POEM: MR NOBODY

ELEMENTS OF THE POEM

SYNOPSIS:

The poem is about a person, Mr. Nobody, who does not exist, but who is created by the persona to take the blame for all kinds of mistakes and irresponsible behaviour that happens in the persona’s house.

The persona is probably in trouble for doing things wrong and is blaming Mr. Nobody so that he or she will not be scolded or punished.

SETTING:

Time – Past and present time.

Place – In a house.

c. STRUCTURE:

Four stanzas, eight lines in each stanza.Alternate lines rhymes:

In Stanza 1 - the rhyming words are ‘mouse’ and ‘house’ and ‘agree’ and ‘Nobody’.In Stanza 2 - the rhyming words are ‘ajar’ and ‘afar’ and ‘see’ and ‘Nobody’.

d. THEMES:

Family life.

Taking things for granted.

Responsibility.

Honesty.

e. PERSONA:

The persona could be a parent or grandparents who wants to admonish (menegur) the children for always running away from responsibility and for blaming others for the mischief that they have done.

f. TONE:

The tone is ironic.

g. MOOD:

The mood is humorous.

h. POINT OF VIEW:

Third person point of view.Because the use of the word ‘I’.

i. MORAL VALUES:

We must always tell the truth.

We must be responsible members of a family.

We should not blame others for our mistakes.

We must admit our mistakes.

We must appreciate everyone within our family.

Exercise 1: Match the words and phrases from the poem with the correct meaning.

mislaid blinds soil squek mischiedcracked prithee tears ajar tosses

pulling something apart or into piecesto throw something carelesslylosta covering for a windowdamaged but not completely brokenbad behaviourpleaseslightly opena short high sound that is not very loudto make something dirty

ELEMENTS OF THE POEM

LITERARY DEVICES:

Simile: a way to compare things using words ‘like’ and ‘as’. Example: as quiet as a mouse

Repetition: the phrase ‘Mr. Nobody’ is repeated at the end of each stanze.

Imagery: the visual images of Mr. NobodyExamples:

Mr. Nobody breaking plates and tearing booksMr. Nobody carelessly leaving doors openMr. Nobody scattering pinsMr. Nobody leaving fingermarks on the doorMr. Nobodypulling our buttons from shirtsMr. Nobody putting damp wood upon the fire

Exercise 2: According to the persona, which of the following did Mr. Nobody do? Thick your answers in the box given.

1. break a window

2. touch the door with dirty fingers

3. forget to button his shirt

4. does not put away his boot

5. tears out pages from books

6. leave his toys scattered everywhere

7. make a lot of noise

8. forget to close the door

Exercise 3: State whether the following statements are True (T) or False (F).

1. The poem has four verses with rhyming couplets.

2. All the lines in the poem rhyme.

3. Mr. Nobody is responsible for the damp wood upon the fire.

4. Mr. Nobody moves around like a mouse creating mischief.

5. The door squeks because of mice in the house.

6. The water in the kettle does not boil because there is no fire.

7. The carpets are dirty because Mr. Nobody walked in with muddy feet.

8. The curtains fade as Mr. Nobody forgot to open the blinds.

9. Mr. Nobody is a person that really does exist in all homes.

10. Most of people have not seen Mr. Nobody yet they all blame him for the mischief in their homes.

Exercise 4: the poem mentions chores we do around the house. Give 6 examples of chores you can do around the house to help your parents.

1. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Exercise 5: Read the poem and answer the questions that follows.

Exercise 6: Questions 7 – 10 are based on the stanza 3 and 4 from the poem Mr. Nobody