Write a paragraph explaining why Gordimer’s work stunned the literary world and yet was banned in South Africa. Use the information in paragraph 5, but write in your own words. Use the writing process and what you learnt about paragraph writing in the previous cycle.
Swap your paragraph with your partner and evaluate each other’s work. Your teacher will ask several of you to read your paragraphs to the class for general discussion and feedback.
A magazine article
Anyone can decide to write a biographical sketch of someone, but the information must be accurate. It is possible to be biased by choosing only negative or only positive facts, but most writers would try to be factual. Now that you have read several biographical sketches of famous South Africans, you are going to research and write one of your own to be published in a magazine.
Activity 3.5 - Write a biographical sketch (individual)
1. You are going to do research on a famous South African with the purpose of writing a one page biography. Here is a list of some South Africans who have died whose biographies might interest you, but you are not limited to this list. You can research any famous South African.
Chris Barnard: famous surgeon who performed the first heart transplant
Miriam Makeba: singer and political activist
Solomon Plaatje: literary pioneer
2. Decide whose biography you are going to write. Make notes of everything you already know about the person. What gaps are there? These are what you need to find out about. Find information in the library or on the Internet. Make notes of your findings.
3. Your biographical sketch should be approximately one page long. Do not simply copy directly from your source. Rewrite the information in your own words. Use the writing process. Pay attention to paragraphing, sentence length and clarity of expression. Edit your work.
Here is a checklist you can use:
| My biographic article: | √ |
| Contains birth date and place | |
| Contains date and place of death (if the person has already died) | |
| Mentions early influences (at least three) | |
| Describes education (and role or significance in later life) | |
| Mentions major accomplishments (including dates) | |
| Explains significance (why this individual is important) | |
| Names contemporaries (at least three individuals along with their occupations/roles) | |
| Has been written and edited using the writing process |
4. Your teacher will take in your article for evaluation.
A poem
The poem in the activity below is a Shakespearean sonnet. The poem starts by reassuring a friend or lover that he or she has not changed or grown any older. The sonnet’s fourteen lines are made up of three quatrains and a rhyming couplet.
Activity 3.6 - Reading a sonnet (pair)
Pre-reading:
Scan to confirm the information above.
During reading:
Listen while your teacher reads the poem, and follow in your books. Then answer the questions below.
Sonnet 104
by William Shakespeare
To me, fair friend, you never can be old,
For as you were when first your eye I ey’d,
Such seems your beauty still. Three winters cold,
Have from the forests shook three summers’ pride. (4)
Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turn’d,
In process of the seasons have I seen,
Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burn’d,
Since first I saw you fresh, which yet are green. (8)
Ah! yet doth beauty like a dial-hand,
Steal from his figure, and no pace perceiv’d;
So your sweet hue, which methinks still doth stand,
Hath motion, and mine eye may be deceiv’d: (12)
For fear of which, hear this thou age unbred:
Ere you were born was beauty’s summer dead.
[Public Domain]
Post-reading:
Questions
1. How long has the speaker known the friend and how do you know?
2. What is implied in the word ‘seems’?
3. What is meant by ‘fresh’?
4. The word ‘three’ is used four times. What effect does this have on the meaning?
5. Analyse the following lines by answering the questions below them.
Three winters cold,
Have from the forests shook three summers’ pride,
Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turn’d,
In process of the seasons have I seen,
Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burn’d,
a. What do the first two lines mean?
b. What is the connection between April and perfumes?
c. What figure of speech is used to express the passing years?
6. What is implied by the ‘Ah! yet’?
7. What figure of speech is used in the third quatrain? Explain it.
8. What is implied by ‘methinks’ and which earlier word is linked to it?
9. Look at the last line of the third quatrain and explain what the speaker is actually saying to the friend.
10. Who is the poet/speaker addressing in the last two lines?
11. What is he saying to whomever he is addressing?
Your teacher will go through the answers with the class.
A short story
Lionel Abraham, a South African author and literary figure, was responsible for bringing Herman Charles Bosman’s stories to the public, and received many awards for his contributions to literature during his life (1928-2004). He was born of immigrant Jewish parents and suffered from cerebral palsy. He was confined to a wheelchair until
