Foundations in English Literary Studies

ENG1501/103/3/2017
Tutorial Letter 103/3/2017
Foundations in English Literary Studies
ENG1501
Semesters 1 and 2
Department of English Studies
This tutorial letter contains important information
about your module.
BARCODE

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CONTENTS
Page
1 LIST OF PRESCRIBED POEMS 2017 …………………………………………………………………………….. 3
2 ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4
2.1 ‘Stop All the Clocks’ by W.H. Auden ………………………………………………………………………………… 4
2.2 ‘Talking in Bed’ by Philip Larkin……………………………………………………………………………………….. 5
2.3 ‘In the shadow of Signal Hill’ by Essop Patel ……………………………………………………………………… 5
2.4 ‘The Loneliness Beyond’ by Sipho Sepamla ……………………………………………………………………… 6
2.5 ‘From Not Him’ by Wopko Jensma …………………………………………………………………………………… 6
2.6 ‘Men in Chains’ by Mbyiseni Oswald Mtshali ……………………………………………………………………… 7
2.7 ‘A Woman’s Hands’ by Eva Bezwoda ………………………………………………………………………………. 7
2.8 ‘For Don M. – Banned’ by Wally Mongane Serote ………………………………………………………………. 8
2.9 ‘Ingrid Jonker’ by Sally Bryer …………………………………………………………………………………………… 9
2.10 ‘Stolen Rivers’ by Phillippa Yaa de Villiers ………………………………………………………………………… 9

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1 LIST OF PRESCRIBED POEMS 2017
Below is the list of poems you are required to study this semester. There are 20 in total: 10 of
the poems have been discussed in detail in Tutorial Letter 501, and we have included some
guiding questions to assist you when working through the other 10 poems.
Please note that the poems in the question set on Seasons Come to Pass in the
examination in May/June 2017 and in October/November 2017 will come from this list.
South African poetry
Title of poem Poet Anthology
page
number
Discussed
in tutorial
letter
‘The child who was shot dead by
soldiers at Nyanga’
Ingrid Jonker 216 501
‘Alexandra’ Wally Mongane Serote 239 501
‘In exile’ Arthur Nortje 261 501
‘In the shadow of Signal Hill’ Essop Patel 208 103
‘The Loneliness Beyond’ Sipho Sepamla 213 103
‘From Not Him’ Wopko Jensma 228 103
‘Men in Chains’ Mbyiseni Oswald Mtshali 229 103
‘A Woman’s Hands’ Eva Bezwoda 232 103
‘For Don M. – Banned’ Wally Mongane Serote 241 103
‘Ingrid Jonker’ Sally Bryer 244 103
‘Stolen Rivers’ Phillippa Yaa de Villiers 282 103
American and British poetry
‘Let me not to the marriage of true
minds’
William Shakespeare 52 501
‘On his blindness’ John Milton 65 501
‘To his coy mistress’ Andrew Marvell 68 501
‘When I have fears that I may cease to
be’
John Keats 94 501

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‘Dover Beach’ Matthew Arnold 112 501
‘The road not taken’ Robert Frost 134 501
‘Still I rise’ Maya Angelou 200 501
‘Stop all the clocks’ W.H. Auden 169 103
‘Talking in bed’ Philip Larkin 192 103
2 ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES
You will find discussions and activities on 10 of the poems from the prescribed list in Tutorial
Letter 501 on pages 5-51. You should read the discussions and work through these activities
before attempting the activities in this tutorial letter. The activities for the remaining 10 poems
appear in this tutorial letter. Please work through these activities to guide you in studying these
poems in preparation for the examination.
IMPORTANT:
The questions below and the activities in Tutorial Letter 501 should be considered points of
departure for your readings of the poems.
While some of the questions that appear in assignments and exams might resemble some of
the questions and concerns set out below, others might not. In other words, you should be able
to engage in your own critical analysis of each poem. The study of poetry cannot be rushed and
you should be prepared, in some instances, to spend a number of hours working through a
single poem.
Remember to read the section entitled ‘Analysing poetry’ that appears at the beginning of
Seasons Come to Pass (pages 11-29). You should pay particular attention to the ways of
reading poetry that are evidenced on pages 24 and 27 of the anthology.
2.1 ‘Stop All the Clocks’ by W.H. Auden
Read through ‘Stop All the Clocks’ by W.H. Auden on page 169 of Seasons Come to Pass, and
then read through the supporting notes provided below the poem. If you find words and
concepts that you are unfamiliar with, consult a dictionary and Introduction to English Literary
Studies.
1. The first two stanzas of this poem present as images of mourning. How does this set the
tone of the poem?
2. Analyse the rhyme scheme of the poem. What effect does this have on how we read the
poem? (For the second part of this question, you might want to look specifically at the
third stanza, and how the rhythm and rhyme achieve a particular effect in line 12).

