WEDDING EVE POEM

Read the poem below and answer the questions that follow (20 MARKS)
WEDDING EVE

Should I
Or should I not
Take the oath to love
For ever

This person I know little about?
Does she love me

Or my car
Or my future
Which I know little about?

Will she continue to love me
When the future she saw in me
Crumbles and fades into nothing
Leaving the naked me
To love without hope?

Will that smile she wears
Last through the hazards to come
When fate strikes
Across the dreams of tomorrow?

Like the clever passenger in a faulty plane,
Wear her life jacket
And jump out to save her life
Leaving me crush into the unknown?

What magic can I use
To see what lies beneath
Her angel face and well knit hair
To see her hopes and dreams
Before I take an oath
To love forever?

We are both wise chess players
She makes a move
I make a move
And we trap each other in our secret dreams
Hoping to win against each other

Everett Standa

QUESTION

1. Comment on the title of this poem. 3 marks
2. Explain the dilemma of a speaker in the first stanza. 2 marks
3. What is the speaker’s attitude towards their relationship?
4. Discuss and illustrate two character traits of the persona. 4 marks
5. Comment on the imagery of the plane. 3 marks
6. Explain how the relationship is compared to a game of chess. 3 marks
7. Explain the meaning of the following line: leaving the naked me. 3 marks

ANSWERS

1.    The wedding eve is supposed to be a time of joy happiness and anticipation. The persona however, is riddled with doubts and apprehension(1 mk)
2.    the speaker has organized the wedding but he is not sure whether or not to take the oath to love forever. He is doubtful whether the relationship will last
3.    the speaker’s attitude towards the relationship is one of doubt and apprehension(1mk)
4.    -doubtful should I or should I not/will she continue to love me.
–    fearful apprehensive fears to take the marriage vows.
–    suspicious – the speaker is not sure of the lovers commitment.
–    The rhetorical question in the poem helps to bring out the speaker’s doubts about the relationship and about the commitment of his would – be wife
5.    the imagery of the plane is quite appropriate .Being in a plane might be fun but it is also very risky; you could easily lose your life if the place crashes. Being in a doubtful relationship is like being in faulty plane
6.    -The relationship is compared to a game of chess in that the two will try to out-do (1mk)
    each other. The relationship is seen to be like a competition (1mk)    
“leaving the naked me “is an expression of desolation and hopelessness. If he were to be left he would feel naked and useless