Literature - Nature

NATURE

1. Why do you think the poet write this poem?

2. Which phrase evokes our sense of smell?
3. What does the phrase reaped canefields lie bare and fallow indicate?
4. What are the good days mentioned in the poem?
5. What the bad days mentioned in the poem?
6. What is the poet trying to tell us about the weather in his country?
7. What does the phrase lush green canefields tell us about the land?
8. Which line in the poem indicates that Jamaica suffers from strong winds?
9. Where can we hear the sound of water during the heavy rain?
10. When do the leaves fall off the guango trees?
11. What do you understand by the phrase paved the earth?
12. Which line indicates that there are bright sunny days and the sun shines on fertile fields of
cane?
13. How do you know that the rains come down in torrential showers?
14. Why do you think the poet mentions the regular English seasons of summer, winter, autumn
and spring?
15. When it rains, where to the rain water usually flow into?
16. What is the impression you get when the winds blow in Jamaica?
17. During the season of flowers, what can you hear and smell?
18. What are the yellow stars?
19. In your opinion, has the poem given you a comprehensive picture of the changes that take
place in Jamaica?
20. Name the four seasons that some countries have.
21. Why do you think the colour of the sun is considered as gold?
22. Why do trees have to struggle?
23. What are the words that have been used to describe the movement of the rain?
24. Are these words suitable?
25. Which of the four seasons are equivalent to Jamaicas wet and hot seasons.
26. Write two words that are related to the appearance of the canefields.
27. Why do you think the persona feels that Jamaica does not need to have the four seasons. In
your own words, give a reason .
28. During which season do leaves fall off trees.
29. Why are the fields left to fallow after the harvesting season?
30. What happens to the tall grass at the slightest breeze and why?
31. What words have been used to describe the buttercups?
32. Do you think they are suitable.
33. What can we call the season that is implied in the lines above?
34. What are the two words that relate to the appearance of the canefields after they are
harvested
35. What does the persona feel about nature at this time of the year in Jamaica? Give a reason to
support?
36. How does the persona show that he loves nature as is experienced in Jamaica?
37. What are the two words that are related to fruits?
38. What do you think is the main crop in Jamaica? Give a reason.
39. To whom does the we in the opening line of the poem refer?
40. Do you agree with the poet that there are no seasons in Jamaica? Give a reason for your
answer
41. What are the seasons mentioned in the poem?
42. What kind of crop grows in canefields?
43. What are the raindrops compared to
44. What does swish of water in the gullies refer to?
45. What word can replace bare and fallow?
46. What does the word blossom refer to?
47. Why are the bees in the bushes?
48. Why do the tall grass sway?
49. What are the yellow stars?
50. How does the poet describe the sun?
51. Which line uses the imagery of sound and smell?
52. What are buttercups? Describe them.

ANSWERS
1. celebrate nature
2. the scent of honey
3. is idle and unproductive
4. The good days are the short periods where the bright golden sun shines brilliantly on the healthy green
canefields
5. The bad days are the periods of heavy rain which beats nosily like bullets on the rooftops and when the strong
Jamaican winds threated to uproot the trees.
6. Jamaica is a country that has no regular four seasons but experiences short periods of golden sunshine which
alternates with days of heavy rain followed by strong winds.
7. The land is fertile
8. Line 8
9. on the eroded trenches
10. after the harvesting of the canes
11. covered everywhere
12. The gold sun shines on the lush, green canefields.
13. The rain beats like bullets on the roofs.
14. He was studying and working there for some time
15. It usually flows into the gullies.
16. The winds blow so strongly that the trees are swayed from side to side that they have to struggle to prevent
themselves from being blown away.
17. smell the scent of honey and hear the sound of bees.
18. They are a type of flowers grown there.
19. No, because it lacks details and a lot depends on the imagination perception of the reader.
20. Spring, summer, autumn and winter
21. The colour of the sun at sunrise and sunset is yellow and looks like gold.
22. The winds are strong and so they have to struggle to save themselves from being uprooted.
23. beats like bullets
24. Because when the rain falls on the roofs it sounds like bullets being released from a gun.
25. Winter and summer
26. lush and green
27. He feels Jamaica does not need the four seasons because it has its own two differing seasons and they are good
enough for Jamaica
28. Autumn
29. They are left to fallow for the soil to recover its fertility.
30. They sway and shiver because they are not stable.
31. yellow stars and beauty
32. Yes, because the buttercups are yellow and look like shining stars and they are beautiful to look at.
33. Spring or the flowering and fruiting season
34. bare and fallow
35. He feels that nature at this time of the year is beautiful and rich in colour and fragrance because he says that the
trees are fruiting and there is the smell of honey and the earth is paved with beautiful stars.
36. He says that Jamaica may not have the four seasons but it has its own wet and dry seasons.
37. mango, cane
38. I think it is sugar cane because the persona mentions the canefields as being lush and green so they must be
planted in big plantations and after harvesting the fields are left to fallow meaning they will be replanted with
cane.
39. The poet and his countrymen
40. Yes, Jamaica has no seasons associated with cool temperate countries such as spring, summer, autumn and
winter. What it has are days associated with changes in the weather at specific times of the year.
No, although there are no seasons associated with cool temperate countries, there are the hot seasons as well as the
rainy season that coincides with growth, ripening, rest and regrowth in a cycle.
41. Spring, summer, autumn and winter
42. Sugarcane
43. water on the roof
44. the sound of water in the gullies
45. empty
46. flowers
47. to look for nectar
48. gentle breeze
49. Buttercups
50. As golden and magnificent
51. When the bushes are full of the sound of bees and the scent of honey
52. Buttercups are small, beautiful yellow flowers. They grow wild in the fields of Jamaica and
they look like yellow stars.

