Observation

The question requires candidates to discuss the general mood of hopelessness in the Dining Table.

Candidates were expected to discuss the following points:

• The ravages of war; people’s helpless defence of a war perpetrated on them.
• Explanation/Definition of mood as Mood is an attitude or feeling that pervades the poem.
• The dining table and hopelessness: Absence of joy at dining time.
• The metaphor of   the dining table as an island where there is general insecurity in the land.
• The desperate decision, on the part of the poet, to make things happen which results in a still-born hope.

Candidates’ performance in this question was fair.