Grade 8

Poetry Booklet
Term 1:
1. The Aliens Have Landed! by Kenn Nesbitt
2. Betty Botter by Carolyn Wells
3. The Sea by James Reeves
4. An African Thunderstorm by David Rubadiri

Term 2:
5. Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
6. The Rose That Grew From Concrete by Tupac Amaru Shakur
7. Pardon my French By Edlynn Nau
8. Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost

Term 3:
9. This Is Just To Say by William Carlos Williams
10. A Fairy Song by William Shakespeare

Term 4:
11. Life of a Teenager by Janneke Tenvoorde
12. Walls by Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali
TERM 1

Page 2 of 18
 The Aliens Have Landed!

by Kenn Nesbitt

The aliens have landed!

It's distressing, but they're here.
They piloted their flying saucer
through our atmosphere.
They landed like a meteor 5
engulfed in smoke and flame.
Then out they climbed immersed
in slime
and burbled as they came.

Their hands are greasy tentacles. 10

Their heads are weird machines.
Their bodies look like cauliflower
and smell like dead sardines.
Their blood is liquid helium.
Their eyes are made of granite. 15
Their breath exudes the stench of foods
from some unearthly planet.

And if you want to see these

sickly, unattractive creatures,
you'll find them working in your school; 20
they all got jobs as teachers.

Activity:
 Discuss the use of poetic devices in this poem.
 Draw a visual representation of the alien as described in the poem.

Betty Botter --By Carolyn Wells

Page 3 of 18
Betty Botter
bought some butter.
"But," she said,
"the butter's bitter.
If I put it 5
in my batter,
it will make
my batter bitter.
But a bit
of better butter-- 10
that would make
my batter better."
So she bought
a bit of butter,
better than 15
her bitter butter.
And she put it
in her batter,
and the batter
was not bitter. 20
So 'twas better
Betty Botter
bought a bit
of better butter!
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Take note:
Alliteration is the use of the same consonant sounds in words that are near each other, they can
generate a sound that is almost absurd, and therefore comedic and entertaining.

One of the most popular examples of alliteration that children enjoy is tongue twisters. Tongue
twisters, as you can guess by the name, gets your tongue into all kinds of trouble when it comes to
speaking quickly because the repetition of alliterations and similar sounds quite literally tie your
tongue (well, not literally, but you get the picture.)

Activity:

Write a “Tongue Twister” poem using alliteration. The poem must be 6 – 12 lines.

Page 4 of 18
The Sea James Reeves

The sea is a hungry dog,

Giant and grey.
He rolls on the beach all day.
With his clashing teeth and shaggy jaws
Hour upon hour he gnaws 5
The rumbling, tumbling stones,
And 'Bones, bones, bones, bones! '
The giant sea-dog moans,
Licking his greasy paws.

And when the night wind roars 10

And the moon rocks in the stormy cloud,
He bounds to his feet and snuffs and sniffs,
Shaking his wet sides over the cliffs,
And howls and hollos long and loud.

But on quiet days in May or June, 15

When even the grasses on the dune
Play no more their reedy tune,
With his head between his paws
He lies on the sandy shores,
So quiet, so quiet, he scarcely snores 20

Questions

1. Outline the main idea in each stanza.

2.1 Give the rhyme scheme of the poem.

2.2 Discuss the use of rhyme in stanza 1.

3.2 Find one way in which the metaphor is sustained in each stanza.
3.2.1 stanza 1
3.2.2 stanza 2
3.2.3 stanza 3
3.2.4 stanza 4

4.1 Discuss the effectiveness of the metaphor as it is used in

4.1.1 line 8
4.1.2 18-19

Page 5 of 18
An African Thunderstorm by David Rubadiri

From the west

Clouds come hurrying with the wind
Turning sharply
Here and there
Like a plague of locusts
Whirling,
Tossing up things on its tail
Like a madman chasing nothing.

Pregnant clouds
Ride stately on its back,
Gathering to perch on hills
Like sinister dark wings;
The wind whistles by
And trees bend to let it pass.

In the village
Screams of delighted children,
Toss and turn
In the din of the whirling wind,
Women,
Babies clinging on their backs
Dart about
In and out
Madly;
The wind whistles by
Whilst trees bend to let it pass.
Clothes wave like tattered flags
Flying off
To expose dangling breasts
As jagged blinding flashes
Rumble, tremble and crack
Amidst the smell of fired smoke
And the pelting march of the storm.

Activity:
1. What does the poet compare the clouds to in the first verse?
2. What words in the first verse suggest movement?
3. Identify two figures of speech in the second stanza.
4. In the last verse, how do the children feel about the storm?
5. In What ways is the poem similar or different to your own experiences of thunderstorms?

Page 6 of 18
TERM 2

Page 7 of 18
 JABBERWOCKY BY LEWIS CARROLL

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

'Beware the Jabberwock, my son! 5

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!'

He took his vorpal sword in hand:

Long time the manxome foe he sought -- 10
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood a while in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,

The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, 15
And burbled as it came!

One two! One two! And through and through

The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back. 20

'And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?

Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves 25

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Page 8 of 18
TASK 1

Read the poem carefully and sort the words in bold into the boxes below.

NOUNS

VERBS

ADJECTIVES

TASK 2

Create a mini dictionary of Jabberwocky words, discussing and deciding what you think they mean. You
may have some different ideas to your peers.

