests and their role in stabilising the world’s climate and maintaining the water cycle? How does chopping down rainforests in other countries affect us in South Africa? |
| During reading | |
| 2. | We are given a number of perspectives during this poem. Note how the mood and the tone shift with a shift of perspective. |
A poem for the rainforest
Song of the Xingu Indian
Judith Nicholls
They have stolen my land;
the birds have flown,
My people gone.
my rainbow rises over sand, my river falls on stone
Amazonian Timbers Inc.
This cannot go next –
here, let me draw the line.
That’s roughly right, give or take
a few square miles or so.
I’ll list the ones we need.
No burn the rest.
Only take the best,
We’re not in this
For charity.
Replant? No –
You’re new to this, I see!
There’s plenty more
where this comes from,
no problem! Finish here
and then move on.
Dusk
Butterfly, blinded
By smoke, drifts like torn paper
to the flames below.
Shadows
Spider,
Last of her kind,
Scuttles underground, safe;
Prepares her nest for young ones. But
None come.
The coming of night
Sun sinks
behind the high canopy;
the iron men are silenced.
The moon rises,
The firefly wakes.
Death pauses for a night.
Song of the forest
Our land has gone,
Our people flown.
Sun scorches the earth.
Our river weeps.
canopy – a covering of cloth held over a throne, or a bed, to protect it
| Post-reading | |
| 3. | Of the five genres which follow, choose the one that you feel best describes this poem. Give a reason for your choice: |
| a) | a praise poem |
| b) | a ballad |
| c) | a sonnet |
| d) | a protest poem/song |
| e) | a traditional song |
| 4. | In your opinion, which of the lines that the Amazonian Timber representative speaks most show his heartless business-like attitude? |
| 5. | Who are “the iron men” of stanza 5? |
| 6. | Why do none of the spider’s babies come to the nest she has prepared? |
| 7. | Contrast the first and the last stanzas. Focus particularly on the verbs. Explain why the last stanza is even more tragic than the first one. |
| 8. | Work in groups of six readers to present the poem. These are possible roles. |
| the Xingu Indian | |
| a representative from Amazon Timber Inc. (a company which chops down trees) | |
| a butterfly (who speaks Dusk's words) | |
| a spider (who speaks Shadows' words) | |
| the night | |
| the forest | |
| Prepare
| |