Читать книгу English for Life Reader Grade 8 Home Language - Elaine Ridge - Страница 10

Pre-reading
1.	In the poem, the reference to ‘wild coast’ refers to the rural areas along South Africa’s eastern coast along what used to be the Transkei. Scan the poem to find the word ‘wild’. Look at and describe what you see in the picture. Is there anything you would add to illustrate ‘the wild coast’?
During reading
2.	This poem has a specific and realistic setting. As you read, use the descriptions of some of the features of the countryside to picture the scene. ‘See if there are other items left out of the picture.’

On the wild coast

Patrick Cullinan

On the wild coast the cattle

come down to the sea after grazing.

They lie in the sand together, staring

the sea comes in and goes out

They walk away at the cool

of evening, slow to the top

of the dunes then bellow and kick

down the other side homewards

for milking: and darker

they move through the smoke and they stop

at the houses. The voices

are loud and then soft:

women talking to children,

the murmur of men at the fires

Wild – in a natural state; not changed by humans

Post-reading
3.	What is the atmosphere of the scene the poem describes? Give one of the ways in which the poet helps us feel this atmosphere.
4.	Why do the cattle go down to the beach?
5.	Account for the difference between the way the cows move on the seaward side of the dunes and their behaviour on the other side.
6.	The poem is full of sensory imagery.
a)	Find images that appeal to the sense of hearing and one that appeals to another sense.
b)	Now choose one of the images and say what it contributes to the poem.
7.	What differences can you find between the roles of the men and women depicted here?