Practice 3:

He Had Such Quiet Eyes (Stanzas 1 and 2)

He had such quiet eyes

She did not realise
They were two pools of lies
Layered with thinnest ice
To her, those quiet eyes
Were breathing desolate sighs
Imploring her to be nice
And to render him paradise

If only shed been wise

And had listened to the advice
Never to compromise
With pleasure-seeking guys
Shed be free from the hows and whys
Bibsy Soenharjo-1968

1. What does the phrase two pools of lies refer to?

.

2. Which lines show that the man is saying I love you, and if you love me, prove it!

3. Which stanza shows that there is a sense of regret?

4. What do you understand by the phrase the hows and whys?

Practice 4:

He Had Such Quiet Eyes

He had such quiet eyes

She did not realise
They were two pools of lies
Layered with thinnest ice
To her, those quiet eyes
Were breathing desolate sighs
Imploring her to be nice
And to render him paradise

If only shed been wise

And had listened to the advice
Never to compromise
With pleasure-seeking guys
Shed be free from the hows and whys

Now heres a bit of advice

Be sure that nice really means nice
Then youll never be losing at dice
Though you may lose your heart once or twice
Bibsy Soenharjo-1968
 1. What does the phrase thinnest ice imply?

2.In this poem, the poet talks about the betrayal of a young girls feelings for a man. She
believes in his sincerity to her as he had pleaded to her to surrender to him. Write the two
lines depicting this.

3.What is the main theme in this poem?

4.What did you learn from this poem? Explain.

Practice 5:

Are You Still Playing Your Flute?

Are you still playing your flute?

When there is hardly time for our love

I am feeling guilty

To be longing for your song

The melody concealed in the slim hollow of the bamboo

Uncovered by the breath of an artist

Composed by his fingers

Blown by the wind

To the depth of my heart.

Are you still playing your flute?

In the village so quiet and deserted

Amidst the sick rice fields

While here it has become a luxury

To spend time watching the rain

Gazing at the evening rays

Collecting dew drops

Or enjoying the fragrance of flowers.

Are you still playing your flute?

The more it disturbs my conscience

to be thinking of you

in the hazard of you

my younger brothers unemployed and desperate

my people disunited by politics

my friend slaughtered mercilessly

this world is too old and bleeding.

By Zurinah Hassan

1. Who is the persona in the poem?

2. Write one line from the poem that depicts that people are jobless.

3. Provide three phrases that depict the message of cruel realities of a nation in uncertainty of
its future.
.

4.In your own words describe why the poet used the word sick to describe the rice fields.

Practice 6:

Are You Still Playing Your Flute? (Stanzas 1 and 2)

Are you still playing your flute?

When there is hardly time for our love

I am feeling guilty

To be longing for your song

The melody concealed in the slim hollow of the bamboo

Uncovered by the breath of an artist

Composed by his fingers

Blown by the wind

To the depth of my heart.

Are you still playing your flute?

In the village so quiet and deserted

Amidst the sick rice fields

While here it has become a luxury

To spend time watching the rain

Gazing at the evening rays

Collecting dew drops

Or enjoying the fragrance of flowers.

