Name: ___________________ ( )

Literature Secondary One

Class: _______

Date: _________

Lesson Focus: Structure of a Poem, Persona and Movement

My Mother loves Me by Gwee Li Sui
Annotations
Mother, Mother
The kids in school
Call me kiasu,
But all I am
I got from you.

You bought for me

Big uniforms
A size too soon
and until then
I look cartoon.

10

Primary Two,
You brought textbooks
For Standard Three.
Ill get A then;
now I get Dee.

15

Then you got me

Tuition for Maths,
Language and Science,
Music and Sports,
And Omniscience.

20

Recess, you packed

Gain-weight tablets,
Vitamin pills.
They call me HosPital Nostrills.

25

Mother, Mother
The kids in school
Call me kiasu,
But thats not me
I guess its u.

30

PERSONA
The persona of a text is the voice that the reader hears. Who do you think the
persona is, and who is he/she addressing?
____ ____________________________________________________________-

Lowersecondary/poetry/yasmin

Page 1

Name: ___________________ ( )
Literature Secondary One

Class: _______

Date: _________

1. List the things the mother does for the person. What do you think the motivation
behind her actions is?
.
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

MOVEMENT
Movement in a poem refers to the ideas that come first and how they develop in a
poem. Sometimes these ideas change by the end of the poem. It also refers to the
structure of the poem and whether the poem ends with a similar verse but with a
different idea.

2a. What change do you detect in the relationship between the mother and the
persona?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
b. Who do you think is passive and who is active in the relationship? Why?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

3. How would you describe the persona and the mother? Use specific adjectives or
descriptive words.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
b. Pick out lines from the poem that indicate this as well.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

Lowersecondary/poetry/yasmin

Page 2

Name: ___________________ ( )
Literature Secondary One

Class: _______

Date: _________

4. Lines 16-20 list the subjects the persona receives tuition for. What are these
subjects and what does all this reveal about the mother?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
b. What is the meaning of omniscience and why do you think the poet calls this a
subject?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

5. What does the use of the word packed (line 21) suggest about the mothers
efforts? Who do you think the They refers to in Stanza 5?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

STRUCTURE OF A POEM
Stanza
A group of lines in a poem. A stanza is similar to the paragraph.
The Line
A line of poetry is not like a sentence. Just because the words are one line, it doesnt
mean that the complete thought is finished. When reading poetry, and you reach the
end of the line and there is no punctuation after the last word, do not pause
continue reading as you would any sentence.
Enjambment / Run-on lines
When the idea or phrase in a poem is carried over from one line into the next. The
effect of enjambment is to create free-flowing speech. Eg: You bought for me/Big
Uniforms/A size too soon/ and until then /I look cartoon.

6. Look at the last stanza. How does it echo or parallel what was in the first stanza
and how is it different?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Lowersecondary/poetry/yasmin

Page 3

Name: ___________________ ( )
Literature Secondary One

Class: _______

Date: _________

7. What effect does the first and last stanza in enhancing your understanding of the
poem?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

8. What is the main idea/theme of this poem?

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

Lowersecondary/poetry/yasmin

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