What is it? II

What is it? II

Pencil and paperOnline interactive
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Further Resources
This task is about making inferences to interpret a poem.
 
 
They wash their hands in it.
The salt turns to soap
In their hands. Wearing it
At their wrists, they make bracelets
Of it; it runs in beads
On their jackets. A child's
Plaything? It has hard whips
That it cracks, and knuckles
To pummel you. It scrubs
And scours; it chews rocks
To sand; its embraces
Leave you without breath. Mostly
It is a stomach, where bones,
Wrecks, continents are digested.
 
Author: R. S. Thomas

Question 1Change answer

a) What is "it" in line 13?

Question 1Change answer

b) In lines 6 and 7, the poet asks a question, "A child's plaything?" 
     In your own words, explain the poet's answer to this question.

Question 1Change answer

c)  Explain the meaning of the last two lines of the poem.
Task administration: 
This task can be completed with pencil and paper or online (without auto-marking).
Copyright: 
Every effort has been made to obtain copyright for the text used in this resource.
Level:
5
Curriculum info: 
English, Making meaning, Reading
Key Competencies: 
Thinking
Keywords: 
poem, poetry, comprehension, inference, figurative language, language features
Description of task: 
Students read a poem titled 'The Sea' and explain the meanings of some of the language used.
Curriculum Links: 
 
Links to the Literacy Learning Progressions for Reading:
This resource helps to identify students’ ability to:
  • recognise and unpack figurative language
  • infer ideas and information that are not directly stated in the text
as described in the Literacy Learning Progressions for Reading at: http://www.literacyprogressions.tki.org.nz/The-Structure-of-the-Progressions.
Learning Progression Frameworks
This resource can provide evidence of learning associated with
Making sense of text: processing system, sets 6-7
Reading for literary experience, sets 6-8
within the Reading Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Read more about the Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Answers/responses: 
 

Y10 (09/1999)
a) sea/oceans very difficult
b) Any 1 of:

  • The sea is not a plaything because it can hurt you (lines 7 - 11).
  • It can kill you (lines 11 and 12).
 easy
c) The sea swallows bones, ships, and continents and breaks them down like the digestive system breaks down food. The sea is a stomach (metaphor). moderate