ENG1501
FOUNDATIONS IN LITERARY
STUDIES
Past Exam Papers Q&A (Memos are at the end of the pack)
Test Questions (No answers– practice)
Poems and explanations (Detailed)
Covered:
✓ In the Shadow of Signal Hill (Essop Patel)
✓ WHEN RAIN CLOUDS GATHER
✓ In Exile (Arthur Nortje)
✓ Still I rise (Maya Angelou)
✓ Alexandra (Wally Mongane Serote)
✓ The Road Not Taken (Robert Frost)
✓ Dover Beach
✓ When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be (John Keats)
✓ The Child Who Was Shot Dead by Soldiers at Nyanga (Ingrid Jonker)
✓ To His Coy Mistress (Andrew Marvell)
✓ A Woman’s Hands (Eva Bezwoda)
✓ Men in Chains (Mbyiseni Oswald Mtshali)
✓ Stop All the Clocks (W.H. Auden)
✓ The Loneliness Beyond (Sipho Sepamla)
✓ Stolen Rivers (Phillipa Yaa de Villiers)
✓ On His Blindness (John Milton)
✓ Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds (William Shakespeare)
Downloaded by: uroojbaker13 | uroojbaker@gmail.com
Distribution of this document is illegal
, Stuvia.com - The study-notes marketplace
2|Page
The Loneliness Beyond
1. Whoor what is being compared to raindrops in the first stanza? What figure of
speech is used? What is the effect of the comparison?
2.
The speaker compares the raindrops to class working people, or cattle. He observes the
commuters/cattle/humans arriving. The working class are just like cattle. Slowly at first but
then, much like raindrops that begin to intensify before a heavy downpour, "as a torrent". The
speaker uses a simile to create the effect of rushing of people on a train station (like herding
cattle into their post) and being forced to do work (let the cattle eat to produce food.).
3. Inthe second line of the second stanza, the speaker talks about a ‘single maskless face’.
What is he referring to? Why do you
think the poet chose this image (what idea does the image convey)?
The speaker is referring to a communal loss of identity under the exhausting demands of the
white system and reinforces the dissonance between black subjectivity and urban landscapes.
The images here seem to evoke a homogenous, undifferentiated mass, a “single maskless
face”; the black body is mechanized by the white state as a labouring object. Sepamla’s stress
on the workings of the black body (palpitating hearts, clicking tongues, laughter, and grousing
mouths) asserts its humanity.
4. Who do you think issues the ‘commands’ that the speaker refers to in the last line of the
second stanza?
The white state as a labouring object.
5. In
stanza three, the speaker talks about ‘grinding complaints’ (line 13). This is a rather
odd choice of diction (or odd choice of words). What tone (mood or atmosphere) is
evoked by this choice of diction?
The tone changes to desire to escape and anger. It is never ending although the poet wants it to
end. The poem works against the reduction of black selfhood by gesturing towards its multiple
meanings. The train’s trajectory may be limited and circumscribed within the linear movement
Downloaded by: uroojbaker13 | uroojbaker@gmail.com
Distribution of this document is illegal
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller mpumeleloh. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $2.85. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.