Task 3

Draw a picture of the Jubjub bird, the Bandersnatch or the Tumtum Tree and label it with some interesting
invented nouns and adjectives.

Page 9 of 18
The Rose That Grew From Concrete by Tupac Amaru Shakur

Did you hear about the rose that grew

from a crack in the concrete?

Proving nature's law is wrong it

learned to walk with out having feet.

Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams, 5

it learned to breathe fresh air.

Long live the rose that grew from concrete

when no one else ever cared.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Take Note:

The poem "The Rose That Grew From Concrete" by Tupac Shakur is about having ambitions
goals and reaching them despite the circumstances and conflicts we are faced. Tupac uses
symbolism to disguise himself as the rose and the ghetto as the concrete. The message sent
is that it is very burdensome to survive the hard life in the ghetto and make something of
yourself.

- Line 2: Alliteration (crack, concrete)

- Lines 4-6: Personification (walk, dream, breathe)

- Line 6: Assonance (seems, keeping, dreams)

Reflection:
Are there any struggles you feel may be blocking your ambitions or goals? Write a reflective
paragraph (100-150 words) discussing what you feel blocks your ambitions and goals,
mention how you plan on overcoming them. Remember your “struggle” is different from
everyone else’s.
Page 10 of 18
PARDON MY FRENCH By Edlynn Nau
She swore like a sailor
and what did it mean?
Did he cuss as a pause...
were their cohorts unclean?

Were their vocabularies lacking 5

in something rich or refined?
Did they swear in frustration,
were their expletives unkind?

Was she to quit swearing

when dad counts to five? 10
Did he pay at the cuss jar
in a ten dollar crash dive?

Must they think of real words

and substitute when they can?
Should they change their slang 15
before, the *#!% hits the fan?

It's a hard thing to do in

replacing letters of four.
His teacher says,"try five,"
Her's says,"try a few more!" 20

Her Mom says more letters

is just what she needs.
And he tries to count five
but, his Urban impedes.

The kids say, four letters 25

are not that dirty or bad!
Why must they change them
when they like what they've had.

There is power in speech

and it tells all about us.
So use five letter words 30
and please, do not cuss.

The kids were too literal

in the teaching they heard.
They discovered, in short,
FIVE, is a four letter word. 35

Activity:
Write a paragraph explaining why you think swearing (cussing/using expletives) has become
socially acceptable? Are you allowed to do it? Are there words in the English language that
can be used in their place instead?
Page 11 of 18
Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day,

Nothing gold can stay

Activity:
Work through the questions on the PowerPoint and analyse the poem together as a class.

Page 12 of 18
TERM 3

Page 13 of 18
This Is Just To Say by William Carlos Williams

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which 5
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious 10
so sweet
and so cold

Activity & Discussion:

 Is the writer really sorry for eating the plums? What do they notice about the
poem that’s different than other poems?
 Brainstorm things we apologize for, but maybe don’t actually regret. Give an
example or two from your own life.
 Write a poem, similar to ‘This is just to say’, using your ideas from your
brainstorm.

Page 14 of 18
A Fairy Song by William Shakespeare

Over hill, over dale,

Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire!
I do wander everywhere, 5
Swifter than the moon's sphere;
And I serve the Fairy Queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green;
The cowslips tall her pensioners be;
In their gold coats spots you see; 10
Those be rubies, fairy favours;
In those freckles live their savours;
I must go seek some dewdrops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.

Activity:

 Analyse the poem with your teacher.

 Use your tablet to look up words/phrases you don’t understand

Page 15 of 18
TERM 4

Page 16 of 18
Life of a Teenager by Janneke Tenvoorde
Activity:
Many have told me
As I’m trying to fit in
That your teen years
With the crowd. 25
Are the best part of your life,
Though to me and my peers
Looking in the mirror
It doesn’t seem so. 5
I see me,
They are filled with strife.
Trying to be
They are filled with fears.
Not who I am,
These growing up years.
But who they are. 30
I was a child before,
As a teen
With no worries. 10
I have a lot of worries,
None at all.
That before
But I’m not that young no more.
I had never seen.
As in to adolescence I fall,
Until it starts. 35
I realize
As I first encounter love,
That life’s not that easy at all. 15
And discover broken hearts.
As its all I talk of.
I have to make decisions now,
But the hardest part of all
Another party,
Is trying to fit in.
It’s tomorrow night. 40
Knowing how to tie
My friends want me to come along,
In bow or pin. 20
Though I’m not sure it’s right.
Knowing what to wear
My parents say it’s wrong,
Jeans or a hat.
Though I wanna go.
Knowing what to say
And what do parents know? 45
Soft or loud.

It’s stressing me out,

All these decisions.
That’s why I doubt,
That teenage life is as easy
As they say it is. 50

1. Do you agree with the poets’ point of view about life as a teenager? What do
you agree or disagree with?
2. What kind of struggles do teenagers have to contend with today?
3. Write a poem in which you reflect on some of the struggles you ensure as a
teenager.

Page 17 of 18
Walls by Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali

Man is
a great wall builder –
the Berlin Wall
the Wailing Wall of Jerusalem –
but the wall 5
most impregnable
has a moat
flowing with fright
around his heart.

A wall without windows 10

for the spirit
to breeze through

A wall without a door

for love to walk in

Activity:
The poem refers to two kinds of walls, a literal and figurative wall. Write a
paragraph between 15 and 20 lines explaining the similarities between these
walls. Mention how these walls can be destroyed and by whom.