1. Literature 1° TERM TEST
Pike
Pike, three inches long, perfect
Pike in all parts, green tigering the gold.
Killers from the egg: the malevolent aged grin.
They dance on the surface among the flies.
Or move, stunned by their own grandeur,
Over a bed of emerald, silhouette
Of submarine delicacy and horror.
A hundred feet long in their world.
In ponds, under the heat-struck lily pads-
Gloom of their stillness:
Logged on last year's black leaves, watching upwards.
Or hung in an amber cavern of weeds
The jaws' hooked clamp and fangs
Not to be changed at this date:
A life subdued to its instrument;
The gills kneading quietly, and the pectorals.
Three we kept behind glass,
Jungled in weed: three inches, four,
And four and a half: red fry to them-
Suddenly there were two. Finally one
With a sag belly and the grin it was born with.
And indeed they spare nobody.
Two, six pounds each, over two feet long
High and dry and dead in the willow-herb-
One jammed past its gills down the other's gullet:
The outside eye stared: as a vice locks-
The same iron in this eye
Though its film shrank in death.
Themes: Self discovered, Nature vs Humans, Humans behavior, Doing anything to succeed.
Tones: Remorseful, reflective, violent, suspense, guilty, gloomy, dark.
Setting: Pond.
S1: Perfection of the pike in connection to beauty, size, movements, elegancy. A whole metaphor
for man.

2. S2: Movements of Pike “grandeur”. Important an arrogant, he sleeps on a green “bed of emerald”
metaphors for plants / seaweed (green). Elegant.
S3: Where the pike can be found. Habitat is nature.
S4: Description of the body of the pike.
S5: Human power over the pike. Darwinist theory: The survival of the strongest.
S6: They died in willow herb.
S7: The parts of the fish beign eaten are described. Violent stanza. In the end the pike dies.
S8:Tench: a fish that has a tenacious grip of life. The pike and the pond have been there for ages.
Natural habitat.
S9: Still: calm, not changing all the time. Depth: legendary England’s heritage. Pike is compared to:
English people, human beings also have a killing instinct from start but we are rational civilized
people.
S10: The voice feels scared. The pike is looking at him in the eye. The voice is an intruder in his
natural habitat, he is disturbing the fish.
S11: Nocturnal creatures / scary atmosphere / gloomy. Setting: Darkness. He caught the pike.
Ted Hughes uses animals as metaphors for human beings and their behavior:
He is critical
He has a negative vision as regards human beigns and nature.
Is the voice who feels fear no the pike as he violates pike’s habitat. Innate violence in the
natural world.
Pied beauty
Glory be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And álltrádes, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change: Praise Him.
Irregular poem.
2 Stanzas and 6 lines and 5 lines.
Circular structure ( begins and finishes with the same idea).

3. Alliteration to call the reader’s attention.
Voice uses anaphora to give examples.
Turning point in line 7: He finishes giving examples and man appears.
Theme: Thanking god for nature and colors. Religion, Humanity is damaging nature.
Tone: Thankful, grateful, joyful, pleased, religious.
Message: To thank god for colorful things (dappled).
Voice: A grown-up, man, woman, any person.
Audience: The people that read the poem.
Glossary
Dappled things: colorful shades of colors.
Brinded: yellowish.
Trout: trucha (fish).
Firecoal: carbon.
Chestnut: nuez.
Finches: bird.
Plough: cultivar.
Fallow: resting land.
The cockroach
I watched a giant cockroach start to pace,
Skirting a ball of dust that road the floor.
At first he seemed quite satisfied to trace
A path between the wainscot and the door,
But soon he turned to jog in crooked rings,
Circling the rusty table leg and back,
And flipping right over to scratch his wings-
As if the victim of a mild attack
Of restlessness that worsened over time.

