Unseen Poetry: Section C

Past Paper Question

One Art

The art of losing isn’t hard to master;

so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster

of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

Then practice* losing farther, losing faster:

places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or

next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,

some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.

– Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture

I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident
the art of losing’s not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

Elizabeth Bishop

*practice – Please note the American spelling. English spelling: practise

1) In ‘One Art,’ how does the speaker convey their feelings about the
subject of loss?
[24 marks]
Grief

Trying to remember you

is like carrying water
in my hands a long distance
across sand. Somewhere people are waiting.
They have drunk nothing for days.

Your name was the food I lived on;

now my mouth is full of dirt and ash.
To say your name was to be surrounded
by feathers and silk; now, reaching out,
I touch glass and barbed wire.
Your name was the thread connecting my life;
now I am fragments on a tailor's floor.

I was dancing when I

learned of your death; may
my feet be severed from my body.

Stephen Dobyns

2) In both ‘One Art’ and ‘Grief’, the speakers describe the death of a loved
one. What are the similarities and/or differences between the ways the
poets present these feelings?
[8 marks]
 Answer
Question 1

In ‘One Art’, the subject of loss is effectively conveyed through a range of

literary techniques and the speaker conveys their feelings of passivity towards losing
things and people that are dear to them. This essay will examine how successfully the
speaker conveys their feelings towards loss.

Firstly, in ‘One Art’ the narrator creates a light and carefree atmosphere. This
is done through the use of rhyming couplets “master” and “disaster.” The narrator is
creating a playful, sing-song atmosphere and they seem carefree at the mention of
losing something. The narrator’s passive attitude at losing something gives the reader
an impression that the narrator is losing trivial items and that the narrator has only
ever lost trivial items, hence they are quite relaxed and passive when losing things.

Secondly, the narrator conveys to us as readers that the art of losing

something is easy to do and it “isn't hard to master”. The repetition of this phrase is
effective as it emphasises the point that anyone could lose something but they do not
necessarily care about losing that item. However, it could also connote the view that
losing items occurs in our everyday lives hence it is easy to master. This is interesting
for the reader as it is relatable - it is a universal phenomenon that the poet is
attempting to convey hence the reader gets the sense that this attitude of being
carefree is something replicated by many when it comes to losing common items and
objects.

Thirdly, the narrator conveys to us as readers that losing something close to

you will not bring disaster. The narrator has lost “place, and names… travel.” The
rule of three is effective as it could suggest the narrator has lost personal possessions
and things close to her. This could further suggest the more things you lose, the more
accustomed you become to losing things. However, as the poem progresses, the
reader realises the narrator has become more desensitised to losing things, people
and places that are valuable to her and we as readers become increasingly surprised
at the extent of her loss - realising that her passive attitude has developed as a way of
coping with huge and often painful losses.

Finally, the narrator conveys to us as readers that losing something could

become personal. The narrator has lost “two cities, lovely ones...realms i owned, two
rivers, a continent.” The hyperbolic metaphor is effective as it could suggest the
narrator has lost vast regions and possibly her homeland. It could also suggest the
narrator has had a loss identity as the place she grew up in has been lost. The reader
would sympathise for the narrator at losing their home and identity and that this
could be due to civil unrest or war.
 Overall, the speaker conveys their feeling about the subject of loss as not
disastrous and easy to master. This is due to the fact the narrator is used to losing
things and she is used to it. Even when losing things close to you can not be
disastrous - even though you may miss them. This could be due to the fact you have
happy memories off that thing. This essay has examined the subject of loss in detail.
Question 2

In ‘One Art’, the narrator appears to not be moved when losing their loved
one. This is evident in the quote “even losing you...” The use of the pronoun “you”
could suggest the narrator is directly speaking to their loved one. They appear to
have an unusually happy and positive attitude to the death of their loved one,
suggesting the narrator is not grieving as much as someone who cared for the person
they lost. In contrast, in ‘Grief’, it appears the narrator was initially grieving the loss
of their loved one, however by stanza three they remembered all the terrible things
they had done to them. This is evident in the quote “I was dancing when I learned of
your death”. The euphoric language suggests the narrator is celebrating the person’s
death, revealing the deceased person had inflicted harm on the narrator.

