Two Readings of a Lamp at Midnight
In a poetry seminar, two students defend opposite readings of an eight-line poem printed on the worksheet: 'The lamp I lit against the coming night / burns low; the wick is short, the oil is spent. / Yet in its small and steady light / I see the room I thought was rent. / No wind has touched it, none has come / to ask what keeps the flame alive; / I keep it not for anyone / but for the dark I have to drive.' Priya argues that the speaker is bitterly lonely: 'none has come' proves abandonment, and 'I have to drive' is resentful. Rahul argues that the speaker is resolute: the lamp is a chosen discipline, and 'not for anyone' is independence. The teacher, Ms Sen, has four marks for a reasoned interpretation and must decide whether to rank the readings, reward both, or ask for revision. She also notices that both students ignore the word 'rent'.
1. Which reading is better supported, and how should Ms Sen distribute credit?
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Rahul's reading is slightly better supported, but Priya's is not dismissible. The poem gives agency to the speaker: 'I lit', 'I see', 'I keep' and 'I have to drive' are all active. 'Small and steady light' and 'chosen discipline' fit the repeated first-person verbs. Priya's case rests on 'none has come', which does suggest isolation, but she overreads it as proof of bitterness; the speaker does not complain, and 'not for anyone' can be independence rather than resentment.
Ms Sen should award Rahul 4/4 if he acknowledges the isolation, and Priya 3/4 if she can explain how 'steady' and 'keep' complicate her reading. Full credit should require handling counter-evidence, not just quoting one side.
2. Explain how the word 'rent' complicates Priya's reading.
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'Rent' means torn or divided, so the room the speaker sees is not simply a room; it is damaged, perhaps by conflict or loss. That detail can support Priya's loneliness, because it suggests a broken domestic space. But it also complicates her reading: the speaker does not merely suffer the torn room; the lamp lets the speaker see it. 'I see the room I thought was rent' implies a change in perception, not pure resentment. The light reveals damage and also makes it visible enough to be faced. Priya must explain both the damage and the seeing, not just the isolation.
3. Write the two-sentence feedback Ms Sen should give to both students about using evidence.
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Feedback: 'Do not stop at the line that fits your reading; quote the line that resists it and explain how you account for it. In this poem, the active verbs and the word rent pull in different directions, so your interpretation should show both the isolation and the discipline rather than choosing one and ignoring the other.'