“What Has Happened to Lulu?

”
What has happened to Lulu, mother?
What has happened to Lu?
There's nothing in her bed but an old rag-doll
And by its side a shoe.
Why is her window wide, mother,
The curtain flapping free,
And only a circle on the dusty shelf
Where her money-box used to be?
Why do you turn your head, mother,
And why do tear drops fall?
And why do you crumple that note on the fire
And say it is nothing at all?
I woke to voices late last night,
I heard an engine roar.
Why do you tell me the things I heard
Were a dream and nothing more?
I heard somebody cry, mother,
In anger or in pain,
But now I ask you why, mother,
You say it was a gust of rain.
Why do you wander about as though
You don't know what to do?
What has happened to Lulu, mother?
What has happened to Lu?

N QUESTIONS ANSWERS
O
1 Who is asking what has happened to Lulu?
2 How does the persona feel?
3 Who is Lulu?

4 What does the rag-doll represent?

5 Why does the persona’s mother turn her head?
6 How does the persona’s mother feel in stanza 3?

7 In stanza 3, whose note is it?

8 What do you think is written in the note?

9 Why did the persona wake up late at night?

10 What do you understand from the phrase
“engine roar”?

11 What do you think happened to Lulu and give a

reason for your answer.

12 In stanza 5 , what does the persona mean by “a

gust of wind”?
13 Who is wandering about in stanza 6 and give a
reason for your answer.
14 Why does the persona repeat his questions in
the last two lines?
15 Is running away from home like Lulu is a good
thing to do? Give some logical reasons for your
answer.

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16 In stanza 1, what are the two items Lulu leaves
behind?
17 Which item symbolizes innocence?
18 What does the flapping curtain in Stanza 2
represent?
19 What happened to the money box (Stanza 2)
and give a reason for your answer.
20 In Stanza 3, what does “the tear-drops fall”
means in one word?
21 What two things is the persona’s mother doing in
Stanza 3?
22 In Stanza 3, why does the persona’s mother
throw the note on the fire?
23 How does she feel about Lulu?
24 What does she tell the persona when he asked
her about the note in stanza 3?
25 Why did the persona wake up late at night?
26 Why does the persona repeat his questions in
the last two lines?
27 In stanza 2, who do you think has taken the
money box?
28 Why do you think the person needs the money?
29 The poem states that Lulu’s mother crumpled
the note on the fire. Why do you think she
crumpled the note? Give a reason.
30 What things do the persona and his mother find
missing in the room?
31 Why do you the persona is concerned about the
window and the curtain?
32 In stanza 3, list the three actions of the
persona’s mother that show her feelings.
33 Does the line ‘And say it is nothing at all’ ring
true about the mother’s feelings? Give a reason
for your answer.
34 Describe what the persona heard the night
before.
35 How does the persona’s mother explain the
sounds the persona heard? Do you think the
persona accepts the explanation? Why?
36 How many stanzas are there in the poem and i.
where does it take place (setting)?
37 Explain a moral value you learned from the
poem.
38 How does the poet begin and end the poem?
What literary device is used here?
39 Which line shows that the persona is concerned
about a missing person?
40 Which line shows that the person left in a hurry?
41 Which line shows that Lulu probably climbed out
of the window?
42 Which line shows that she has good saving
habits?

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43 Which line shows that mother is very upset?

44 Which line shows that Lulu left word for her

mother?
45 Which line shows that there was a car outside
the house that night?
46 Which line shows that the mother does not want
the persona to have misgivings?
47 Which line shows that somebody’s cries indicate
strong emotions?
48 Which line shows that there was rain the night
before?
49 Who are the personas in the poem and where
are they?
50 Why do you think the window is open?
51 How would you describe the persona’s mother’s
feelings?
52 ‘And say it is nothing at all.’ Why does the
persona’s mother says that? Is it right for her to
make light of the situation?
53 What does the persona observe about the
sister’s room?
54 In stanza 3, list the actions of the persona’s
mother.
55 How does the persona’s mother try to calm him
concerning the sounds he heard the night
before?
56 ‘What has happened to Lulu?’ How does the
sentence reflect the persona’s feelings? If you
know of someone who has this problem of
missing sibling, what would you say to him or
her?
57 ‘And say it is nothing at all.’ Why does the
persona’s mother says that? Is it right for her to
make light of the situation?
58 What does the persona observe about the
sister’s room?
59 How do we know that the mother is sad about
Lulu’s disappearance?
60 What does the ‘flapping of the curtains’ signify?
61 What is the theme of this poem?
62 ‘And by its side a shoe’. What does this tell you
about the way Lulu left the house?
63 In stanza1, state one thing that Lulu has left in
her room?
64 In stanza 2, what does the ‘curtain flapping free’
imply?
65 Why does the persona’s mother not answer
his/her questions truthfully?
66 Do you believe running away is the solution to
the problems we face? Give a reason for your
answer?
67 Who do you think Lulu is?
68 Why is the persona asking so many questions to
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 the mother?
69 What does the mother throw in the fire?
70 In your opinion, where does Lulu go? Give a
reason for your answer.
71 What tone is expressed in Stanza 1?
72 What lesson can be learnt from this poem? State
a reason to support your answer.
73 In Stanza 1, which phrase gives you an idea that
something bad had happened to Lulu?
74 Give 2 concrete reasons why you think the writer
was not dreaming?
75 The ‘crumpled’ note was assign of
hopelessness. Give two reasons.
76 In Stanza 5, the writer heard someone cry. Who
was it and why did the person cry?
77 In Stanza 2, the writer noticed Lulu’s money-box
had disappeared. Write down 2 lines from the
stanza indicating that Lulu had taken it away?
78 Based on the poem, describe the relationship
between Lulu and the writer?
79 In Stanza 2, which line in the poem gives the
writer’s feeling of ‘hopelessness’?
80 In Stanza 4, what does the sound of ‘engine
roar’ mean to Lulu’s mother?
81 ‘Why do you wander about as though you don’t
know what to do?’ From the lines in Stanza 6,
why was the mother in such a state of mind?
82 In Stanza 1, the writer calls his sister ‘Lulu’: and
in line 2, ‘Lu’.
i) Do you think the writer and Lulu are very
close?
Give reasons that show their closeness from the
poem.
83 ii) In Stanza 3, the lines “And why do the
tear-drops fall’ and ‘And why do you
crumple the note on the fire’ tell us two
different emotions the mother is going
through. Identify them.
84 Beside missing Lulu, what other emotions do
you think the writer went through? State 2
emotions.
85 What does the line ‘I woke to voices late last
night’ in stanza 4 tell us about the poet?
86 In Stanza 5, the poet ‘heard somebody cry’
which he thinks was his mother. Provide 2
examples from the poem to support his belief.
87 The line ‘In anger or in pain’ indicates the mother
emotions. Why do you think the mother was both
angry and in pain?
88 What is the poem all about?
89 What are the two evidences did Lulu leave
behind in her bedroom?
90 ‘I woke to voices late last night, I heard an
engine roar’. What do you understand by ‘voices’
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 and ‘and engine roar’. Explain briefly.
91 In Stanza 1, why is the persona worried?
92 In stanza 3, which phrase implies an act of
avoidance?

93 ‘But now I ask you why,mother,

You say it was a gust of rain’.
What is the feeling expressed in the two lines
above?
94 Lulu has left home, what does Lulu’s leaving
cause her mother to react at the end of the
poem?
95 Lulu has left home, how do you know that the
persona does not receive any answers or
explanations to Lulu’s disappearance?