I've been going through the process of getting a remark for my half yearly english paper and although I can now see I was wrong in some respects, there is one question that still continues to frustrate me...
Question: “Identify two techniques used by the poet to convey the man’s sense of belonging.” (2 Marks)
My Answer: The metaphor of “a life gathering its tackle together and pushing forward” and the rhetorical question “Something you can’t see holds it all together. What is it?” (1 Mark)
Text:
"He looks around his son's room: the bed
unmade, the globe of the world with an
imaginary voyage plotted in blue ink,
the clutter of books and plastic toys,
a life gathering its tackle together and
pushing forward. He stares at the backyard
and the thick bushes growing upwards.
The only movement is the glitter of leaves
and the washing his wife hung out,
before she went to work, flapping
in its circus. Something you can't see
holds it all together. What is it? Last
spring they painted the house, amateurs
but doing the best job they could, then
they laid bricks in a pattern in the yard -
what is it, that makes the pattern hold?
That party were they squabbled, the dinner
where old friends got drunk and happy ...
He sits at the kitchen table, half dressed,
drinking a glass of orange juice,
and wonders about the delicate adhesive
that holds it all together. Once, long ago,
he'd been divorced: a sad, frightened drunk
living in a rented room.
When the washing's dry
he'll gather it up, in armfuls, and bring it in.
He turns on some music. The house has a
northerly aspect; it is full of light."
The only response from the teacher (who marked the exam) I got was that I was required to further discuss these techniques or mention thier effect, but I was under the impression that when a question asks for you to 'identify', it doesnt require further discussion.
Although it is only 1 mark I'm concerned about, it never ceases to frustrate me...
Question: “Identify two techniques used by the poet to convey the man’s sense of belonging.” (2 Marks)
My Answer: The metaphor of “a life gathering its tackle together and pushing forward” and the rhetorical question “Something you can’t see holds it all together. What is it?” (1 Mark)
Text:
"He looks around his son's room: the bed
unmade, the globe of the world with an
imaginary voyage plotted in blue ink,
the clutter of books and plastic toys,
a life gathering its tackle together and
pushing forward. He stares at the backyard
and the thick bushes growing upwards.
The only movement is the glitter of leaves
and the washing his wife hung out,
before she went to work, flapping
in its circus. Something you can't see
holds it all together. What is it? Last
spring they painted the house, amateurs
but doing the best job they could, then
they laid bricks in a pattern in the yard -
what is it, that makes the pattern hold?
That party were they squabbled, the dinner
where old friends got drunk and happy ...
He sits at the kitchen table, half dressed,
drinking a glass of orange juice,
and wonders about the delicate adhesive
that holds it all together. Once, long ago,
he'd been divorced: a sad, frightened drunk
living in a rented room.
When the washing's dry
he'll gather it up, in armfuls, and bring it in.
He turns on some music. The house has a
northerly aspect; it is full of light."
The only response from the teacher (who marked the exam) I got was that I was required to further discuss these techniques or mention thier effect, but I was under the impression that when a question asks for you to 'identify', it doesnt require further discussion.
Although it is only 1 mark I'm concerned about, it never ceases to frustrate me...
