Heir Conditioning

Grand dad did you breathe

before air cons were invented
was it hard staying
alive without modern inventions?
Grandma werent you flustered
as you fluttered with paper fans?
Could you communicate before
faxes and long distance calls
became basic necessities?
Grandchild we lived
before your age
Because of our ignorance,
we did not know
pollution, stress, traffic jams
destruction of forests, streams and hills
we feared God and nature
now nature fears you and
money is your new God.
Questions
1) Who is the speaker in stanza 2?
______________________________________________________________________________
(1 mark)
2) Name two moral values of the poem.
a)____________________________________________________________________________
b)____________________________________________________________________________
(2 marks)
3) What is the poem about?
______________________________________________________________________________
(1 mark)
4) What does the phrase money is your new God mean?
______________________________________________________________________________
(1 mark)
5) Hows life in the past different from the present?
______________________________________________________________________________
(2 marks)

6) Do the grandparents regret for not living in an era of modern technology? Give a
reason.
______________________________________________________________________________
(2 marks)
7) What do you think was more important to the grandparents?
______________________________________________________________________________
(1 mark)
8) What does the phrase was it hard staying alive in the poem imply?
______________________________________________________________________________
(1 mark)
9) According to the poem, what was life like for the grandparents?
______________________________________________________________________________
(1 mark)
10)
Do you agree that the younger generation values materialism more than the
environment? Why?
______________________________________________________________________________
(2 marks)
11)
How many voices are there in the poem?
______________________________________________________________________________
(1 mark)
12)
How many questions are asked by grandchild?
______________________________________________________________________________
(1 mark)
13)
In stanza 1, what does the phrase basic necessities refer to?
______________________________________________________________________________
(1 mark)
14)
In your opinion, who is to be blamed for the destruction of nature?
______________________________________________________________________________
(1 mark)
15)
In the poem, who asks the questions?
______________________________________________________________________________
(1 mark)
16)
In stanza 1, what does the speaker think makes life difficult in the past?
______________________________________________________________________________
(1 mark)

17)
Now nature fears you (Stanza 2)
What do you understand with this line?
______________________________________________________________________________
(1 mark)
18)
State two things that the older generation did not face.
______________________________________________________________________________
(2 marks)
19)
What is the message conveyed by the grandparents to the present
generation?
______________________________________________________________________________
(2 marks)
20)
In your opinion what are the effects of pollution that we face in the world?
______________________________________________________________________________
(2 marks)
21)
What is the meaning of word flustered?
______________________________________________________________________________
(1 mark)
22)
State two modern inventions, the grandparents did not have in the past?
______________________________________________________________________________
(1 mark)
23)
What is the theme of the poem?
______________________________________________________________________________
(1 mark)
24)
What can you infer from the line Grandchild we lived before your age?
______________________________________________________________________________
(1 mark)
25)
Who does the word you in the second last line refer to?
______________________________________________________________________________
(1 mark)
26)
If you were the grandfather, what advice would you give your grandchild?
Give a reason.
______________________________________________________________________________
(2 marks)
27)
In stanza 1, what does the grandchild want to know from the grandparents?
______________________________________________________________________________
(1 mark)

28)
Based on stanza 2, state one environmental problem due to modern
inventions.
______________________________________________________________________________
(1 mark)
29)
Which era would you prefer to live in the grandparents or the grandchilds
era? Give a reason.
______________________________________________________________________________
(2 marks)
30)
What is the tone of the poem in stanza 1?
______________________________________________________________________________
(1 mark)