Observation

Few candidates attempted this question. This question requires that candidates discuss the images in the poem and their significance. The theme of the poem was not stated or discussed.
This question demands:

• Identification of the theme of man's destruction of nature.
• Explanation of imagery.

• Use of images of sight and significance: create visual images of the aspens in their innumerable meanderings across the countryside.
• Use of images of touch/feeling: These bring out the fragile nature of the environment and underscore the wickedness and callousness of anyone hewing, hacking and racking the growing green.
• Use of images of sound/hearing: These are onomatopoeic words and evoke the poet’s feeling of antipathy toward the violence committed on the trees.

Candidates’ performance in the question was average.