In ‘One Art’, it appears that the narrator has lost a loved one through having to
flee their country of origin. This is evident in the quote “the joking voice, a gesture”.
The use of the verb “joking” could suggest the narrator has coped with the the sudden
loss by adopting a carefree view in accepting grief. In contrast, in ‘Grief’, it appears
the narrator’s loved one has passed away for some time. This is evident in the quote
“like carrying water water in my hands a long distance”. The use of the verb
“carrying” combined with the adjective “long” could suggest the narrator is struggling
to recall good memories of the deceased person. It could also imply the narrator is
finding it impossible to recall good memories, just like it is nearly impossible to carry
water a long distance.
 Unseen Poetry: Section C
Past Paper Question

In Mrs Tilscher's class

You could travel up the Blue Nile

with your finger, tracing the route
while Mrs Tilscher chanted the scenery.
”Tana. Ethiopia. Khartoum. Aswan.”
That for an hour,
then a skittle of milk
and the chalky Pyramids rubbed into dust.
A window opened with a long pole.
The laugh of a bell swung by a running child.

This was better than home. Enthralling books.

The classroom glowed like a sweetshop.
Sugar paper. Coloured shapes. Brady and Hindley
faded, like the faint, uneasy smudge of a mistake.
Mrs Tilscher loved you. Some mornings, you found
she'd left a gold star by your name.
The scent of a pencil slowly, carefully, shaved.
A xylophone's nonsense heard from another form.

Over the Easter term the inky tadpoles changed

from commas into exclamation marks. Three frogs
hopped in the playground, freed by a dunce
followed by a line of kids, jumping and croaking
away from the lunch queue. A rough boy
told you how you were born. You kicked him, but stared
at your parents, appalled, when you got back
home

That feverish July, the air tasted of electricity.

A tangible alarm made you always untidy, hot,
fractious under the heavy, sexy sky. You asked her
how you were born and Mrs Tilscher smiled
then turned away. Reports were handed out.
You ran through the gates, impatient to be grown
the sky split open into a thunderstorm.

Carol Ann Duffy

1) In ‘In Mrs Tilscher’s Class,’ how does the poet present ideas about
childhood memories?
[24 marks]
Extract from The Cry of the Children

Do ye hear the children weeping, O my brothers,

Ere the sorrow comes with years?
They are leaning their young heads against their mothers---
And that cannot stop their tears.
The young lambs are bleating in the meadows;
The young birds are chirping in the nest;
The young fawns are playing with the shadows;
The young flowers are blowing toward the west---
But the young, young children, O my brothers,
They are weeping bitterly!---
They are weeping in the playtime of the others
In the country of the free.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

2) In both ‘In Mrs Tilscher’s Class’ and ‘The Cry of the Children’, the
speakers describe childhood. What are the similarities and/or
differences between the ways the poets present childhood?

[8 marks]
 Answer

Question 1

In the poem , In Mrs Tilscher’s class, the idea of childhood memories are
presented as being quite fragile and quick to be destroyed by the harsh brutality of
experience from the adult world. This essay will examine this in depth by examining
how the poet uses a variety of language and structural devices to present childhood
memories.

After the children’s lesson in Geography: “Tana. Ethiopia. Khartoum. Aswan,”

they are given a “skittle of milk.” The adjective “skittle” coupled with the noun “milk”
illustrates just how premature and youthful the children are. The mention of “milk”
has connotations of being a young, innocent newborn child and we instantly think of
young babies who are very much dependent on their mother’s care. This mention of
“milk” conveys how childhood memories are being presented in a nostalgic way -
childhood appears to be portrayed as a perfect and carefree past where people felt
secure in their environment.

Furthermore, the narrator reflects that “Mrs Tilscher loved you.” The use of
caesura in this reflection reveals just how pure and innocent the child’s internal
dialogue was. This conveys the high level of innocence this child had as they saw the
world in an extremely positive way where everybody appeared to care for and love
them. Furthermore the child shows their pride that Mrs Tilscher left them a “gold
star.” The use of the colourful adjective “gold” coupled with the noun “star” is
symbolic for the wish that children had for the approval of adults who they highly
admired. Hence this presents childhood memories as an idealised time when young
children saw adults as perfect and sought their approval.

