Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term - Senior Secondary School 2

SUBJECT: LITERATURE-IN-ENGLISH

CLASS:  SS2

DATE:

TERM: 3RD TERM

REFERENCES

• She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith.
• Exam Reflection Literature- in-English by Sunday OlatejuFaniyi.
• Exam Reflection Literature-in-English (Prose and Drama) by Sunday OlatejuFaniyi.  
• The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole. 

WEEK SIX

TOPIC: READING AND ANALYSING THE CONTENT OF THE POEM “VANITY.”

This is a poem of lamentation. The poet is worried about the social misfortune that is befallen his people and the seemingly indifference of the people to the apparent solution. The poet sees the problems as self-inflicted. He also sees the answers to the problem but they seem not to listen. The first two stanzas capture the complaints of the community and the people’s contemptuous reaction. The poet says that no outsider will take the cries of the community serious because they are not only trivial, and self-inflicted, the people themselves are not serious and receptive to their traditions and ancestry. The poet states that the community’s approach to airing their complaints, whether gently or loudly, will not mitigate the derisive reaction of the people. This is seen in lines 1 and 6. The poet goes on to say that the complaints of the people did not start today. He depicts the people as insincere.

The poet proffers answers to the question of Africa’s unending social trauma in the succeeding stanzas. Africans must look inward to solve its problems. We must go back to our roots, recognize our ancestors, take pride in our tradition, believe in ourselves and our products and stop the crazydependence on foreign ideas. The poet sees it as sheer vanity looking up to

Western civilization to solve our domestic problems while the basic facts of existence are left unattended.

The last stanza is a logical deduction from the preceding lines. The poet concludes that it is futile complaining when we know the source of our predicaments but refuse to amend our ways. To him, Africans can only fare well if she recognizes continually the undying presence of the ancestors and obey their instructions.

EVALUATION QUESTIONS

1. What is the main preoccupation of the poem?
2. Discuss the content of the poem.

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENTSECTION A

INSTRUCTION: Answer all questions

1. A fable is a story in which A. allegations are made about characters. B. animals or things are used as characters. C. there is an important setting. D. the story is told in poetic form.
2. The juxtaposition of two contrasting ideas in a line of poetry is A. euphemism. 

1. synecdoche.C. catharsis.D. oxymoron.

1. Drama is the representation of a complete series of actions by means of A. movement and gesture for the screen and audience. B. speech, movement and gesture for the stage only. C. speech, movement and gesture for the stage, screen and radio. D. movement only.
2. Identify the odd item. A. Poetry B. Prose C. Melodrama D. Drama
3. “All the world is a stage,” is an example of A. metaphor. B. paradox. C. allusion. 

1. personification.

SECTION B

Discuss the structure and mood of the poet as employed in the poem.

READING ASSINGMENT

Read up the themes  of the poem “Vanity” in Exam Focus.