ENGLISH 1B: TEST 1
13 NOVEMBER 2012
GRADE 12
POETRY


QUESTION 1

Mind-mapping images
1. Present, in the form of a diagram, the connotations and associations that are generated in an image and write your understanding of what an ‘image’ is.

2.Name
the different types of images a poet might use when constructing a poem.A metaphor is an image in which two apparently dissimilar things are compared in order to generate new meaning. A metaphor can be divided into two components: the tenor and the vehicle. The ‘tenor’ is the subject of a metaphor; the ‘vehicle’ is the thing to which it is compared. For example, in the phrase ‘the boy rejoiced at leaving the prison of school’, ‘school’ is the ‘tenor’ of the metaphor, and ‘prison’ is the vehicle. The vehicle (prison) tells us that the boy regarded the school negatively, as a confining place in which he was sent as if in punishment. Now identify the tenor and vehicle in the following metaphors:
The cook bowed before the altar of the oven
The floor-mop of his hair covered his eyes
‘the frosted wedding-cake of the ceiling’ (The Great Gatsby)
‘Leafing through a good dictionary in search of a single word is a small voyage of discovery’ (Humphreys, in Starfield, 11)
"Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end." (Shakespeare, Sonnet 60)
"Marriage hearse" (Blake, in Starfield, 43)
Now draw a mind map of associations for each of the metaphors listed in Question 4. In each case, the ‘vehicle’ should be at the centre of the mind map.
　
QUESTION 2
Using the main-maps you created in question 1, write a paragraph explaining how the image in each case works. You will need to use the ‘Rule of Three’ of analysis, which is:
What is being compared?
What associations are brought to mind by this comparison?
What is the effect of this comparison?
For example:

In the phrase ‘the cook bowed before the altar of the oven’, the writer creates a metaphor in which an oven is compared to an altar. An ‘altar’ is usually situated in a sacred position in a place of worship and is often the focal point of a religious service. It may hold sacred objects, and provides the central point from which the priest, or rabbi, or religious leader, presents a service or ritual. By comparing the oven to an altar, the writer effectively demonstrates the centrality of the oven to the cook, and its dominance in the kitchen. The fact that the cook ‘bow[s]’ before the oven reinforces this sense of sacred importance – indeed, s/he is indirectly transformed into a priest by the force of the image. The effect of this metaphor, therefore, is to bring associations of religion and devotion to bear upon the kitchen and the cook’s work therein.

　

　

　

　

　

　

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