Moreover, the idea of innocence is stripped away when a “rough boy / told you
how you were born.” This marked the end of the narrator’s purity as he was exposed
to mature topics and was therefore left “appalled.” This portrays how traumatic the
experience of growing up is and how quickly everything then happens. Indeed the
use of enjambment is important in showing how temporary and precious childhood
really is as the onset of adulthood is so rapid and the narrator appears to convey the
unstoppable invasion of experience which destroys one’s childhood and their
innocence.

Furthermore, we learn how rapid the experience of growing up is and the

paradoxical impact of losing one’s childhood as well as the opportunities that
experience and adulthood presents. On the one hand, it appears that the narrator
seems to be increasingly sexually curious as this is shown through the sibilance “sexy
sky.” The adjective “sexy” on the one hand shows the allure of the experience and
excitement for teenagers in regards to being sexually active. However on the other
hand, there are hidden threats such as being exposed to pregnancy and disease at a
young age. This concern as well as a wish for a simpler and more innocent existence
is shown through repetition: “how you were born.” This shows an idealised image of
childhood and it suggests that the narrator may perhaps wish that he was more
patient with preserving his innocence.

To conclude, the poem appears to have portrayed the idea of childhood

memories as being innocent, however they also show how children are quickly
stripped of this innocence due to the harsh and brutal experience of the adult world.
This essay has examined how the poet has presented this through the use of literary
techniques.
Question 2

Firstly, the poem “In Mrs Tilscher’s Class” emphasises the amount of freedom
the children had. We get the sense that the child “could travel up the Blue Nile.” The
use of this hyperbole portrays how endless the possibilities are for this child as their
imagination is unrestricted. In contrast, in “The Cry of the Children,” the children are
shown as having a lack of freedom and we are asked the rhetorical question: “Do ye
hear the children weeping...” This suggests how the children should be free and
should have a simple care - free life, however they are in chains instead. One of the
striking differences that we notice is that in the first poem, the children are
unrestricted in their imagination and they are able to live out their childhood dreams
which appear endless. Hence childhood seems to be supported by those around
them. On the other hand, in the second poem, the narrator expresses disgust at the
fact that children in Victorian society were forced to grow up quickly and work as
adults if they were too poor to go to school.

Secondly, the poem “In Mrs Tilscher’s Class” conveys how the innocence of
the children was stripped away from them by being told “how you were born.” The
repetition of this idea forces the children to mature quickly as their innocence and
purity was stolen abruptly. On the other hand, the poem “The Cry of the Children”
presents the exploitation of the children in the declarative sentence: “country of the
free.” The sarcasm in this statement illustrates how the children are supposed to be
free and enjoying their childhood though having fun and enjoying their playful years,
however they are being imprisoned by being forced to work against their will, in
order to help provide for the family. One of the striking similarities between both
poems is that they convey the idea that the children’s innocence was being stripped
away from them by forces beyond their control.
 Unseen Poetry: Section C
Past Paper Question

The Wild Swans at Coole*

The trees are in their autumn beauty,

The woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky;
Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine-and-fifty swans.

The nineteenth autumn has come upon me

Since I first made my count;
I saw, before I had well finished,
All suddenly mount
And scatter wheeling in great broken rings
Upon their clamorous* wings.

I have looked upon those brilliant creatures,

And now my heart is sore.
All’s changed since I, hearing at twilight,
The first time on this shore,
The bell-beat of their wings above my head,
Trod with a lighter tread.

Unwearied still, lover by lover,

They paddle in the cold
Companionable streams or climb the air;
Their hearts have not grown old;
Passion or conquest, wander where they will,
Attend upon them still.

But now they drift on the still water,

Mysterious, beautiful;
Among what rushes will they build,
By what lake’s edge or pool
Delight men’s eyes when I awake some day
To find they have flown away?

W. B. Yeats
1) In ‘The Wild Swans at Coole,’ how does the poet present his feelings
about the swans in this poem?
[24 marks]

The Tyger
Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies.

Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,

Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain,

In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp,
Dare its deadly terrors clasp!

When the stars threw down their spears

And water'd heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger Tyger burning bright,

In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

William Blake

2) In both ‘The Wild Swans at Coole’ and ‘The Tyger’, the speakers
describe an animal. What are the similarities and/or differences between
the ways the poets present these animals?
[8 marks]
 Answer

Question 1

In ‘The Wild Swans at Coole’, the narrator’s feelings about the swans is
effectively conveyed through a range of literary techniques. The speaker conveys
their feelings of hurt towards losing things and people that are dear to them. This
essay will examine how successfully the speaker conveys their feelings towards loss.

Firstly, in ‘The Wild Swans at Coole’ the narrator creates a negative

atmosphere. This is done through the use of the enjambment “the nineteenth
autumn has come upon me.” The narrator is impacted by this moment. This could be
due to the fact it is a negative anniversary for him. It could also mean it is the
nineteenth year after something bad happened to the speaker. The reader would be
intrigued at why the “nineteenth autumn” is significant in the narrator’s life and
would want to know the reason why.

Secondly, in ‘The Wild Swans at Coole’ the narrator creates a broken image.
This is done through the use of rhyming couplets “rings” and “wings” and also with
the adjective “broken”. The rhyming couplets could suggest the swans are in pairs.
However, combined with “broken”, it could suggest a unity has been broken and the
narrator is witnessing this break. The narrator’s view on the break gives the reader an
impression that the narrator is upset at the break and that the narrator could think
he was the reason the swans broke.

Thirdly, in ‘The Wild Swans at Coole’ the narrator is presented as heartbroken.

This can be seen in the quote “and now my heart is sore”. The use of the adjective
“sore” is effective as it shows the narrator is hurt and heartbroken. This could be
because the break could represent a heartbreak in his own life. The narrator still
hasn't recovered from this and so his sadness is reflected from the break. The reader
would feel sympathy for the narrator as breaking something can be sad and not
recovering from it can be even sadder.

Finally, in ‘The Wild Swans at Coole’ the narrator is wishing to have his lover
back. This can be seen in the quote “lover by lover.” The alliteration and repetition is
effective as it shows the narrator feels lonely and that seeing the swans in pairs
reminds him of the good times him and his lover used to have. The narrator wishes
his lover didn't break up and leave him. The reader would feel sorry for the narrator
as they might also wish the lover gets back together with the narrator and then the
narrator won't be lonely.

Overall, the speaker presents his feelings about the swans as a painful
memory of his lover and him. This is due to the fact the narrator is being reminded
by the swans that things and people should stay in pairs. This essay has examined the
feelings about the swans in detail.
Question 2:

In ‘The Wild Swans at Coole’, the narrator describes the swans as brilliant and
majestic. This is evident in the quote “looked upon those brilliant creatures.” The use
of the adjective “brilliant” could suggest the narrator is in awe of the swans and that
he recognises how majestic the swans are. In contrast, in ‘The Tyger’, the narrator
describes the tiger as fearful and dangerous. This is evident in the quote “could frame
thy fearful symmetry?”. The use of the rhetorical question combined with the
adjective “fearful” could suggest the “tyger” is difficult to control, suggesting no one
could take or draw an image of it apart from a supreme and immortal being. It could
also suggest the tiger is not from this earth and that no one has seen power like this
before.

In ‘The Wild Swans at Coole’, the narrator describes the swans as threatening
abandonment of the narrator. This can be seen in the quote “when I awake some day
to find they have flown away?”. The use of the rhetorical questions creates an
ominous tone. The narrator is afraid the swans will leave him. There appears to be an
overwhelming fear of abandonment. However, in ‘The Tyger’, the narrator presents
the tiger as vicious and possibly man-eating. This is seen in the quote “dare its deadly
terrors clasp!” The use of the exclamatory sentence could suggest the narrator is
terrified of the tiger and that he does not want to be eaten - he is in awe of its beauty,
but equally afraid of the danger it represents. It could also suggest the tiger has a
death grip that no one can escape.
Unseen Poetry
Question Practice
 The Rear-Guard
(Hindenburg Line, April 1917)

Groping along the tunnel, step by step,

He winked his prying torch with patching glare
From side to side, and sniffed the unwholesome air.

