NATURE
1. Why do you think the poet write this poem?
2. Which phrase evokes our sense of smell?
3. What does the phrase reaped canefields lie bare and fallow indicate?
4. What are the good days mentioned in the poem?
5. What the bad days mentioned in the poem?
6. What is the poet trying to tell us about the weather in his country?
7. What does the phrase lush green canefields tell us about the land?
8. Which line in the poem indicates that Jamaica suffers from strong winds?
9. Where can we hear the sound of water during the heavy rain?
10. When do the leaves fall off the guango trees?
11. What do you understand by the phrase paved the earth?
12. Which line indicates that there are bright sunny days and the sun shines on fertile fields of cane?
13. How do you know that the rains come down in torrential showers?
14. Why do you think the poet mentions the regular English seasons of summer, winter, autumn and spring?
15. When it rains, where to the rain water usually flow into?
16. What is the impression you get when the winds blow in Jamaica?
17. During the season of flowers, what can you hear and smell?
18. What are the yellow stars?
19. In your opinion, has the poem given you a comprehensive picture of the changes that take place in Jamaica?
20. Name the four seasons that some countries have.
21. Why do you think the colour of the sun is considered as gold?
22. Why do trees have to struggle?
23. What are the words that have been used to describe the movement of the rain?
24. Are these words suitable?
25. Which of the four seasons are equivalent to Jamaica’s wet and hot seasons.
26. Write two words that are related to the appearance of the canefields.
27. Why do you think the persona feels that Jamaica does not need to have the four seasons. In your own words, give a reason .
28. During which season do leaves fall off trees.
29. Why are the fields left to fallow after the harvesting season?
30. What happens to the tall grass at the slightest breeze and why?
31. What words have been used to describe the buttercups?
32. Do you think they are suitable.
33. What can we call the season that is implied in the lines above?
34. What are the two words that relate to the appearance of the canefields after they are harvested
35. What does the persona feel about nature at this time of the year in Jamaica? Give a reason to support?
36. How does the persona show that he loves nature as is experienced in Jamaica?
37. What are the two words that are related to fruits?
38. What do you think is the main crop in Jamaica? Give a reason.
39. To whom does the we in the opening line of the poem refer?
40. Do you agree with the poet that there are no seasons in Jamaica? Give a reason for your answer
41. What are the seasons mentioned in the poem?
42. What kind of crop grows in canefields?
43. What are the raindrops compared to
44. What does swish of water in the gullies refer to?
45. What word can replace bare and fallow?
46. What does the word blossom refer to?
47. Why are the bees in the bushes?
48. Why do the tall grass sway?
49. What are the yellow stars?
50. How does the poet describe the sun?
51. Which line uses the imagery of sound and smell?
52. What are buttercups? Describe them.
ANSWERS
1. celebrate nature
2. the scent of honey
3. is idle and unproductive
4. The good days are the short periods where the bright golden sun shines brilliantly on the healthy green canefields
5. The bad days are the periods of heavy rain which beats nosily like bullets on the rooftops and when the strong Jamaican winds threated to uproot the trees.
6. Jamaica is a country that has no regular four seasons but experiences short periods of golden sunshine which alternates with days of heavy rain followed by strong winds.
7. The land is fertile
8. Line 8
9. on the eroded trenches
10. after the harvesting of the canes
11. covered everywhere
12. The gold sun shines on the lush, green canefields.
13. The rain beats like bullets on the roofs.
14. He was studying and working there for some time
15. It usually flows into the gullies.
16. The winds blow so strongly that the trees are swayed from side to side that they have to struggle to prevent themselves from being blown away.
17. smell the scent of honey and hear the sound of bees.
18. They are a type of flowers grown there.
19. No, because it lacks details and a lot depends on the imagination perception of the reader.
20. Spring, summer, autumn and winter
21. The colour of the sun at sunrise and sunset is yellow and looks like gold.
22. The winds are strong and so they have to struggle to save themselves from being uprooted.
23. beats like bullets
24. Because when the rain falls on the roofs it sounds like bullets being released from a gun.
25. Winter and summer
26. lush and green
27. He feels Jamaica does not need the four seasons because it has its own two differing seasons and they are good enough for Jamaica
28. Autumn
29. They are left to fallow for the soil to recover its fertility.
30. They sway and shiver because they are not stable.
31. yellow stars and beauty
32. Yes, because the buttercups are yellow and look like shining stars and they are beautiful to look at.
33. Spring or the flowering and fruiting season
34. bare and fallow
35. He feels that nature at this time of the year is beautiful and rich in colour and fragrance because he says that the trees are fruiting and there is the smell of honey and the earth is paved with beautiful stars.
36. He says that Jamaica may not have the four seasons but it has its own wet and dry seasons.
37. mango, cane
38. I think it is sugar cane because the persona mentions the canefields as being lush and green so they must be planted in big plantations and after harvesting the fields are left to fallow meaning they will be replanted with cane.
39. The poet and his countrymen
40. Yes, Jamaica has no seasons associated with cool temperate countries such as spring, summer, autumn and winter. What it has are days associated with changes in the weather at specific times of the year.
No, although there are no seasons associated with cool temperate countries, there are the hot seasons as well as the rainy season that coincides with growth, ripening, rest and regrowth in a cycle.
41. Spring, summer, autumn and winter
42. Sugarcane
43. water on the roof
44. the sound of water in the gullies
45. empty
46. flowers
47. to look for nectar
48. gentle breeze
49. Buttercups
50. As golden and magnificent
51. When the bushes are full of the sound of bees and the scent of honey
52. Buttercups are small, beautiful yellow flowers. They grow wild in the fields of Jamaica and they look like yellow stars.
