Appreciation of the Prescribed Poems
Literature in English · 50 practice questions
Thematic preoccupation, socio-political relevance and style, applied to the prescribed poems — including Léopold Sédar Senghor's Black Woman, Niyi Osundare's The Leader and the Led and Agostinho Neto's The Grieved Lands (African), and John Donne's The Good Morrow, Maya Angelou's Caged Bird and T.S. Eliot's The Journey of the Magi (non-African).
- Deduce the poet's thematic preoccupation from the poem.
- Appraise poetry as an art with moral values.
- Apply the lessons from the poem to social reality.
Try a few questions
- Practice question 1
In 'The Leader and the Led', the giraffe's claim to leadership is rejected mainly because its eyes are considered
- A.Too sharp and observant for the role
- B.Too easily influenced by the other animals
- C.Too far from the ground, symbolizing detachment from ordinary concerns
- D.Identical to the lion's eyes
Show the answer
C. Too far from the ground, symbolizing detachment from ordinary concerns
The giraffe's claim is rejected because its eyes are seen as too far from the ground, symbolizing detachment.
- Practice question 2
'Caged Bird', written during the era of the American civil rights movement, is generally read as extending beyond a literal bird to represent
- A.A celebration of a specific national holiday
- B.A scientific study of bird behaviour
- C.The broader experience of racial oppression and the pursuit of freedom
- D.A purely personal, apolitical reflection on pet ownership
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C. The broader experience of racial oppression and the pursuit of freedom
The poem is generally read as extending beyond a literal bird to represent racial oppression and the pursuit of freedom.
- Practice question 3
In Maya Angelou's 'Caged Bird', the poem's structure alternates between stanzas describing the free bird's carefree flight and stanzas describing the caged bird's confinement, a technique used mainly to
- A.Eliminate the need for any figurative language
- B.Reinforce the central contrast between freedom and oppression through direct structural juxtaposition
- C.Indicate that the poem has two entirely unrelated authors
- D.Confuse the reader about the poem's subject
Show the answer
B. Reinforce the central contrast between freedom and oppression through direct structural juxtaposition
Alternating stanzas structurally reinforce the central contrast between freedom (the free bird) and oppression (the caged bird).
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