HOMEWORK:

Read the extract of the poem and answer the following questions based on it.

And must wait, must stand and wait, for there he was at the   trough before me.

He reached down from a fissure in the earth-wall in the gloom

And trailed his yellow-brown slackness soft-bellied down, over the edge of the stone trough

And rested his throat upon the stone bottom,

And where the water had dripped  

       from the tap, in a small clearness,

1. Where did the snake come from?

2. What poetic device is used in the phrase "trailed his yellow-brown slackness"?

A) Metaphor

B) Simile

C) Personification

D) Enjambment

3. Describe the snake's appearance in the above extract.

4. Where did the snake rest its throat?

SLIP TEST

1. “He reached down from a fissure in the earth-wall in the gloom” — This line mainly uses:

a) Visual imagery

b) Metaphor

c) Onomatopoeia

d) Allusion

2. “Soft-bellied down, over the edge…” — The phrase “soft-bellied” is an example of:

a) Epithet

b) Simile

c) Alliteration

d) Irony

3. The movement of the snake “trailed… down, over the edge of the stone trough” creates a sense of:

a) Suspense

b) Sudden excitement

c) Calm, slow motion

d) Violence

EXTRACT

And looked at me vaguely, as drinking

cattle do,

And flickered his two-forked tongue

from his lips, and mused a moment,

And stooped and drank a little more,

Being earth-brown, earth-golden

from the burning bowels of the earth

On the day of Sicilian July, with Etna smoking.

1. What action does the snake repeatedly perform with its tongue?

A. Licks its tail
B. Licks the water drops
C. Flickers its two-forked tongue
D. Hisses loudly
2. The setting of the poem is—
A. Himalayan winter
B. Sicilian July with Etna smoking
C. Rainy Indian monsoon
D. African savannah
3. “Earth-brown, earth-golden” is an example of—
A. Simile
B. Epithet
C. Personification
D. Alliteration
4. “As drinking cattle do” is an example of—
A. Simile
B. Metaphor
C. Irony
D. Hyperbole