THE DEATH OF MY FATHER BY Henry Indangasi
THE DEATH OF MY FATHER
Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow.(20 Marks)
THE DEATH OF MY FATHER BY Henry Indangasi
His sunken cheeks, his inward-looking eyes,
The sarcastic, scornful smile on his lips,
The unkempt, matted, grey hair,
The hard, coarse sand-paper hands,
Spoke eloquently of the life he had lived.
But I did not mourn for him.
The hammer, the saw and the plane,
These were his tools and his damnation,
His sweat was his ointment and his perfume,
He fashioned dining tables, chairs, wardrobes,
And all the wooden loves of colonial life.
No, I did not mourn for him.
He built mansions,
Huge, unwieldy, arrogant constructions;
But he squatted in a sickly mad-house,
With his children huddled stuntedly
Under the bed-bug bed he shared with mother.
I could not mourn for him.
I had already inherited
His premature old-age look,
I had imbibed his frustration;
But his dreams of freedom and happiness
Had become my song, my love.
So, I could not mourn for him.
No, I did not shed any tears;
My father’s dead life still lives in me,
He lives in my son,
I am my father and my son,
I will awaken his sleepy hopes and yearnings,
But I will not mourn for him,
I will not mourn for me.
Questions
1. What kind of life had the persona’s father lived?(3 marks)
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2.
i. Pick out and explain two examples of personification used in the poem. (4 marks)
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ii. Explain the contrast in second and third stanza.(3 marks)
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3. Cite one other stylistic device used in the poem and explain its usefulness. (2 marks)
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4. Explain the meaning of the last two lines of the poem in relation to the rest of the poem. (3 marks)
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5. Briefly discuss the tone of this poem.(2 marks)
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6. Explain the meaning of the following phrase/lines as used in the poem.
i. Bed-bug bed (1 mark)
ii. I had already inherited his premature old-age look(1 mark)
ANSWERS
a) A hard-frustrating life of dire poverty and need his hands are rough like sandpaper and he lives in a “sickly” mud house
b)
i. Hands spoke eloquently. hands are said to speak like people
Arrogant constructions. The constructions are said to be arrogant like a person
Sickly mud-house. the mud-house is said to be sick like a human being
Sleepy hopes and yearnings. hopes and yearnings are said to be sleepy like a person.
ii. The sharp contrast between wealth and comfort. the persona’s father worked so hard to produce for the colonialists and the abject poverty he lived in with his family.
c) Repetition of the idea of not mourning the father.
Helps show how alive the father’s hope ands dreams are still alive, that his dreams are not dead.
Metaphor – sand paper hands. Shows how rough/coarse the hands were suggesting that carpentry work was very difficult.
Alliteration – bed-bug bed -gives the poem/stanza a musical quality.
d) The persona did not and could not mourn the father because he feels that there is hope of improving the circumstances that they all live in, just as the father had kept all those hopes live. Mourning him would be like giving up, resigning himself and posterity to fate.
e) Solemn √1but/optimistic: the persona feels that there is hope in the future, that’s why he feels no need to mourn.
f)
i. Bed-bug bed – the bed was infested by parasites
ii. I had already inherited his premature old-age look – the speaker’s father and himself had acquired looks of old age long before they were that old.
