Worksheet for 21st Century Literature A Eulogy of Roaches

(Pair Work to be submitted today: Nov. 23) (For DJ)

Gutter Rat (1946) Bienvenido Lumbera
By Benjamin M.Pascual
You would thrice swear an old man’s head had Blessed are the cockroaches.
been
Screwed tightly to the body of a child- In this country they are
He wears some eight decades upon his green the citizens who last.
And dessicated face, although his wild They need no police
Scurrilous tongue cannot be more than ten. to promulgate their peace
He has the eyes and nostrils of a rat, because they tolerate each other’s smell or
Hands that become efficient dredges when greed.
He ransacks ashbin, can, discarded vat.
Friends to dark and filth,
Perhaps he will yet grow into one more they donot choose their meat
Burn, if he is not killed by ptomaine; Although they neither sow
Or if his towhead could in due course store nor reap, a daily feast
Some handy facts , he may yet have fun in is laid for them in rooms
Ransacking all the stinking hearts of men and kitchens of their pick.
Who kicked his ribs when he was young. Amen.
The roaches do not spin,
Vocabulary: and neither do they weave
Swear - promise, vow But note the russet coat
Screwed -- fastened with screws the sluggards wear:clothes
Dessicated -- lacking vitality or interest, dried at birth, roaches require
out no roachy charity.
Scurrilous--abusive or derogatory
Dredges -- machines that remove objects They settle where they wish
Ransacks - loot, rob, steal and have no rent to pay.
Stinking - foul-smelling, fetid Eviction is a word
Vat-- a large vessel (such as a cistern, tub, or Quite meaningless to them
barrel) especially
for holding liquors in an immature state or who do not have to own
preparations for dyeing their dingy crack of wall.
Ptomaine- poison
Towhead - a person with untidy hair Not knowing dearth or taxes,
they increase and multiply.
Analysis: Survival is assured
1. Who is the speaker or persona in the poem? even the jobless roach:
(Who is talking here?)What is his social class his opportunities
(rich, middle class, lower class/poor) ? pile up where garbage grows.
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Dying is brief and cheap
2. Who is this gutter rat? and thus cannot affright.
__________________________________ A whiff of toxic mist,
an agile heel, a stick
3. How does he look like ( lift some lines from --the swift descent of pain
the poem to describe his physical looks) Is also final death.

Their annals may be short

4. What is the main idea of this poem? In 2
sentences discuss the idea of this poem
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But when the simple poor
Have starved to simple death,
Roaches still circulate
In cupboards of the rich,
the strong, the wise, the dead
5. Who are the “roaches” in the poem?
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