Department of English
First Year Advanced Tutorial
th
week starting 5 November 2012
This is Section A from SEC Literature 2011 Paper 1.
Questions 1 to 7 need to be answered in full but briefly.
Question 8 requires a short paragraph (90 – 110 words) as a response.
Read the following poem carefully and then answer the questions that follow.
For my grandmother knitting
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
There is no need they say
but the needles still move
their rhythms in the working of your hands
as easily
as if your hands
were once again those sure and skilful hands
of the fisher-girl1.
You are old now
and your grasp of things is not so good
but master of your moments2 then
deft3 and swift
you slit the still-ticking quick silver fish.
Hard work it was too
of necessity.
1
fisherman’s daughter
2
at your best
skilful
3
But now they say there is no need
as the needles move
in the working of your hands
once the hands of the bride
with the hand-span waist4
once the hands of the miner's wife
who scrubbed his back
in a tin bath by the coal fire
once the hands of the mother
of six who made do and mended
scraped and slaved slapped sometimes
when necessary.
4
thin waist
But now they say there is no need
the kids they say grandma
have too much already
more than they can wear
too many scarves and cardigans gran you do too much
there´s no necessity.
At your window you wave
them goodbye Sunday.
With your painful hands
big on shrunken wrists.
Swollen-jointed. Red. Arthritic5. Old.
But the needles still move
their rhythms in the working of your hands
easily
as if your hands remembered
of their own accord the pattern
as if your hands had forgotten
how to stop.
5
having stiff joints
Liz Lochhead
1
Which are the correct answers?
Two contrasts that the poem is concerned with are:
a) old and young
b) fishing and mining
c) usefulness and uselessness
d) work and play
2
(1 mark)
Besides the poor physical condition of the grandmother’s hands, what may the words
‘your grasp of things is not so good’ (line 9) refer to?
(1 mark)
3
Liz Lochhead uses the word ‘but’ in each stanza. Comment on the use of the word in
the second stanza.
(2 marks)
4
Read the quote below.
‘scraped and slaved slapped sometimes’ (line 25)
a) In this line Lochhead uses a repetition of initial consonant sounds. Which literary
term is used to describe the repeated use of a particular consonant sound?
(1 mark)
b) Comment on the effect of this repetition.
(2 marks)
5
Explain the attitudes shown towards the grandmother by the poet and the children.
(2 marks)
6
Most of the poem is written in long sentences and run-on lines, unlike line 38.
Comment on the effectiveness of this line.
‘Swollen-jointed. Red. Arthritic. Old.’
(2 marks)
7 The poem suggests that ‘rhythms’ (lines 3 and 40) and ‘pattern’ (line 43) have always
been part of the grandmother’s life. List three examples from the poem that show a
sense of rhythm or pattern in the grandmother’s life.
(3 marks)
8
Liz Lochhead uses the words ‘hand’ or ‘hands’ twelve times in this poem. Write
about the effective use of this image.
(6 marks)