POEM: MR NOBODY

SYNOPSIS:
The poem is about a person, Mr. Nobody, who does not exist, but who is created by the persona to take the blame for all kinds of mistakes and irresponsible behaviour that happens in the personas house. The persona is probably in trouble for doing things wrong and is blaming Mr. Nobody so that he or she will not be scolded or punished.

SETTING:
Time Past and present time. Place In a house.

c.

STRUCTURE:

ELEMENTS OF THE POEM d.

Family life. Taking things for granted. Responsibility.

Four stanzas, eight lines in each stanza. Alternate lines rhymes: In Stanza 1 - the rhyming words are mouse and house and agree and Nobody. In Stanza 2 - the rhyming words are ajar and afar and see and Nobody.

THEMES:

e. PERSONA:
The persona could be a parent or grandparents who wants to admonish (menegur) the children for always running away from responsibility and for blaming others for the mischief that they have done.

f.

TONE:

Honesty.

i.

MORAL VALUES:

The tone is ironic.

We must always tell the truth. We must be responsible members of a family.

g.

MOOD: h. POINT OF VIEW: Third person point of view. Because the use of the word I.

The mood is humorous.

We should not blame others for our mistakes. We must admit our mistakes. We must appreciate everyone within our family.

ELEMENTS OF THE POEM

LITERARY DEVICES:
Simile: a way to compare things using words like and as. Example: as quiet as a mouse Repetition: the phrase Mr. Nobody is repeated at the end of each stanze. Imagery: the visual images of Mr. Nobody Examples: Mr. Nobody breaking plates and tearing books Mr. Nobody carelessly leaving doors open Mr. Nobody scattering pins Mr. Nobody leaving fingermarks on the door Mr. Nobodypulling our buttons from shirts Mr. Nobody putting damp wood upon the fire

Exercise 1: Match the words and phrases from the poem with the correct meaning. mislaid cracked blinds prithee soil tears squek ajar mischied tosses

pulling something apart or into pieces to throw something carelessly lost a covering for a window damaged but not completely broken bad behaviour please slightly open a short high sound that is not very loud to make something dirty

Exercise 2: According to the persona, which of the following did Mr. Nobody do? Thick your answers in the box given.

1. break a window 2. touch the door with dirty fingers 3. forget to button his shirt 4. does not put away his boot 5. tears out pages from books 6. leave his toys scattered everywhere 7. make a lot of noise 8. forget to close the door

Exercise 3: State whether the following statements are True (T) or False (F). 1. The poem has four verses with rhyming couplets. 2. All the lines in the poem rhyme. 3. Mr. Nobody is responsible for the damp wood upon the fire. 4. Mr. Nobody moves around like a mouse creating mischief. 5. The door squeks because of mice in the house. 6. The water in the kettle does not boil because there is no fire. 7. The carpets are dirty because Mr. Nobody walked in with muddy feet. 8. The curtains fade as Mr. Nobody forgot to open the blinds. 9. Mr. Nobody is a person that really does exist in all homes. 10.Most of people have not seen Mr. Nobody yet they all blame him for the mischief in their homes.

Exercise 4: the poem mentions chores we do around the house. Give 6 examples of chores you can do around the house to help your parents. 1. ____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ _

2. ____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ _ 3. ____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ _ 4. ____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ _ 5. ____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ _ 6. ____________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ _ Exercise 5: Read the poem and answer the questions that follows.

Exercise 6: Questions 7 10 are based on the stanza 3 and 4 from the poem Mr.

Nobody