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3. The poem explores the intensity and immensity of love, but it seems to be about the very
absence of love. In a brief analysis of the images that appear in the final stanza, explain
how the use of hyperbole develops and emphasises this absence. (Another word for
hyperbole is exaggeration.)
4. Consult a dictionary to find the meaning of the word ‘elegy’. Then, utilise your answers to
questions 1-3 to write a short essay about why ‘Stop All the Clocks’ can be considered an
example of an elegiac poem.
2.2 ‘Talking in Bed’ by Philip Larkin
Read through ‘Talking in Bed’ on page 192 of Seasons Come to Pass, and then work through
the guidelines provided below.
1. Look at the title of the poem. Does this give you any clue as to what the poem is about?
Does what the title suggests occur in the poem? Write a paragraph in which you give
reasons for your answer.
2. Identify an example of repetition in line four and explain its effect.
3. Read the definition of ‘tone’ on page 47 of Introduction to English Literary Studies. What
is the tone created in lines 4 to 7? Identify words in this section that helped you in
determining the tone. Write a paragraph in which you describe how these words relate to
the title of the poem.
4. What is the setting of lines 8 to 12? How do you know this?
5. Look at the last three lines of the poem. What kinds of words does the speaker want to
speak to his or her partner? Why is this difficult?
2.3 ‘In the shadow of Signal Hill’ by Essop Patel
Read through ‘In the Shadow of Signal Hill’ on page 208 of Seasons Come to Pass. Also read
the brief biography of Essop Patel given above the poem and the explanatory note underneath.
Work through the guidelines given below.
1. The explanatory note below the poem gives you a clue as to the title’s significance.
Imagine that you are standing below Signal Hill. Write a paragraph in which you explain
what you see.
2. Read the definition of ‘connotation’ and ‘denotation’ on page 32 of Tutorial Letter 501.
Explain the denotation and connotations of the word ‘Shadow’ in the title of this poem.
3. Look up the word ‘lamentations’ (line 7) in a dictionary. When the speaker instructs the
reader to listen to ‘the lamentations of slaves’ (line 7), does he or she expect the reader
to hear real slaves in the present time of the poem? Why or why not? Write a paragraph
in which you describe what it is that the ‘children of colour’ (line 4) hear.
4. The first three lines of each stanza are the same. What does this tell you about the
setting of the poem? Why is this important?

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5. What image is created in line 14? Write a paragraph in which you describe what this line
means.
2.4 ‘The Loneliness Beyond’ by Sipho Sepamla
Seasons Come to Pass explains that Sepamla is known for writing poetry that ‘described the
lives of black South Africans with uncompromising realism, and was deeply critical of apartheid’
(Moffett, 2013: 213). Bearing this in mind, answer the following questions on the Sepamla’s
poem, ‘The Loneliness Beyond’ (Seasons Come to Pass, page 213).
1. Who or what is being compared to raindrops in the first stanza? What figure of speech is
used? What is the effect of the comparison? (Use page 50 of your Introduction to Literary
Studies text in order to identify the figure of speech.)
2. In the second line of the second stanza, the speaker talks about a ‘single maskless face’.
What is he referring to? Why do you think the poet chose this image (what idea does the
image convey)?
3. Who do you think issues the ‘commands’ that the speaker refers to in the last line of the
second stanza?
4. In stanza three, the speaker talks about ‘grinding complaints’ (line 13). This is a rather
odd choice of diction (or odd choice of words). What tone (mood or atmosphere) is
evoked by this choice of diction? (See page 47 of your Introduction to Literary Studies for
a discussion of tone.)
5. There is another comparison in the fourth stanza of the poem. Identify the figure of
speech, and discuss why the comparison is effective.
6. In stanza 6, the speaker refers to ‘little holes of resting’. What figure of speech is being
used, and what is the speaker comparing to a hole?
7. Consider the denotation and connotations of the word ‘hole’. What is the effect of this
choice of diction? (Use page 54 of your Introduction to Literary Studies for a discussion of
denotation and connotation.)
8. The poet makes use of repetition in the last two stanzas of the poem. How does the
repetition affect the tone of the poem?
2.5 ‘From Not Him’ by Wopko Jensma
Read ‘From Not Him’ on page 228 of Seasons Come to Pass. Also read the short biography of
Wopko Jensma provided above the poem.
1. From whose perspective is this poem written? Who is the poem about?
2. Explain what the statements in lines 1-7 suggest about this person.
3. Lines 9-11 introduce a contrasting view on the subject of the poem. How is this
achieved?

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4. This poem was written and published during apartheid, when people in South Africa were
strictly segregated based on their race. If we read ‘From Not Him’ as a kind of protest
poem, what comment do you think the poem is making about South Africa? Your…