alt="puff%20adder.jpg"/>
obese – very fat
implacably – determinedly or unchangeably
| Post-reading | |
| 3. | Compare the two creatures in the poem. Which one has the speaker’s sympathy? |
| 4. a) | There is a reason why the slow snake could catch the quick little lizard. Can you find it, in the first stanza? |
| b) | Explain what looks like a contradiction between “obese and quick”? In what sense was the snake quick? |
| 5. | To what unattractive or even disgusting things is the puff-adder compared? How is it like them? (Are these metaphors or similes?) |
| 6. a) | How is the lizard’s experience like Jonah’s? In what way is its fate different? |
| b) | Which two words in the last two lines tell us that this is the end for the lizard? |
| Pre-reading | |
| 1. | We have all seen nightwatchmen whose job it is to stay awake all night to guard property. What are the hardships of doing this job and what dangers does a nightwatchman face? |
| During reading | |
| 2. | In this poem we are presented with the idea that things might not always be what they seem to be. The fire looks warm. The watchman seems to be smiling. |
The nightwatchman
Fhazel Johennesse
the fire looks warm from here
and a red reflection diffuses and
glows across his face
he sits quite still a grey overcoat
drawn taut over his back
then I see his fingers move agitate
and briefly a flicker of firelight
paints a smile on his face and then
melts it again
i watch his fingers they slowly
slip across the scalloped edge
of the knobkerrie
and suddenly I know
i know that he waits for the
cracking of skulls and the
breaking of bones.
agitate – move in a disturbed way
diffuses – spreads
knobkerrie – a wooden fighting stick with a heavy knob on the end
scalloped – carved wavy design on the knob to make the stick more dangerous
taut – tight as if he is ready for action
| Post-reading | |
| 3. | Write down two things you can tell about the speaker from the way he describes this scene. |
| 4. | The scene seems quiet, but two words in the first six lines suggest that the nightwatchman is tense and nervous. What are they? Explain. |
| 5. | The watchman is playing with his knobkerrie. What does the poem suggest he is thinking about? |
| 6. | Explain the gap between “fingers” and “they” in line 10. How does it affect the way the poem is read and what do you think it suggests about the change in the way the speaker sees the nightwatchman? |
| 7. | Do you think that the night watchman looks forward to “the cracking of skulls and the breaking of bones”? What do you think his smile is about? |
| 8. | How does the layout and lack of punctuation shape the ways you are able to read and understand this poem? |
| Pre-reading | |
| 1. | This poem is about a boy who has been given a magnifying glass. He is intrigued by it and wants to share his discoveries. The monkeys in a cage in a public park look like possible learners. |
| Can you remember wanting to tell someone about something you had just learnt or found out how to do? Briefly tell what you did. | |
| During reading | |
| 2. | What mistake does the boy make when he tries to share his knowledge? |
| 3. | Why do you think the speaker refers to a “burning-glass” and not a magnifying glass? |
At Woodward’s gardens
Robert Frost
A boy, presuming on his intellect,
Once showed two little monkeys in a cage
A burning-glass they could not understand
And never could be made to understand.
Words are no good: to say it was a lens
For gathering solar rays would not have helped,
But let him show them how the weapon worked.
He made the sun a pinpoint on the nose
Of first one, then the other, till it brought
A look of puzzled dimness to their eyes
That blinking could not seem to blink away.
They stood arms laced together at the bars,
And exchanged troubled glances over life.
One put a thoughtful hand up to his nose
As if reminded – as if perhaps
Within a million years of an idea.
He got his purple little knuckles stung.
The already known had once more been confirmed
By psychological experiment,
And that were all the finding to announce
Had the boy not presumed too close and long.
There was a sudden flash of arm, a snatch
And the glass was the monkeys’ not the boy’s.
Precipitately they retired back-cage
And instituted an investigation
On their part, though without the needed insight.
They bit the glass and listened for the flavour.
They broke the handle and the binding off it.
Then none the wiser, frankly gave it up,
And having hid it in their bedding straw
Against
