MAKUENI BOYS HIGH SCHOOL
ENGLISH FORM TWO
AUGUST HOLIDAY ASSIGNMENT 2024
Advise To My Son
The trick is, to live your days
as if each one may be your last
(for they go fast, and young men lose their lives in strange and unimaginable ways)
but at the same time, plan long range
(for they go slow: if you survive
the shattered windshield and the bursting shell.
you will arrive
at our approximation here below
of heaven or hell).
To be specific, between the peony and the rose
plant squash an spinach, turnips and tomatoes;
beauty is nectar
and nectar, in a desert, saves-
but the stomach craves stronger sustenance
than the honied vine.
Therefore, marry a petty girl
after seeing her mother;
speak truth to one man,
work with another;
and always serve bread with your vine.
But, son,
Always serve wine
(Peter Meinke)
Questions
1. Who is the speaker in this poem?
2. Describe the persons in this poem
3. In what circumstances do many young people die? illustrate your answer from the
poem.
4. What are the values of the speaker? Do you agree with him/her? explain
1
5. What do heaven and hell symbolize?
6. Identify items in the poem that represent life’s necessities on the one hand and life’s
luxuries on the other.
7. Give two meanings of the words (a). Last (b) Fast
8. What does the persona mean by “marry a pretty girl after seeing her mother”?
Those Winter Sundays
Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labour in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.
I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he’d call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of the house,
Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love’s austere and lonely offices?
(Reobert Hayden)
Questions
1. When did the speaker’s father wake up early?
2. What kind of a father was the subject of the poem?
3. Identify an example of personification used in the poem?
4. Who in your opinion, was angry and why?
5. Describe the mood of this poem, citing details from the poem to illustrate your answer.
6. Explain the meanings of the following words as used in the poem
a) Chronic
b) indifferently
c) drive out
d) clustere
