telling us about Uncle Dan? While you are reading the poem, decide what the speaker’s attitude to his uncle is.
Uncle Dan
Ted Hughes
My Uncle Dan’s an inventor, you may think that’s very fine,
You may wish he was your Uncle instead of being mine –
If he wanted to he could make a watch that bounces when it drops,
He could make a helicopter out of string and bottle tops
Or any really useful thing you can’t get in the shops.
But Uncle Dan has other ideas:
The bottomless glass for ginger beers,
The toothless saw that’s safe for the tree,
A special word for the spelling bee
(Like Lioncerangoutangadder),
Or the roll-uppable rubber ladder,
The mystery pie that bites when it’s bit –
My Uncle Dan invented it.
My Uncle Dan sits in his den inventing night and day.
His eyes peer from his hair and beard like mice from a load of hay.
And does he make the shoes that will go walks without your feet?
A shrinker to shrink instantly the elephants you meet?
A carver that just carves from the air steaks cooked and ready to eat?
No, no, he has other intentions –
Only perfectly useless inventions:
Glassless windows (they never break)
A medicine to cure the earthquake
The unspillable screwed-down cup,
The stairs that go neither down nor up,
The door you simply paint on a wall –
Unce Dan invented them all.
| Post-reading | |
| 3. | His inventions aside, what evidence is there that Uncle Dan is a little mad? |
| 4. a) | Quote some examples in the poem of the kind of things Uncle Dan’s nephew would like him to invent. |
| b) | What does the speaker think of Uncle Dan’s inventions? How do the speaker’s own ideas compare with his uncle’s? Explain. |
| 5. | Choose two of Uncle Dan’s inventions and say why they are nonsensical. |
| 6. | How do we know that Uncle Dan does not care about his personal appearance? |
| 7. | Create an advert to sell an invention that would make your life far easier. You do not have to be serious. It must include: a logo, a slogan, and a short description of the invention. |
| Pre-reading | |
| 1. | What is meant by leisure? How do you like to spend your leisure time? |
| During reading | |
| 2. | Why are the words “no time” repeated so often? |
Leisure
W.H. Davies
What is this life, if full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet how they can dance
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich the smile her eyes began.
A poor life this, if full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
| Post-reading | |
| 3. a) | How does the poet answer the question he poses in the beginning? |
| b) | Do you agree with his point of view? Explain. |
| 4. | Explain how streams can be full of stars in the daytime. Name the figure of speech used here. |
| 5. | Beauty (line 9) could be a person or it could stand for anything beautiful. What do you think stanza 6 means? |
| 6. | If you had more time, what would you spend time just looking at? |
| Pre-reading | |
| 1. | In the poem, the reference to ‘wild coast’ refers to the rural areas along South Africa’s eastern coast along what used to be the Transkei. Scan the poem to find the word ‘wild’. Look at and describe what you see in the picture. Is there anything you would add to illustrate ‘the wild coast’? |
| During reading | |
| 2. | This poem has a specific and realistic setting. As you read, use the descriptions of some of the features of the countryside to picture the scene. ‘See if there are other items left out of the picture.’ |
On the wild coast
Patrick Cullinan
On the wild coast the cattle
come down to the sea after grazing.
They lie in the sand together, staring
the sea comes in and goes out
They walk away at the cool
of evening, slow to the top
of the dunes then bellow and kick
down the other side homewards
for milking: and darker
they move through the smoke and they stop
at the houses. The voices
are loud and then soft:
women talking to children,
the murmur of men at the fires
Wild – in a natural state; not changed by humans
