Prescribed Textbook Content (Prose and Poetry)
Prescribed Textbook Content (Prose and Poetry) tests your knowledge of the lessons and poems in the syllabus. Questions ask for theme, character, central idea, poetic devices, tone and the significance of the title. Answers must come from the text, not from general knowledge.
Prose
- For each lesson, note the author, setting, main characters, conflict, turning point and theme.
- Character answers need evidence: 'the narrator was compassionate because he fed the stray dog'.
- Title significance: connect the title to the central incident or message.
Poetry
- Learn the central idea in two or three sentences; then the tone (hopeful, nostalgic, critical).
- Identify devices by definition, not by guess: simile uses like/as; metaphor states one thing is another; personification gives human qualities to non-human things; alliteration repeats initial consonant sounds.
- Rhyme scheme: label end sounds a-b-a-b or a-a-b-b; mention refrain if a line repeats.
- Memorise one short quote per poem to support the central idea.
Worked example
Lines: 'The river wrote its silver song / Across the valley all day long.' Question: Name the poetic device. Reasoning: a river cannot write or sing; human actions are given to it, so it is personification. 'Silver' is a visual metaphor for the water's shine; 'song' suggests sound. Answer: personification (with metaphor).
Traps
Retelling the whole story instead of answering the question; giving a device without explaining it; mislabelling a simile as a metaphor; ignoring 'with reference to context'; inventing a quote that is not in the text.