Tins, boxes, bottles, shapes too vague to know,

A mirror smashed, the mattress from a bed;
And he, exploring fifty feet below
The rosy gloom of battle overhead.

Tripping, he grabbed the wall; saw someone lie

Humped at his feet, half-hidden by a rug,
And stooped to give the sleeper’s arm a tug.
‘I’m looking for headquarters.’ No reply.
‘God blast your neck!’ (For days he’d had no sleep.)
‘Get up and guide me through this stinking place.’

Savage, he kicked a soft, unanswering heap,

And flashed his beam across the livid* face
Terribly glaring up, whose eyes yet wore
Agony dying hard ten days before;
And fists of fingers clutched a blackening wound.

Alone he staggered on until he found

Dawn’s ghost that filtered down a shafted stair
To the dazed, muttering creatures underground
Who hear the boom of shells in muffled sound.

At last, with sweat of horror in his hair,

He climbed through darkness to the twilight air,
Unloading hell behind him step by step.

Siegfried Sassoon

*Livid = discoloured / furious

2 7 . 1 In ‘The Rear-Guard,’ how does the poet present his ideas about the
soldier’s journey?

[24 marks]
 The Solider

If I should die, think only this of me;

That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,

A pulse in the eternal mind, no less 10
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

Rupert Brooke

2 7 . 2 In both ‘The Rear Guard’ and ‘The Soldier’, the speakers describe the
experience of a soldier. What are the similarities and/or differences between
the ways the poets present their ideas about being a soldier?
[8 marks]
 Fantasy of an African Boy

Such a peculiar lot

we are, we people
without money, in daylong
yearlong sunlight, knowing
money is somewhere, somewhere.

Everybody says it’s big

bigger brain bother now,
money. Such millions and millions
of us don’t manage at all
without it, like war going on.

And we can’t eat it. Yet

without it our heads alone
stay big, as lots and lots do,
coming from nowhere joyful,
going nowhere happy.

We can’t drink it up. Yet

without it we shrivel when small
and stop forever
where we stopped, as lots and lots do.

We can’t read money for books.

Yet without it we don’t
read, don’t write numbers,
don’t open gates in other countries,
as lots and lots never do.

We can’t use money to bandage

sores, can’t pound it
to powder for sick eyes
and sick bellies. Yet without
it, flesh melts from our bones.

Such walled-round gentlemen

overseas minding money! Such
bigtime gentlemen, body guarded
because of too much respect
and too many wishes on them:

too many wishes, everywhere,

wanting them to let go
magic of money, and let it fly
away, everywhere, day and night,
just like dropped leaves in wind!

James Berry

2 7 . 1 In ‘Fantasy of an African Boy,’ how does the poet present ideas about the
significance of money?
[24 marks]
 Extract from We Ain’t Got No Money, Honey, But We Got Rain

call it the greenhouse effect or whatever

but it just doesn't rain like it used to.
I particularly remember the rains of the
depression era.
there wasn't any money but there was
plenty of rain.
it wouldn't rain for just a night or
a day,
it would RAIN for 7 days and 7
nights
and in Los Angeles the storm drains
weren't built to carry off taht much
water
and the rain came down THICK and
MEAN and
STEADY
and you HEARD it banging against
the roofs and into the ground
waterfalls of it came down
from roofs
and there was HAIL
big ROCKS OF ICE
bombing
exploding smashing into things
and the rain
just wouldn't
STOP
and all the roofs leaked-
dishpans,
cooking pots
were placed all about;
they dripped loudly
and had to be emptied
again and
again.

Charles Bukowski

2 7 . 2 In both ‘Fantasy of An African Boy’ and ‘We Ain’t Got No Money, Honey,
But We Got Rain’, the speakers describe finances. What are the similarities
and/or differences between the ways the poets present their feelings about
money?
[8 marks]
 The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

2 7 . 1 In ‘The Road Not Taken,’ how does the poet present ideas about the
importance of making decisions?
[24 marks]
 I Travelled Among Unknown Men

I travelled among unknown men,

In lands beyond the sea;
Nor, England! did I know till then
What love I bore to thee.

