| Post-reading | |
| 3. | What is the atmosphere of the scene the poem describes? Give one of the ways in which the poet helps us feel this atmosphere. |
| 4. | Why do the cattle go down to the beach? |
| 5. | Account for the difference between the way the cows move on the seaward side of the dunes and their behaviour on the other side. |
| 6. | The poem is full of sensory imagery. |
| a) | Find images that appeal to the sense of hearing and one that appeals to another sense. |
| b) | Now choose one of the images and say what it contributes to the poem. |
| 7. | What differences can you find between the roles of the men and women depicted here? |
| Pre-reading | |
| 1. | Why do people talk to animals? What do they usually talk about? |
| During reading | |
| 2. | Why do you think the speaker tells us when and where this conversation takes place? |
Conversation with a giraffe at dusk in the zoo
Douglas Livingstone
Hail, lofty,
necking, quizzically
through the topgallant leaves
with your lady.
No good making eyelashes at
the distance from me to you
though I confess I should like
to caress your tender horns
and toboggan down your neck,
perhaps swing on your tail
Your dignity fools no one;
you get engagingly awkward
when you separate and collapse
yourself to drink; and
have you seen yourself cantering?
Alright, alright I know
I’m ugly standing still,
squat-necked, so-high.
Just remember there’s one or two
things about you too, hey,
like, like, birds now;
they fly much higher.
quizzical – not quite understanding something and perhaps finding it amusing
topgallant – the highest point on the main mast of a sailing ship – here the highest leaves
cantering – running quite fast but not as fast as galloping
| Post-reading | |
| 3. | This is not a conversation in the usual sense of the word. Why not? Explain the title. |
| 4. | What is amusing about the word “necking”, and the phrase “making eyelashes”? |
| 5. | What does the term “engagingly awkward” imply about the speaker’s attitude towards the giraffe and how he moves? |
| 6. | How does the speaker imagine that the giraffe sees him? |
| 7. | In the last stanza, the speaker is suddenly jokingly on the defensive. What makes us aware of this? |
| 8. | How many sentences are there in the poem? Why does the poet break up the sentences in lines in the way that he does? Refer to the first stanza to illustrate your answer. |
| Pre-reading | |
| 1. | Have you heard the expression “no time to talk”? When do people use it? What does it suggest about “talk”? |
| During reading | |
| 2. | Look at the illustration. Why does he have to “plod” (walk slowly and heavily)? |
A time to talk
Robert Frost
When a friend calls to me from the road
And slows his horse to a meaning walk,
I don’t stand still and look around
On all the hills I haven’t hoed,
And shout from where I am, “What is it?”
No, not as there is time to talk.
I thrust my hoe up in the mellow ground,
Blade-end up and five feet tall,
And plod: I go up to the stone wall
For a friendly visit.
visit – chat (American)
| Post-reading | |
| 3. | The friend slows his horse to a “meaning walk”. What does this action signal? |
| 4. | Look at the illustration. |
| a) | How far has the speaker got in his task? |
| b) | What makes his task so challenging? |
| 5. a) | What choice does the speaker make? |
| b) | Why does he choose this option? |
| 6. | Suggest a reason why he plants the hoe with its handle in the ground so that it is “blade end up”. |
| 7. | What does the word “mellow” tell us about the soil? |
| 8. | What does the way the speaker uses language tell us about the kind of man he is and what he thinks is important? |
| Pre-reading | |
| 1. | Look at the title and the first line of the poem. What kind of poem do you think this is going to be? |
| During reading | |
| 2. | How do you know quite early on that this poem is based on a cultural myth? Write down two phrases that suggest this. |
Blue mist like smoke
Stephen Watson
The hare
is like a mist,
like !kho,
a blue mist
resembling smoke,
our mothers used to say.
When a mirage
appears at daybreak,
just before sunrise,
they say it is
the hare,
the
