Question

Read the following extract and complete the given activities:

A1. From the following extract of the poem provide evidence that it set in a rural background:

Evidence: 

1. ______
2. ______

With candles and with lanterns throwing giant scorpion shadows on the mud-baked walls they searched for him; he was not found. they clicked their tongues. With every movement that the scorpion made his poison moved in Mother’s blood, they said. May he sit still, they said May the sins of your previous birth be burned away tonight, they said. May your suffering decrease the misfortunes of your next birth, they said. May the sum of all evil balanced in this unreal world against the sum of good become diminished by your pain.

A2. How did the peasants console the poet’s mother? (02)

A3. Pick out an example of Antithesis from the extract: (01)

Answer 1

A1.

1. With candles and with lanterns
2. on the mud-baked walls

A2. The peasants consoled the poet’s mother by telling her that the sins of her previous birth would be burnt away by the scorpion’s sting. They added that her present suffering will decrease the misfortunes in her next birth. They told her that her pain would diminish the evil in the world.

A3. 

Antithesis - May the sum of all evil balanced in this unreal world against the sum of good become diminished by your pain.
Here, the opposites evil and good have been used to create a contrast.