Question

Read the extract and complete the activities given below:

No stir in the air, no stir in the sea, The ship was as still as she could be, Her sails from heaven received no motion, Her keel was steady in the ocean. Without either sign or sound of their shock The waves flow'd over Inchcape Rock; So little they rose, so little they fell, They did not move the Inchcape Bell. The Abbot of Aberbrothok Had placed that bell on the Inchcape Rock; On a buoy in the storm it floated and swung. And over the waves its warning rung. When the Rock was hid by the surge’s swell, The mariners heard the warning bell; And then they knew the perilous Rock, And blest the Abbot of Aberbrothok.

A1. Global Understanding:   (2)

Describe the scene in the beginning of the poem.

A2. Inference/Interpretation/Analysis:   (2)

Give reasons:

1. The ship was still at sea because...
2. The Abbot of Aberbrothok had placed the bell on the Inchcape Rock so...

A3. Personal Response:   (2)

Write two incidents/occasions when you helped other people.

A4. Poetic Devices:   (2)

Give the rhyming pairs and rhyme scheme from stanza 2 from the extract. 

A5. Poetic Creativity:   (2)

Compose four lines of your own on 'The Sea'.

Answer 1

A1. In the beginning of the poem, the sea was calm and there was no wind. The ship was still and steady and hardly moved. The waves flowed so gently over the Inchcape Rock that they did not even move the Inchcape Bell. It was a serene and calm scene. 

A2. 

1. The ship was still at sea because there was no breeze, and the waves were calm and soft.
2. The Abbot of Aberbrothok had placed the bell on the Inchcape Rock so that it would ring during a storm and alert the seafarers to the hazardous hidden rock that they needed to avoid.

A3. During the lift's repair, I assisted my elderly neighbour in carrying a bulky bag upstairs. Assisting the building's security guard with his young daughter's school admissions paperwork was another task I completed. He couldn't understand the English on the form.

A4. Rhyming pairs: Shock - Rock; fell - Bell.

Rhyme Scheme: aabb

A5. The Sea

The sea, the sea, the mighty sea,
From where do you start and where do you end;
It's always a mystery to me
How so many colours in you do you blend.