‘The Gourd of Friendship’ Poem

Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow.

The Gourd of Friendship.

Where is the curiosity we’ve lost in discovery?
Where is the discovery we’ve lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we’ve lost in communication?
Where is the communication we’ve lost in mass media?
And where is the community we’ve lost in all these?
Where is the message we’ve lost in the medium?
It is easy to go to the moon:
There, there are no people.
It is easier to count the stars:
They will not complain.
But the road to your neighbour’s heart – who has surveyed it?
The formula to your brother’s head – Who has devised it?
The gourd that doesn’t spill friendship – In whose garden has it ever grown?
You never know despair Until you’ve lost hope;
You never know your aspiration Until you’ve seen others’ disillusionment.
Peace resides in the hearts of men.
Not in conference tables and delegates’ signatures.
True friendship never dies – It grows stronger the more it is used.
    By Richard Ntiru

Questions

1.    Explain the meaning of the poem (3 marks)
2.    Discuss the use of the rhetorical questions in the poem. (3 marks)
3.    Describe the tone of this poem  (3 marks)
4.    Identify and explain two other stylistic devices (apart from the rhetorical questions) (4 marks)
5.    Explain the meaning of these lines.  (4 marks)
i)    “where is the curiosity we have lost in discovery”.
ii)    “But the road to your neighbour’s heart – who has surveyed it?”  ( marks)
6.    What does the persona think about relationships? (2 marks)
7.    Explain the appropriateness of the title.  (1 mark)

The Gourd of Friendship ANSWERS

a)    The poem is about how human beings √1 have made many discoveries √1 yet they have not discovered a way to make friendship with their friends work √1 by finding out what they like √ 1                 3mks
b)    They help us see how we have lost curiosity as a result of discoveries (line 1) They also help us see how mass media and communication have made us lose communication and knowledge (line 3-4) The other one challenges us to know how we can get the way to the hearts of our brothers to know what they like and thus continue in friendship (line 11)
                                (identification effect √ ½ √ ½)         3mks
c)    The tone of the poem is a concerned tone, a satirical one / critical tone in that we have lost communication in mass media and lost curiosity in discovery                 (identification 2mks, Illustration 1 mk)        3mks
d)    i) Satire √1 – we are mocked for losing curiosity in our neighbours and brothers though we are making discoveries in other areas √
ii)    Paradox √ – you never know your aspiration until you have seen others disillusionment √1            4mks
e)    i)     The persona is worried about failure to have urge to invent what pleases our brothers and neighbours √2     2mks
    ii)     No effort has been made to find a way to the brother’s or neighbour’s heart                 2mks
f)    The persona thinks relationships have suffered since people are not willing to discover what pleases their brothers or friends √1                                                     2mks
The title is appropriate since the persona tries to wonder in the poem what has affected friendships and how they can be contained as content is contained in a gourd √1