PRE-READING


1. If you were given access to a stranger’s private messages (texts, DMs, etc.) do you think you would be able to get a good sense of their personality, even without meeting them?


2. Irish people tend to naturally use a lot of hyperbole in their speech (e.g. ‘I’m starving’, ‘My mother will kill me’). Give some examples of hyperbole that you have observed in everyday speech.


3. Do you think Queen Marie Antoinette of France really used the phrase ‘Let them eat cake’ when she was told French peasants were starving because there was no bread? What would this phrase reveal about her if she did actually say it?


COMPREHENDING AND RESPONDING


1. Why do you think Smith chooses a quotation from Mary Jones’s letter to preface this poem? Support your answer with reference to the poem.


2.  Refer to Part One in support of your answer.


3. What three words would you use to describe the relationship between slave and slave-owner in Part One of this poem?


4. ‘I have prayed for those people// Many, many, very many times.’ How effective is the use of repetition here? Does it convince you that the speaker has prayed for ‘those people’ many times? Refer to the poem in support of your answer.


5. How would you describe the tone of Part Two of the poem? Support your answer with reference to this part of the poem.


6. What does Part Four tell you about the relationship between slave and slave- owner? Refer to the poem in support of your answer.


7. ‘The grief and heartache in Part Five of “The Greatest Personal Privation” is palpable (so intense as to seem almost tangible).’ Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Refer to Part Five of the poem in support of your answer.


8. Having read this poem, do you consider ‘The Greatest Personal Privation’ to be the best title for it, or would you suggest another? Refer to the poem in support of your answer.


9. What theme or themes can you identify in this poem? Refer to the poem in support of your answer.


CREATING


1. Write an epistolary short story (a short story written in the form of letters) in 


2. Winston Churchill once wrote that ‘Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it’. Write a persuasive essay with this title.


3. Write a journal entry describing a typical day in the life of either Patience or Phoebe, the two slaves belonging to Mary Jones.


 VERSE 2025


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