'Tis past, that melancholy dream!

Nor will I quit thy shore
A second time; for still I seem
To love thee more and more.

Among thy mountains did I feel

The joy of my desire;
And she I cherished turned her wheel
Beside an English fire.

Thy mornings showed, thy nights concealed,

The bowers where Lucy played;
And thine too is the last green field
That Lucy's eyes surveyed.

William Wordsworth

2 7 . 2 In both ‘The Road Not Taken’ and ‘I Travelled Among Unknown Men’, the
speakers describe unknown paths and choices. What are the similarities and/or
differences between the ways the poets present their feelings about choices?
[8 marks]
 Island Man

Morning
and island man wakes up
to the sound of blue surf
in his head
the steady breaking and wombing

wild seabirds
and fishermen pushing out to sea
the sun surfacing defiantly
from the east
of his small emerald island
he always comes back groggily groggily

Comes back to sands

of a grey metallic soar
to surge of wheels
to dull North Circular* roar

muffling muffling
his crumpled pillow waves
island man heaves himself

Another London day

Grace Nichols

*North Circular = a road around London

2 7 . 1 In ‘Island Man,’ how does the poet present ideas about place?
[24 marks]
 The Fringe of the Sea

We do not like to awaken

far from the fringe of the sea,
we who live upon small islands.

We like to rise up early,

quick in the agile mornings
and walk out only little distances
to look down at the water,
to know it is swaying near to us
with songs, arid tides, and endless boat ways,
and undulate patterns and moods.

We want to be able to saunter beside it

slow paced in burning sunlight,
bare-armed, barefoot, bareheaded,

and to stoop down by the shallows

sifting the random water
between assaying fingers
like farmers do with soil,

and to think of turquoise mackerel

turning with consummate grace,
sleek and decorous
and elegant in high blue chambers.

we want to be able to walk out into it,

to work in it
dive and play and swim in it,
to row and sail
and pilot over its sandless highways,
and to hear
its call and murmurs wherever we may be.

All who have lived upon small islands

want to sleep and awaken
close to the fringe of the sea

A L Hendriks

2 7 . 2 In both ‘Island Man’ and ‘The Fringe of the Sea’, the speakers describe a
place in the past. What are the similarities and/or differences between the ways
the poets present their feelings about this place?
[8 marks]
 An Old Woman

An old woman grabs

hold of your sleeve
and tags along.

She wants a fifty paise coin.

She says she will take you
to the horseshoe shrine.

You’ve seen it already.

She hobbles along anyway
and tightens her grip on your shirt.

She won’t let you go.

You know how old women are.
They stick to you like a burr.

You turn around and face her

with an air of finality.
You want to end the farce.

When you hear her say,

‘What else can an old woman do
on hills as wretched as these?’

You look right at the sky.

Clear through the bullet holes
she has for her eyes.

And as you look on

the cracks that begin around her eyes
spread beyond her skin.

And the hills crack.

And the temples crack.
And the sky falls

With a plate-glass clatter

Around the shatterproof crone
who stands alone.

And you are reduced

to so much small change
in her hand.

Arun Kolatkar

2 7 . 1 In ‘An Old Woman,’ how does the poet create sympathy for the old woman?
[24 marks]
 Holy Thursday: Is this a holy thing to see

Is this a holy thing to see,

In a rich and fruitful land,
Babes reduced to misery,
Fed with cold and usurious* hand?

Is that trembling cry a song?

Can it be a song of joy?
And so many children poor?
It is a land of poverty!

And their sun does never shine.

And their fields are bleak & bare.
And their ways are fill'd with thorns.
It is eternal winter there.

For where-e'er the sun does shine,

And where-e'er the rain does fall:
Babe can never hunger there,
Nor poverty the mind appall.

*Usurious = greedy for money

William Blake

2 7 . 2 In both ‘An Old Woman’ and ‘Holy Thursday’, the poets discuss charity.
What are the similarities and/or differences between the ways the poets present
their ideas about charity and suffering?
[8 marks]