Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term - Senior Secondary School 2

TERM: FIRST TERM

SUBJECT: LITERATURE IN ENGLISH

CLASS: SS2

REFERENCE

• Lonely Days by BayoAdebowale
• Faceless by AmmaDarko.  
• Exam Reflection Literature- in-English by Sunday OlatejuFaniyi.
• Exam Reflection Literature-in-English (Prose and Drama) by Sunday OlatejuFaniyi

WEEK SIX

TOPIC: READING AND CONTENT ANALYSIS OF NON-AFRICAN POETRY:“CROSSING THE BAR” BY LORD TENNYSON

CONTENT

ABOUT THE POET

CONTENT ANALYSIS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

One of the most popular and well-loved British poets Alfred, Lord Tennyson lived between 1809 and 1892. He belonged to the Victorian era of English Literature. He was the poet Laureate of British and Ireland from 1850 until his death in 1892, making him the longest serving English poet Laureate to date.

ANALYSIS OF THE POEM

The poem is a meditation on death. It begins with a reflection of the poet’s persona on what he describes as “one clear call for me!(l.2) on a certain evening when he realizes that it is time for him to go to the sea. He hopes that the sea could have become calm after usual turbulent movement. He further expresses the hope that when twilight eventually turns to darkness and he consequently embarks on his journey, his people will not be sad over his departure. Finally, he notes that though the journey may take him to a far distant or location, he believes it will be profitable because it will afford him the opportunity to meet his Pilot. Metaphorically speaking, the journey is actually death. Therefore, “Crossing the Bar” relates the poet’s persona’s preoccupation with the coming of death, an inevitable phenomenon. Instead of the usual fright and anxiety that many display at their approach of death, the poet’s persona faces death calmly. The tone of the poem depicts neither fear nor distress. At the literal level, the “bar” in this context is a nautical term for a ridge of sand formed at the shore, by moving tides. At the metaphorical level, the “bar” refers to crossing the threshold from mortality into another realm of experience, possibly immortality.

EVALUATION QUESTIONS

1. What do you know about the poet?
2. Analyze the poem in your own words.

GENERAL EVALUATION/REVISION QUESTIONS

1. What are the dominant ideas in the poem.
2. Give a content analysis of the poem.

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

1. A short and witty poem is known as (a) a balled (b) an epigram (c) an Epic (d) a lyric
2. A literary work that extols one’s virtues and accomplishment is

(a) a eulogy (b) a pastoral (c) an elegy (d) an allegory

1. The main character in a literary work is the (a) antagonist (b) protagonist (c) narrator 

(d) villain

1. A sonnet may be divided into an octave and (a) tercet (b) quatrain (c) sestet (d) couplet
2. “All hands on deck” is an example of (a) metaphor (b) personification (c) metonymy

(d) synecdoche

THEORY

Read the content analysis of the poem above in Exam Focus and summarize it.