ENG2602 Assignment 3 (DETAILED ANSWERS) 2026 - DISTINCTION GUARANTEED

ENG2602 Assignment 3 (DETAILED ANSWERS) 2026 - DISTINCTION GUARANTEED - DISTINCTION GUARANTEED - DISTINCTION GUARANTEED Answers, guidelines, workings and references...QUESTION 2: POETRY Read the below poem closely and answer the question that follows. “Inside Outsider” by Lebo Mashile Home is a foreign land That hurls the might of its confusion around the world Strangers believe they know my bruises The smallness of boxes they call eyes And woo them into a false comfort I will not live in boxes They are not my home Home is laughter Home is rounded figures Home is a sharpened mental weapon To be wielded against foreigners of the spirit I am tired of being different My feet burn from the fires of those Who have been anointed With the certainty of origins I will wander the earth In search of my tribe Or build it from the shreds of boxes With my own hands Mashile, L. (2005). In a Ribbon of Rhythm. Johannesburg: Mutloatse Arts Heritage Trust. Write a carefully-worded essay of 800 – 1000 words (approximately 2 to 3 typed pages) in which you anayse how the poet expresses her longing for home and the alienation she feels from the people around her. Your analysis should include the poet’s resolve to build her own home and identity. ENG2602/103/0/2026 12 Please note: • Your summary of the poem should not exceed two sentences. • Confine your analysis to the poem itself. Biographical information about the poet or details about the period in which the poem was written are not required and will not be credited. • You need to analyse how the poet uses each literary/ poetic technique you identify in the poem to explore the speaker’s sense of alienation, displacement, and search for belonging. Rather than merely identifying techniques, explain how they contribute to the poem’s central contrast between exclusion and the desire to find or create a place that can truly be called home. • Pay particular attention to recurring images, symbols, and patterns in the poem. Consider how these contribute to the speaker’s understanding of identity, belonging, and exclusion. • Avoid simply paraphrasing or retelling the poem. Your focus should be on explaining how the poet’s choices of language, imagery, structure, and tone shape the reader’s understanding of the poem’s themes and message. Assignment Guidance Reading for Pre-writing To answer this question competently, you should first read the entire poem several times to gain an overall understanding of its meaning. Thereafter, annotate the poem by identifying words, phrases, and expressions that capture your attention, including those that are unfamiliar. As you do so, determine both their surface and contextual meanings. This process is important because it highlights the poet’s use of literary techniques while also demonstrating the significance of context in shaping meaning. Activity 1: Pre-writing Stage Be prepared to engage in a detailed and focused reading of the poem. This is what we refer to as close reading. As you do this, consider the assignment question as well. You may want to start by numbering the lines of the poem for easy reference. 1. How many times did you read the poem before you attempted to analyse it? __________________________________________________________. 2. Which word/s and phrase/s did you identify as unfamiliar to you as you read? Did you search for both their surface as well as their literal meanings? ________________________________________________________. ENG2602/103/0/2026 13 3. Did you read the poem aloud? What difference did that make? In other words, what words and phrases became “alive” as you read the poem aloud? Did reading aloud also help in highlighting the structure of the poem for you? ________________________________________________________. 4. What insights have you gained now that your understanding of the poem has been enhanced through a detailed and focused reading, including reading it aloud? _________________________________________________________. 5. What images does the title of the poem evoke in your mind? List as many as come to mind. ________________________________________________________. 6. Viewed together, how does the title of the poem as well as the literary techniques in the poem as a whole, combine to form meaning? __________________________________________________________. 7. Have you read, understood and analysed the assignment question? __________________________________________________________. 8. Now, go back to the assignment question and answer it.