By Victor Ochieng’
Poetry is one of the important areas taught in the English and Literature syllabus of our secondary schools.
In the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations, English has three papers. Right at the onset, Poetry is tested both in Papers One and Two. Poetry that comes in Paper One focuses on oral aspects such as sound patterns, performance and paralinguistic features – verbal and non-verbal cues. While Paper Two delves deep into literary areas like the ability to point out the persona, tone, attitude, mood, appropriateness of title, thematic concerns and features of style.
Foremost, for KCSE purposes, examiners test the oral aspects of poetry in the oral skills section of English Paper One. This is where in most cases examiners expect candidates to describe the rhyme scheme, point out sound patterns and the effect they create. The most preponderant sound patterns or devices include rhyme, alliteration, assonance, consonance, sibilance, onomatopoeia, ideophone and parallelism. Most of these poetic patterns enhance rhythm, musicality, memorability and interest. In the same ambit, there is the test on paralinguistic features, which simply cascades to how to say and how to perform some lines.
Again, talking of English Paper Two, literary or comprehension poem comes in question 3. In most cases, poetry alternates with oral narratives, also known as folk tales. Based on trends in setting and marking of KCSE, it is possible to predict the question that can come. In KCSE 2016, a poem titled the Road Not Taken by Robert Frost was tested. In KCSE 2017 they tested an Oral Narrative. Again, in KCSE 2018, there was a poem titled The Man He Killed by Thomas Hardy. In KCSE 2019, they tested an Oral Narrative. In KCSE 2020, they brought a poem titled Love is Not All by Edna St. Vincent Millay. In 2021, candidates sat for an Oral Narrative.
Therefore, based on that picture-perfect pattern of setting, it is right to write that there are high chances of KNEC testing Poetry in Question 3 of English Paper Two in KCSE 2022. Then, it is imperative that teachers should strive to expose candidates to both local and exotic poems. Albeit, we hardly see examiners testing local pieces such as I Met a Thief by Austin Bukenya, The Crucified Thief by John S. Mbiti, Freedom Song by Marjorie Macgoye Oludhe, Lapobo by A.R. Cliff Lubwa and Pregnant School Girl by Everet Standa.
Therefore, it is incumbent upon teachers of English to explore stupendous strategies of demystifying poetry for learners who think that it is an area of knowledge puzzling to decode.
Just to be blunt about it, Kenya National Examination Council’s (KNEC) obsession with exotic poems pricks our conscience and leaves us wondering: Why don’t they focus on testing poems that perhaps students have studied in their high school peregrination? Far from my heartfelt concern, it is important to note that whether it settles on a local or an exotic poem, questions remain intact. KNEC will still test questions such as the identification of the persona, the speaking voice in the poem. Attitude, the feelings of the persona towards the subject matter. Subject matter – what the poem is all about – where candidates simply paraphrase their responses. Tone, which is the quality of the voice and Mood, which is the atmosphere or ambience created.
Then, they can test features of style employed by the poet. Through economy of words and interesting diction, the poet uses elegant éclat and sartorial style focusing on imagery — styles that paint pictures in the mind such as symbolism, similes, metaphors, hyperbole, personification, pathetic fallacy and hyperbole – overstatement and understatement.
Still on the discourse about features of style, candidates should be in a position to point out use of irony, oxymoron, paradox, antithesis, parallelism, synecdoche, metonymy, litotes and rhetorical questions.
Consequently, most English pundits posit that when poetry is tested, some students perform dismally due to the defeatist attitude they have towards poetry. Yet, poetry is one of the interesting branches of English language and literature. Therefore, it is incumbent upon teachers of English to explore stupendous strategies of demystifying poetry for learners who think that it is an area of knowledge puzzling to decode.
Finally, as a putative author of a poetry course book, I hold the view that there is an exigent need of making learners love and know the intrigues of poetry before it is too late. This should be both theoretical and practical. Theoretical emphasis will build their ken of knowledge about it.
Then, the practical bit, which focuses on performance on stage, will arouse in them an intense interest. This is in line with this fact: proficiency and profundity in English focuses on intense interest and honing of four useful skills. The four skills include listening, reading, speaking and writing.
The writer is the co-author of Nuts and Bolts of Secondary Poetry. vochieng.90@gmail.com. 0704420232
