Have you ever seen...?
Have you ever seen a sheet on a river bed?
Or a single hair from a hammer’s head ?
Has the foot of a mountain any toes ?
And is there a pair of garden hose ?
Does the needle ever wink its eye ?
Why doesn’t the wing of a building fly?
Can you tickle the ribs of a parasol ?
Or open the trunk of a tree at all ?
Are the teeth of a rake ever going to bite ?
Have the hands of a clock any left or right ?
Can the garden plot be deep and dark?
And what is the sound of the birch’s bark?
- Anonymous
English workshop Have you ever seen...?
1. From each line in the poem, pick out the word that is a homograph. Write its
meaning in the context of the phrase used in the poem. Then write the other meaning
implied in the question.
Stanza Word One meaning Other meaning
First
(1) bed piece of furniture à bottom of river, sea, etc.
(2) à
(3) à
(4) à
Second
(1) à
(2) à
(3) à
(4) à
Third
(1) à
(2) à
(3) à
(4) à
2. Write 2 lines from this poem which you find most humorous. Justify your choice.
3. Find from the poem, three examples of each :
(a) Interrogation
(1)
(2)
(3)
(c) Personification
(1)
(2)
(3)
4. Form groups of four or five. Think, discuss and add at least one more stanza, using
the same style and devices as the poet has used. It should include homographs,
interrogation and the same rhythm and rhyme-scheme.
5. Read the following sentences carefully. Then fill in the blanks using appropriate
words from the brackets, to make puns.
(struck, numbered, too tired, developed, put down, homeless, old fashioned, reaction)
(1) She had a photographic memory but never it.
(2) He was struggling to figure out how lightning works when it him.
(3) Every calendar’s days are .
(4) A bicycle cannot stand on its own because it is .
(5) I’m reading a book on anti-gravity. It’s impossible to the book .
(6) I’d tell you a chemistry joke but I know I wouldn’t get a .
(7) What do you call Watson when Sherlock isn’t around? .
(8) I would tell a history joke, but it’s too .
6. Read : ‘Alice in Wonderland’ by Lewis Carroll.