2026
ENG1501 (Poem): Memory, Christopher van Wyk. This document
contains answers for Section B, UNISA 2026 assessment 01. The answers are
provided with alternatives. Also, a summary of the whole poem is provided, to
enhance understanding. Guaranteed 70%+ pass mark, doing the assessment
yourself.
Author: Study Coach ZA
WhatsApp: 078 465 9652
,Section A: Reflation: Poetry (unit 2)
This section requires you to choose a poem, my advice is: one you understand
better, or comfortable with its topic. Following that you write a 3 paragraphs essay,
based on instructions written under paragraph 1/2/3 in the assessment. Below I
have suggested some points you can include under each paragraph. In your
assessment do not use bullets points, write full paragraphs, essay style.
Paragraph 1
• To begin with, state the title of the poem you have chosen. The author and
year of publication if possible.
• Reason you chose the poem. For example; it talks about animals, and I am
passionate about animals. Or because it is a South African poem and I am
patriotic. Or because it was written by Okapa, and I like his writing because I
can relate to his impoverished upbringing.
• First reaction: It could be the stanzas. Or the sentences/lines, being too
short. Choice of words/tsotsitaal. For example, in the poem ‘they call you mr
steve biko but now your dead”, the names of the icon are written in small
letters.
• Surprise or confusion: It can be the use of swear words (surprise). Plenty of
jargon or bombastic words used (confusion). The use of 2 languages in the
text (confusion/surprise). Surprise because Steve Biko is a respectable
political figure. Why should his name be written in small letters?
Paragraph 2
• Choose 2 poetic devices: the poem could use devises such as rhyme,
comparison, metaphor, simile. You must also reference the tutorial letter 501
and quote Unit 2 (page reference), where you have learned of these devises.
• How the devises helped you understand the poem’s message/emotional
impact: For instance, the use of metaphor referring to the speaker as a pig,
has made you understand his inconsiderate/savage behaviour. Or the use of
simile to refer to the speaker as a baby, made you understand his/her
vulnerability.
1
, Paragraph 3
• Reflect on how engaging with this poem changed or challenged your
thinking about poetry. In response: did the poem make you appreciate how
language is used in poems? How message can be concentrated in a
sentence, contrary to essay where a message can be a paragraph long? Did
the poem spark in you, interest in a particular subject, perhaps traditional
food?
SECTION B: Prescribed poem. “Memory”, by Christopher van Wyk
In this section I am going to provide an analysis of this poem. Where the assessment
asks for one answer, I will provide a few, so that you can have an option to choose
one that you can support with your own argument, using your own words.
I will begin with a brief summary of the poem, put in simple terms as possible, in
order to enhance your understanding of the poem. I will not be reproducing the poem
here, because of space.
Poem Summary
In the poem, the speaker looks back/reflect on an event that happened in his
childhood home, in the company of his mother and brother, Derek (line 1). It was a
normal day, and the mother was ‘making vetkoek’ for the boys (line 3). We can
regard this as an Afrikaner family, because of the traditional vetkoeks. Here boys
were being boys. Derek, loud and restless around the table, hence he is compared
to a bird (line 6). The speaker is the elder brother and tall enough to see inside the
cooking pot (line 8). Seemingly, the mother wanted for Derek to watch the cooking
vetkoeks, the reason she perched him on the chair to elevate his height (line 5). In
the midst of that domestic bliss, the speaker begins to view the walls imaginatively,
where he thus likens his shadow, projected onto the walls by candlelight, to ‘a giraffe’
(line 9).
Drawing from the speaker this one of the memorable times of his childhood, for the
fact that he still remembers it vividly (line 19). But the bliss was cut suddenly by an
incident, where the pot cooking vetkoeks falls onto the table with a clatter (line 21).
2
ENG1501 (Poem): Memory, Christopher van Wyk. This document
contains answers for Section B, UNISA 2026 assessment 01. The answers are
provided with alternatives. Also, a summary of the whole poem is provided, to
enhance understanding. Guaranteed 70%+ pass mark, doing the assessment
yourself.
Author: Study Coach ZA
WhatsApp: 078 465 9652
,Section A: Reflation: Poetry (unit 2)
This section requires you to choose a poem, my advice is: one you understand
better, or comfortable with its topic. Following that you write a 3 paragraphs essay,
based on instructions written under paragraph 1/2/3 in the assessment. Below I
have suggested some points you can include under each paragraph. In your
assessment do not use bullets points, write full paragraphs, essay style.
Paragraph 1
• To begin with, state the title of the poem you have chosen. The author and
year of publication if possible.
• Reason you chose the poem. For example; it talks about animals, and I am
passionate about animals. Or because it is a South African poem and I am
patriotic. Or because it was written by Okapa, and I like his writing because I
can relate to his impoverished upbringing.
• First reaction: It could be the stanzas. Or the sentences/lines, being too
short. Choice of words/tsotsitaal. For example, in the poem ‘they call you mr
steve biko but now your dead”, the names of the icon are written in small
letters.
• Surprise or confusion: It can be the use of swear words (surprise). Plenty of
jargon or bombastic words used (confusion). The use of 2 languages in the
text (confusion/surprise). Surprise because Steve Biko is a respectable
political figure. Why should his name be written in small letters?
Paragraph 2
• Choose 2 poetic devices: the poem could use devises such as rhyme,
comparison, metaphor, simile. You must also reference the tutorial letter 501
and quote Unit 2 (page reference), where you have learned of these devises.
• How the devises helped you understand the poem’s message/emotional
impact: For instance, the use of metaphor referring to the speaker as a pig,
has made you understand his inconsiderate/savage behaviour. Or the use of
simile to refer to the speaker as a baby, made you understand his/her
vulnerability.
1
, Paragraph 3
• Reflect on how engaging with this poem changed or challenged your
thinking about poetry. In response: did the poem make you appreciate how
language is used in poems? How message can be concentrated in a
sentence, contrary to essay where a message can be a paragraph long? Did
the poem spark in you, interest in a particular subject, perhaps traditional
food?
SECTION B: Prescribed poem. “Memory”, by Christopher van Wyk
In this section I am going to provide an analysis of this poem. Where the assessment
asks for one answer, I will provide a few, so that you can have an option to choose
one that you can support with your own argument, using your own words.
I will begin with a brief summary of the poem, put in simple terms as possible, in
order to enhance your understanding of the poem. I will not be reproducing the poem
here, because of space.
Poem Summary
In the poem, the speaker looks back/reflect on an event that happened in his
childhood home, in the company of his mother and brother, Derek (line 1). It was a
normal day, and the mother was ‘making vetkoek’ for the boys (line 3). We can
regard this as an Afrikaner family, because of the traditional vetkoeks. Here boys
were being boys. Derek, loud and restless around the table, hence he is compared
to a bird (line 6). The speaker is the elder brother and tall enough to see inside the
cooking pot (line 8). Seemingly, the mother wanted for Derek to watch the cooking
vetkoeks, the reason she perched him on the chair to elevate his height (line 5). In
the midst of that domestic bliss, the speaker begins to view the walls imaginatively,
where he thus likens his shadow, projected onto the walls by candlelight, to ‘a giraffe’
(line 9).
Drawing from the speaker this one of the memorable times of his childhood, for the
fact that he still remembers it vividly (line 19). But the bliss was cut suddenly by an
incident, where the pot cooking vetkoeks falls onto the table with a clatter (line 21).
2
