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Southerly — Poetry Comprehension — Answers

Answer sheet with model answers and success criteria for the Year 6 reading comprehension comprehension exercise.

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Year 6 · English · Reading Comprehension

Southerly — Poetry Comprehension — Answers

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Part A — Find the facts

1.What was the weather like at the start of the poem?[1 mark]

Answer: Calm and sunny: the harbour was still ('asleep') and the water was like a mirror of blue.

2.Which direction did the cold wind come from?[1 mark]

Answer: The south.

3.Where did the storm go by the evening?[1 mark]

Answer: It marched away north.

4.What had appeared on the hills by evening?[1 mark]
  1. Asunshine
  2. Ba scarf of thin snow
  3. Ca rainbow
  4. Dfog

Answer: a scarf of thin snow

The poem says 'the hills wore a scarf of thin snow'.

Part B — How the poem works

5.'the harbour asleep' and 'The harbour woke up with a shiver' are examples of personification. Explain what this means and how it changes our picture of the harbour.[2 marks]

Answer: Personification gives human actions to something that is not human. The harbour is 'asleep' when the water is calm and still, then it 'wakes up with a shiver' when the wind makes the water rough.

6.List three strong verbs the poet uses to show the wind's power in stanza 2.[1 mark]

Answer: snatched, rattled, whistled (also stretched).

7.'white horses galloped from shore to shore' describes the waves. What do you think 'white horses' are, and why is this a good description?[2 marks]

Answer: White-topped waves (whitecaps). The waves move fast and wild across the harbour, like galloping horses with white manes.

8.Find an example of alliteration in the last stanza. What effect does it have?[2 marks]

Answer: 'crisp, clean' (repeated c sound). It makes the line sound sharp and clear, like the clean night air.

9.How does the mood change from the first stanza to the last?[2 marks]

Answer: It starts peaceful and lazy, becomes wild and harsh during the storm, and ends calm, fresh and clear.

Part C — Poetry words

10.'slap' and 'whistled' are examples of...[1 mark]
  1. Arhyme
  2. Bonomatopoeia (words that sound like the noise they describe)
  3. Csimiles
  4. Dquestions

Answer: onomatopoeia (words that sound like the noise they describe)

Both words imitate the sounds they describe.

11.'sharp as a pin' is a...[1 mark]
  1. Asimile
  2. Bmetaphor
  3. Crhyme
  4. Dtitle

Answer: simile

It compares the rain to a pin using 'as'.

Part D — Your turn

12.Write one four-line stanza about a kind of weather you know (a hot nor'wester, a foggy morning, a hailstorm). Use at least one example of personification and one strong verb.[4 marks]

Model answer: The fog crept in on padded feet, it swallowed the houses one by one, it hid the hills and hushed the street, then slowly melted in the sun.

Success criteria:

  • Four lines about one kind of weather
  • At least one example of personification
  • At least one strong verb
  • Careful word choice that helps the reader picture the weather
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