Quiz on Simon Armitage Poems

The titles of the poems we have studied are:

I am very bothered...
It Ain't What You Do, It's What It Does To You
Cataract Operation
Poem
About His Person

1. And I guess that the tightness in the throat
   and the tiny cascading sensation...
2. Here's how they rated him when they looked back:
   sometimes he did this, sometimes he did that.
3. a ring of white unweathered skin
   That was everything.
4. Not least that time in the chemistry lab
   when I held a pair of scissors by the blades
5. From pillar to post, a pantomime
   of damp forgotten washing
6. Five pounds fifty in change, exactly,
7. Don't believe me, please, if I say
8. I have lived with thieves in Manchester
9. I drop the blind
10. And once, for laughing punched her in the face.

Quiz 2 on Simon Armitage Poems

Task A Match the comments describing the content of each poem with the appropriate title.

1. Simon Armitage describes how he deliberately tried to attract the attention of someone he liked.
2. This poem is in a simple sonnet form and is about a central character who, like most of us, is not perfect.
3. This poem consists of rhyming couplets and is about how we account for a person after they have died.
4. The poet creates a vivid picture of what it is like to see things clearly.
5. In this poem Armitage is making the point that it is not the experience alone which is important, it is the effect the experience has on you.
6. In this poem it is suggested that the man had nothing left to live for.
7. This poem has a clear structure: first we hear about the incident; then the consequences and finally he attempts to give an explanation.
8. This poem uses a series of metaphors to convey its message.
9. In this poem Armitage mixes casual, conversational language with more eloquent phrases.
10. In this poem, eleven of the fourteen lines begin with the word 'and'.

Task B Which poems refer to the following things?

1. 'naked lilac flame'
2. 'the Taj Mahal'
3. 'A final demand'
4. 'the monkey business of a shirt'
5. 'the ole of a crimson towel'
6. 'the lip of a light aircraft'
7. 'two burning rings'
8. ' a private nurse'
9. 'the wobbly head of a boy'
10. 'a library card'

Quiz on poems from Other Cultures and Traditions

The titles of the poems that we have studied are:

Search For my Tongue
Unrelated Incidents
Half-Caste
Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan
Charlotte O'Neil's Song
Hurricane Hits England
Nothing's Changed

Match the following quotations to the appropriate poem:

1. Talk to me Huracan
   Talk to me Oya
   Talk to me Shango
   And Hattie,
   My sweeping, back-home cousin.
2. Down the road,
   working man's café sells
   bunny chows.
3. an when I sleep at night
   I close half-a-eye
   consequently when I dream
   I dream half-a-dream
4. And if you lived in a place you had to
   speak a foreign tongue,
5. The rich man earns his castle, you said,
   The poor deserve the gate.
6. ...this
   is ma trooth.
   yooz doant no
   thi trooth
   yirsellz...
7. My salwar-kameez
           didn't impress the schoolfriend
   who sat on my bed...

Quiz 2 on Poems from Other Cultures and Traditions

Task A Match the comments describing the content of each poem with the appropriate title.

1. This poet expresses his disgust at people who treat others badly because of the colour of their skin.
2. This poet writes about two cultures with great irony and confusion
3. This poem tells the story of someone moving from one way of life and culture to another.
4. In this poem the writer explores the tensions between two languages and therefore two cultures.
5. In this poem the writer is reminded of her roots and origins by an unusual experience.
6. This poet uses humour to make a point about peoples' prejudices.
7. This poem has a lot of contrasts to make the point about oppression and domination.

Task B Could any of these summarising statements be matched to more than one poem?

Refer to the poems to support your answer.

Task C Which poems refer to the following things?

1. 'crusted roots' and 'cratered graves'
2. a parquet floor and a chamber pot
3. 'a stump of a shoot'
4. 'england weather' and 'tchaikovsky'
5. 'camel-skin lamp'
6. The Shalimar Gardens
7. Blossoms and buds
8. 'The howling ship of the wind'
9. 'crushed ice white glass'
10. 'yoo scruff'
11. 'Candy-striped glass bangles'
12. 'a silken pillow'
13. 'amiable weeds'
14. 'BBC accent'
15. 'cardigans from Marks and Spencers'

These quizzes by Sue Bradley were found free at www.englishresources.co.uk
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