By Zurinah Hassan

1. What did the persona mean when she said deserted?

2. Why is the persona feeling guilty?

3. Why is the question Are you still playing your flute repeated as the starting line of all
the stanzas?

4.In your opinion, is this a romantic poem? Provide reasons for your answer.

Practice 7:

Nature by H.D Carberry

We have neither Summer nor Winter

Neither Autumn nor Spring.

We have instead the days

When the gold sun shines on the lush green canefields-

Magnificently.

The days when the rain beats like bullet on the roofs

And there is no sound but thee swish of water in the gullies

And trees struggling in the high Jamaica winds.

Also there are the days when leaves fade from off guango trees

And the reaped canefields lie bare and fallow to the sun.

But best of all there are the days when the mango and the logwood blossom

When bushes are full of the sound of bees and the scent of honey,

When the tall grass sways and shivers to the slightest breath of air,

When the buttercups have paved the earth with yellow stars

And beauty comes suddenly and the rains have gone.

1. In your words describe the weather as depicted in the poem.

2. State one moral value that you have learnt from the poem.

..

3. Note that the poem ends with the line and beauty comes suddenly and the rains have
gone. Describe how this bears a resemblance in our life.

4. In the opening lines of the poem, the poet describes the things that are absent. In your
opinion, what is the poet trying to convey?

..
.

Practice 8:

Nature by H.D Carberry

We have neither Summer nor Winter

Neither Autumn nor Spring.

We have instead the days

When the gold sun shines on the lush green canefields-

Magnificently.

The days when the rain beats like bullet on the roofs

And there is no sound but thee swish of water in the gullies

And trees struggling in the high Jamaica winds.

Also there are the days when leaves fade from off guango trees

And the reaped canefields lie bare and fallow to the sun.

But best of all there are the days when the mango and the logwood blossom

When bushes are full of the sound of bees and the scent of honey,

When the tall grass sways and shivers to the slightest breath of air,

When the buttercups have paved the earth with yellow stars

And beauty comes suddenly and the rains have gone.

1. Why do you think H.D.Carberry wrote the poem?

2. List three words related to nature.

3. Which line in the poem Nature suggests the sense of smell?



4. Based on your knowledge of the poem Nature, describe a theme in the poem.

ANSWERS.

Poem

In The Midst Of Hardship

Practice 1

1. They were wet

2. desperately looking for their sons

albino buffalo that was never found

3. animals killed as they drowned in the flood water.

4. Optimistic,- they were making jokes not crying or show signs of despair.

Practice 2

1. The whole day and night just passed

2. Facing hardship with optimism

3. They are in the village as people in the town will not rear buffaloes.

4. Despite the hardship, we must remain resilient and strong. Often, the difficult time is
not a permanent one.

He Had Such Quiet Eyes

Practice 3

1. The eyes are compared to deceit.

2. Imploring her to be nice

And to render him paradise.
 3. Stanza 2

4. The hows and whys is compared to a situation where one gets hurt emotionally and
tries to solve the problem.

Practice 4

1. dangerous

2. To her, those quiet eyes

Were breathing desolate sighs
Imploring her to be nice

3. Deceit

4. We sometimes encounter people who have ill intentions towards us. We should take
precaution against them.

Are You Still Playing Your Flute?

Practice 5

1. a very perceptive and reflective woman.

2. my younger brothers unemployed and desperate

3. my people disunited by politics

my friend slaughtered mercilessly

this world is too old and bleeding.

4.Perhaps the yield is not rewarding/ the harvest is destroyed due to bad weather.

Practice 6

1. the villagers have left/migrated.

2. Feeling guilty as she is enjoying the music when the nation is plagued with problems

3. This is to stress on the activity as something that should not be done when the nation
is facing so much trouble.

4. No, it is not a romantic poem. It is poem that shows the irony between a leisure
activity and problems faced by the nation at the same time.

Nature
Practice 7

1. The poem highlights the appealing climate conditions on theislandofJamaica.

2. We must appreciate the beauty of nature.

3. This is a big resemblance to our life, as it has been our experience that after bad times,
good times will follow and sometimes ever so abruptly.

4. It is to highlight the pleasant climate on the island. It has no extreme weather

conditions.

Practice 8

1. He wants to celebrate the richness of the lands produce and how alive and plentiful
Nature is.

2. b. gold sun, rain, trees.

3. The line, When the bushes are full of the sound of bees and the scent of honey

4. Appreciating ones country-Life in ones country has its share of ups and downs but
one must always look at the brighter side of life. In this poem, the poet stresses on his
countrys weather being sunny, rainy and windy. The poet states that we must
appreciate what we have.

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