CSEC ENGLISH
Hello there! Guess what! Last week we suggested you work on your writing skills by keeping a journal. This is just a reminder: get that journal going, and you will find, increasingly, that it’s actually easier to put your thoughts down on paper, and you’ll get better at it too! Each of the texts you are studying for English B needs to be read THREE times before the exams come around, so get started now if you haven’t done so already. To help with English A, get yourself a notebook in which you put new words and their definitions along with any words that you are not sure how to spell. If you run through those word lists every weekend, you’ll be a pro by this time next year! Read on now, and enjoy your CSEC English page!
ENGLISH B—POETRY
In today’s poem, David Rubadiri writes a wonderful description of a thunderstorm over an African village, and the responses of the villagers. First, he makes us look at the build-up of clouds and the effect of the strong wind, then he turns our attention to the villagers, and finally, he returns to the sounds made by the oncoming storm.
The poem is easy to understand, so let’s focus on the various poetic devices that Rubidari uses to splendid effect.
To create a sense of movement, the poet uses many present participles: hurrying, turning, whirling, tossing, etc. In addition to movement, the storm is noisy, so the sounds are captured in words like whistles, screams, rumble, crack.
Using similes, the poet describes the clouds as being ‘like a plague of locusts’ and ‘like a madman chasing nothing’. When locusts arrive in a swarm, the farmers are terrified that they will lose their crops, but everyone loves to cook and feast on the flying insects. The haphazard, uncontrolled movements of the wind are captured in that simile of a madman chasing nothing.
The storm, then, is both grand AND frightening: the clouds ‘ride stately’ on the back of the wind, but they also appear ‘like sinister dark wings’ on the hills. Appropriately, the villagers are both afraid AND excited. We sense fear as women ‘dart about…madly’ and as babies ‘cling’ to their mothers. On the other hand, excitement is evident in the screams of ‘delighted children’.
That mixture of thrill and fear comes to a climax at the end of the poem when the poet uses an extended metaphor comparing the coming storm to an army advancing in battle. The women’s clothes ‘wave like tattered flags’; there are ‘jaggered, blinding flashes’ and a ‘rumble…and crack’ along with the ‘smell of fired smoke’. And the storm itself moves with ‘pelting march’ across the land.
For You to Do
Compare Rubadiri’s presentation of a storm over an African village with Wordsworth’s description of the city of London seen in the quiet of early morning. Read each poem aloud. Notice how jerky the lines are in Rubidari’s poem. The broken sentences help to create a sense of disorder, don’t they? Notice, in contrast, how the rhythm in Wordsworth’s poem is so steady and calm, how the rhymes are so regular and insistent, and how the long sentences flow so smoothly. What other differ- ences do you detect that make Wordsworth’s poem so calm and peaceful, and Rubadiri’s so restlessly energetic and fast-paced?
PARAGRAPHS
To be a good writer, you need to master the art of writing good paragraphs. A sentence, by definition, communicates one idea. A paragraph, by definition, expands and develops one idea. In your paragraph, the idea itself is expressed in the topic sentence. Then, that same idea is developed and expanded in a few additional sentences.
Examine this paragraph.
The hospital itself was totally lacking in equipment; there was none, not even an operating table. There were no ordinary necessities of life, let alone any medical supplies. The nurses had to use the same tin basins for everything—washing, eating and drinking—and queue up for their daily ration of one pint of water. Very few lamps were available, so much work had to be done in semi-darkness. Wooden platforms served as beds, and sleep eluded them as rats scampered across the floors, and fleas crept into every crevice.
The topic sentence gives the main idea—that the hospital lacked all necessary equipment. Notice how the following sentences develop that idea by giving detailed examples of the various things lacking: suitable containers, a good supply of water, lighting, proper beds, and a means of dealing with rodents and fleas.
FOR YOU TO DO
Using the material in ‘PARAGRAPHS’ to guide you, write a paragraph of 80100 words on dishonesty in society. Your topic sentence will state that society has a problem with dishonesty. Each sentence that follows should identify one area in which we see dishonesty (for example, you might think of disinformation on social media, stealing, poor quality workmanship, cheating in schools, etc.
Take your time and do the best job you can, and then show your paragraph to your teacher for comments.
WORDS TO LEARN AND USE
Select the appropriate word from this list to replace the words or phrases in italics in these sentences:
Notorious, eccentric, scrumptious, ostentatious, vigorous, notable, strenuous, inconspicuous, nondescript, onerous
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