THE PRESS – KCSE English poetry questions and answers

​Read the poem below and then answer the question that follows.   
So What is the mountain deal?
About the minister’s ailing son
That makes boiling news?

How come it was not whispered?
When Tina’s hospital bed was crawled with maggots
And her eyes oozed pus
Because the doctors lacked gloves?

What about Kasajja’s only child
Who died because the man with the key
To the oxygen room was on leave?

I have seen queues
Of emaciated mothers clinging to 
Babies with translucent skins
Faint in line
And the lioness of a nurse
Commanding tersely
‘Get up or live the line’
Didn’t I hear it rumored that 
The man with the white mane
Ushered a rape case out of court
Because the seven-year-old 
Failed to testify?
Anyway, I only remembered these things
Ehen I drink
They indeed tipsy explosions.
​
Susan Nalugwa Kiguli
Adopted By from: Echoes across the valley. 

questions

​a) Identify and explain the social evils dealt with in the poem.  (6 marks)
b) Pick out three poetic devices evident in this poem and comment on their significance. (6 marks)
c) Comment on the tone of the poem.  (2 marks)
d) Is the title significant? Why or why not?  (2 marks)
e) Explain the irony of the poem?  (2 marks)
f) Explain the meaning of the following words:  (2 marks)
     i) Crawled
     ii) Ushered