Refrain and Tone in a Two-Stanza Poem
A teacher is moderating a 5-mark poetry question on an original two-stanza poem printed in the question paper. The Khasi text is accompanied by a glossary. Stanza 1: 'The farmer rises before the cock; he carries a lamp to the field; the east is still black.' Refrain after stanza 1: 'Ka jingshai ka wan' ('the light comes'). Stanza 2: 'The farmer returns at noon; he carries a small coffin; the east is bright.' Refrain after stanza 2: 'Ka jingshai ka wan.' A candidate writes: 'The tone is hopeful because the refrain says light comes.' Another writes: 'The tone is bitter because the light arrives only after the child dies.' The mark scheme says: 'Explain how the refrain contributes to the tone; refer to both stanzas.' The teacher must decide whether the first answer can receive more than 2 of 5 marks, and how to handle the second answer's use of 'bitter'.
1. Award marks to both candidates and justify the difference.
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Candidate 1 should receive no more than 2/5. The refrain is quoted, but the question asks how it contributes to tone across both stanzas. The same words follow a burial, so the repetition changes from promise to consolation or irony. Candidate 1 treats the refrain as fixed and ignores the coffin, so the answer is a recall of the refrain plus a label. Candidate 2 can reach 4/5: it notices the contrast between 'light comes' and the child's death, and 'bitter' is a defensible tone. But 'bitter' needs a detail-the coffin, the noon brightness-and the answer should not imply the poet's own bitterness without evidence. Award 4/5, with the fifth mark reserved for explaining that the refrain's meaning shifts between stanzas.
2. Write a model sentence that explains the shift in the refrain's meaning without using the word 'irony'.
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In stanza 1 the refrain is a promise that the farmer will see; in stanza 2 the same words become a question, because the light arrives when it is no longer needed. The repetition does not add hope; it measures the distance between the promise and the loss. This wording forces the candidate to connect refrain placement to stanza content rather than simply quoting the Khasi phrase.
3. Identify one structural feature a candidate could mention to reach the top band.
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A top-band answer could mention that the refrain is repeated after each stanza but its context is reversed: before dawn the lamp is carried out, at noon the coffin is carried back; the east changes from black to bright. Naming this reversal shows the candidate can relate form to meaning, not just quote the refrain. A second feature is the delayed refrain: it follows the coffin, so the reader hears 'light comes' as a comment on death rather than on dawn.