Resource for June 2024

Paper 2
Grade 9

Contents
1) What is poetry
2) Elements of a short story
3) Poem for my Mother
4) The Eagle
5) First Date
Poem for my Mother
The
Eagle
 The Eagle
Lord Alfred Tennyson
1. Read the poem and then answer the following questions
5 minutes - Individual work

1. What is the title?

2. What connotations do we associate with the title?
3. What story does the poem tell?

MEANING
1. Read the poem and then answer the following questions

1. The Eagle
2. It signifies inspiration, release from bondage,
victory, longevity, speed, pride, father and
royalty; it is often an emblem for powerful
nations. The Roman, French, Austrian, German,
and American people have all adopted this
image as their symbol.
3. It the story of the eagle that is sitting high up in
the mountain while looking for prey. It spots
something and then dives down to catch it.

MEANING
1. Read the poem and then answer the following questions
10 - 15 Minutes - Collaboration

4. Quote TWO examples of alliteration (think about

the effect on the reader)
5. Quote TWO examples of personification (think
about the effect on the reader)
6. Quote ONE examples of a simile (think about the
effect on the reader)
7. Are there any other pictures created by the poem
that does not fall under poetic devices?

Imagery - phrase/clauses that appeal to sense of sight, smell, taste, touch or

hearing
1. Read the poem and then answer the following questions
4. “Clasps the crag with crooked” - imitates the sound
of its claws against the rock
“Lonely lands” - emphasis on the eagle’s solitude.
5. “The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls” - the earth
looks like wrinkled skin
“He clasps the crag with crooked hands” - shows
the ability of its claws - more powerful like hands.
6. “Like a thunderbolt he falls” - emphasis on the
speed and the height of the bird.
7. “Close to the sun” - shows how high he flies
“Ringed to the azure world” - the blue of the skies
above it
“Mountain walls” - shows how steep the cliffs are.

Imagery
1. Read the poem and then answer the following questions
5 - 10 minutes - collaboration
8. What is tone?
9. What things do we need to look at to determine
tone?
10. Which word best describes the tone:
a. Disgust
b. Admiration
c. Fear
d. Sarcasm
11. Find three words from the poem that shows the
writer’s attitude.

Tone
1. Read the poem and then answer the following questions
8. The poet’s attitude towards the subject of the
poem.
9. Diction determines tone (choice of words)
10. Clasps; close to the sun; ringed with the azure
world; thunderbolt; he stands; everything else
crawls; he watches; he falls.
11. Which word best describes the tone:
a.
b. Admiration
c.
d.

Tone
1. Read the poem and then answer the following questions
5 - 10 minutes - collaboration
12. What is structure?
13. Describe the structure of this poem by referring
to stanzas, lines, rhyme scheme and register?
14. Do each the stanzas have different focal points?
What are they?

Structure
1. Read the poem and then answer the following questions
12. The features of the poem, i.e. the number of
stanzas, the lines per stanza, the rhyme scheme
and rhythm, the register of the language and
punctuation (enjambment).
13. The poem has two stanza.
Each stanza has three lines (Tercets).
The language is formal
The rhymes scheme: aaa bbb
14. Yes
Stanza 1 focuses on the majesty of the bird
Stanza 2 focuses on the world and how the bird
hunts

Structure
1. Read the poem and then answer the following questions
10 - 15 minutes - collaboration
15. Identify the words you are unfamiliar with and
create a glossary with definitions.
16. Identify the words/phrases that have connotation
and define the emotional meanings behind them.
17. What is the message of this poem? How does
the diction (language/word choice) influence this?

Language
1. Read the poem and then answer the following questions
5 - 10 minutes - collaboration
15. Clasps - grasp (something) tightly with one's hand
Crag - a steep or rugged cliff or rock face
Ringed - marked with or encircled with a ring.
Azure - bright blue in colour like a cloudless sky.
Wrinkled sea - contour of the land below - looks like the
wrinkle skin of a person

Language
1. Read the poem and then answer the following questions
5 - 10 minutes - collaboration
16. Crooked hands - reference to the birds claws and how
powerful they are - like strange-looking hands
Lonely lands - it is alone, but from high up in the sky
the world looks deserted as well.
He stands - He rises above (does not sit) - Regal,
majestic
Ringed - Surrounded by - Angels have rings over their
heads (halo) - Suggests that the bird is god-like.
Crawls - action associated with bugs and insects.
Everything is below the eagle (literally and figuratively)
Mountain walls - shows how steep the mountains are.
No-one else would have been able to
Thunderbolt - quick, precise, dangerous
He falls - Confident, without fear Language
1. Read the poem and then answer the following questions
5 - 10 minutes - collaboration
17. The message revolves around the power of the
eagle.
It is superior, because “he stands” on “mountain
walls” and if you look up you can see it is
surrounded (“ringed”) by the blue skies.
Everything else is inferior and “crawls”.
Everything else falls prey to its “crooked hands”.
The bird is solitary, but the lands are “lonely”.
The bird is as quick and dangerous as a
“thunderbolt”
Language
First date
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