4. After a while, he climbed an open shelf
And stopped. He looked uncertain where to go.
Was this due payment for some vicious crime
A former life had led to? I don’t know
Except I thought I recognised myself.
14 lines.
1 stanza
Sonnet
EXTENDED METAPHOR.
Hyperbolic language.
Theme: the cycle of life.
Tone: reflective.
It is a poem about reflection on life through watching the movement of a cockroach. Through the
use of structure, detailed description of cockroach as an extended metaphor of the persona, the
theme of confusion and realization of life is well conveyed.The title foreshadows and reveals that
the poem is about a small and trifle insect- a cockroach. However, the poem opens with the
exaggeration of it ‘a giant cockroach’. The speaker is observing it very closely feeling as if it is a
‘giant’. The word ‘giant’ also conveys that it is not only an insect but also a device to reflect on life
giving it great importance with the repetition of word ‘cockroach’ in the title and first line.
Themovement of thecockroachiscloselydescribed.
Glossary
Trace: follow.
Wainscot: the space between the door and the floor.
Scratch: rascar.
Mild: soft.
Restlessness: rest-less.
Crooked: not right.
Pace: slow movement
Jog: quicker.
Stop: slow again.

5. Her first ball
Leila was on the way to her first ball. In the taxi she imagined that she sat with an unknown young man. The
Sheridan girls thought it was strange that she had never been to a ball. Leila tried to stay calm, but she was very
excited about this new experience.
They arrived at the drill hall, where the ball was. There were lights and happy couples everywhere in the streets.
Inside, the girls went into the Ladies’ room. It was crowded with girls getting ready for the ball. They were putting
on powder, hair pins, ribbons.
The programmes were passed around, “Waltz 3”, “Polka 4”, and Leila and the girls went into the hall. The dancing
had not begun, and the hall was very noisy with people talking. Leila was amazed, and was glad she had decided
to come. Earlier in the afternoon, she hadn’t wanted to go. The wonderful hall and the beautiful people made her
breathless.
All the girls stood together on one side of the door, the men on the other side. Leila was then introduced to a lot
of girls by her cousin Meg. However, the girls were all looking towards the men.
Suddenly, the men started walking across the floor. When they came up to the girls, the men’s names were put
down in the girls’ programs. Several men put their names in Leila’s program too, and one of them was an older,
fat man. Then the music began and couples started dancing.
Leila had learned how to dance at boarding school. Suddenly a man came up to her and offered her his arm. Leila
enjoyed dancing with him, he steered so well. The man asked if she had been to the Bells’ last week. He was
surprised when she told him this was her first dance.
Soon the music stopped, and then started again. Her second partner came along. He asked exactly the same
questions as the last one. They danced for a while, and then they went for an ice in the supper room.
When they came back, the fat man was waiting for her. When they were dancing, he told her he had been to balls
for thirty years. That was twelve years before Leila was born. He said that in a few years, Leila would be one of the
mothers in the hall. She would be fat, and talk to other old ladies about horrible men trying to kiss her daughter,
and she would be sad because no one wanted to kiss her any more.
This made Leila feel bad. What if it was all true? It sounded as though it could be. At that point the music started
to sound sad. How quickly her happiness had changed! She didn’t want to dance any more, she only wanted to
stand still by the wall. There, she became so sad she could have cried. Why had the fat man spoiled it all? The
man said he was only joking, and Leila said she knew. Still she was sad.
Then the music started again. But Leila didn’t want to dance. She just wanted to go home.
But the music was soft and beautiful. And in front of her a young man with curly hair bowed. She had to be polite
and dance with him, and they walked onto the dance floor. Then, in only a minute, she again felt the magic of the
ball. Everything was beautiful! And when they bumped into the fat man on the dance floor, she didn’t even
recognise him.
Setting: Early 20° century.
Theme: Loos of innocence. Maturing / growing up. Hapiness does not last long. Enteting the world
of adults.

6. Tone: Nervous, anxious, scared, realistic, reflective, embarrassed, exited, insecure, lonely, shy,
isolated.
Leila
Going to her first ball.
She is exicted, nervous, anxious, scared, extroverted, shy, insecure, happy, imaginative,
isolated.
Ahe has mixed feelings.
INNOCENCE vs EXPERIENCE.
Dynamic character.
Fat man
Strange, bald, shabby, untidy, ironic, aggressive, truly honest, realistic, scary.
Old for the ball and for Leila.
He should be on the stage with the mothers and fathers
Leila feels strange, nervous, uncomfortable and scared with him.
Boys she dances with
Older than her
Boring, weird, awkward, monotonous.
Not interested in country girls and listening to her.
Interested in experienced girls.