Question 2 :
Who is the speaker in Stanza 2, 4 and 6? Do you think this speaker is 'listening to the speaker in Stanzas 1, 3, 5 and 7?
Question 5 :
How old do you think Amanda is? How do you know this?
Question 6 :
Read the last stanza. Do you think Amanda is sulking and is moody?
Question 8 :
What does the girl yearn for? What does this poem tell you about Amanda?
Question 11 :
Which does he think is natural, to love or to hate?
Question 13 :
What do the military generals do? How has their attitude changed, and why?
Question 14 :
Where did the ceremonies take place? Can you name any buildings in India that are made from sandstone?
Question 15 :
What ideals does he set out for the future of South Africa?
Question 16 :
How does Mandela describe the systems of government in his century in the final decade of the twentieth century?
Question 18 :
Can you say how 10 May is an 'autumn day' in South Africa?
Question 27 :
Did Wanda have a hundred dresses? Why do you think she said she did?
Question 28 :
Why didn't Maddie ask Peggy to stop teasing Wanda? What was she afraid of?
Question 33 :
Where does Wanda live? What kind of place do you think it is?
Question 36 :
Why does Valli stand up on the seat? What does she see now?
Question 37 :
What does Valli tell the elderly man when he calls her a child?
Question 38 :
Why didn't Valli get off the bus at the bus station?
Question 39 :
Why didn't Valli want to go to the stall and have a drink? What does this tell you about her?
Question 41 :
What was the source of unending joy for Valli? What was her strongest desire?
Question 42 :
How did Valli save up money for her first journey? Was it easy for her?
Question 44 :
Why didn't Valli want to make friends with the elderly woman?
Question 45 :
Can you find other examples of poets taking liberties with language, either in English or in your own language(s)? Can you find examples of humorous poems in your own language(s)?
Question 46 :
How does the poet suggest that you identify the lion and the tiger?
Question 47 :
Do you think the words ‘lept‘ and ‘lep’ in the third stanza are spelt correctly? Why does the poet spell them like this?
Question 48 :
Does ‘dyin’ really rhyme with ‘lion’? Can you say it in such a way that it does?
Question 49 :
When can you identify the lion and the tiger, according to the poet?
Question 50 :
Why was the twentieth century called the 'Era of the book'?
Question 52 :
The aliens in the play speak English. Do you think this is their language? What could be the language of the aliens?
Question 53 :
What guesses are made by Think-Tank about the books found on earth?
Question 54 :
If you were in Noodle's place, how would you handle Think-Tank's mistakes?
Question 55 :
Do you think books are being replaced by the electronic media? Can we do away with books altogether?
Question 56 :
Where are the trees in the poem? What do their roots, their leaves and their twigs do?
Question 57 :
What happens to the house when the trees move out of it?
Question 58 :
What picture do these words create in your mind: “... sun bury its feet in shadow...'? What could the poet mean by the sun’s ‘feet’?
Question 59 :
Find, in the first stanza, three things that cannot happen in a treeless forest.
Question 60 :
How does the poet describe the moon: (a) at the beginning of the third stanza, and (b) at its end? What causes this change?
