Beaconhouse School System
Harley Street Campus
Winter Break Task
Poem # 1.
Read the poem carefully and then answer the questions at the end.
A Poison Tree
BY WILLIAM BLAKE
I was angry with my friend;
I told my wrath, my wrath did end
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow
And I waterd it in fears,
Night & morning with my tears:
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles
And it grew both day and night
Till it bore an apple bright
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine
And into my garden stole,
When the night had veild the pole;
In the morning glad I see;
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
1. Identify two examples of alliteration in the poem. [2 marks]
2. Write the rhyme scheme of stanza 1 and stanza 2. [2 marks]
3. Identify an instance of metaphor in the poem. What two objects are being compared?
Give reasons for your answer. [2 marks]
4. Identify an instance of personification in this poem. What is being personified?
[1 mark]
5. What did the poet do to make his anger grow? [1 mark]
6. In stanza 2, what do you understand by the phrase watered it? [1 mark]
7. What do you think happened to the poet’s foe from the line ‘My foe outstretched
beneath the tree?’
[1 mark]
8. The poet in the poem is very angry with his foe. If you were his friend, what advice
would you give him?
[ 2 marks ]
Advice 1:
Advice 2:
9. Choose the correct theme statement for this poem from the options given below. Give
evidence to justify why you chose that option. (70-100 words) [4 marks]
a) “A friend in need is a friend indeed”
b) “Bottled up feelings give way to anger and even violence”
c) “A thing of beauty is joy forever”
d) “Greed makes man blind and foolish”
10. What is the tone of the poem? Give evidence to support your answer.
[2 marks]
Poem # 2:
Ode to Autumn
SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees, 5
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease; 10
For Summer has o'erbrimm'd their clammy cells.
Who has not seen you often amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
You sitting careless on a granary floor,
Your hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind; 15
Or on a half-reaped furrow sound asleep,
Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner you do keep
Steady your laden head across a brook; 20
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
You watch the last oozings, hours by hours.
Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
While barrèd clouds bloom the soft-dying day 25
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river-sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn; 30
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.
Thy: your Thee: you Hast: has
Question 1: Identify two poetic devices used in the poem and give example.
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Question 2: What is the structure of the poem?
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Question 3: How does autumn conspire with the sun? (first stanza)
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Question 4: Write the theme of the poem.
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Question 5: In the last stanza poet has discussed about the songs of autumn. What are those songs?
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Question 6: Write the rhyme scheme of the first stanza.
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Describe the scene of the earth at sunset.
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Name your favorite season and describe it by using any one sensory detail.
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Poem # 3
You are Old, Father William by Lewis Carol: An Anthology of English Poetry
Question: You are Old, Father William: How does Father William defy old ageism and societal
expectations, and manages to survive happily?
Link to explore ageism:
Ageing: Ageism (who.int)
Reading and Writing:
Read 1-10 chapters of White dolphin.
Identify 5 difficult words from each chapter and write their meanings.
Make learning log of each chapter on the given link.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/
1ZjUgh9CpjPBH_yyqpm7FBkoEz9OXx041qmnB5aT3JjI/edit?usp=sharing
Write summary of chapter number 9 and 10.
