Winning Words Lesson Guide (Adults) Winnning Words Lesson Plan Guide | Page 22

Critical Analysis
One of the prominent literary devices Stephen Sandiford uses throughout his piece
Living Chartreuse is end rhyme. Can you think of justifications for the prominent use
of end rhyme? How accurate is it to say that the piece is a playground of literary
devices? Give reasons to support your answer.
Consider the first two lines of the poem – “Young Benjamin is hard-ears/ and
hearing is hard for his ears”. Some readers might be of the view that this is very
economical use of language. Do you agree or disagree? Which literary device is
embedded in these two lines? From these lines, what information can readers
deduce about:
a. the subject?
b. the poet’s attitude towards the subject?
In the very first line of the poem, the writer describes young Benjamin using a calque.
It tells us something about Benjamin. However, does the use of a calque tell us
anything about the intended audience of the piece? If so, what does it tell us about
the intended audience?
Calque? Whuz dah?
This definition below applies specifically to the use of Creole in the English
Speaking Caribbean context. Very simply put, a calque is a unique combina-
tion of two words borrowed from the English Language and commonly used
in Creole language. Of particular interest is that though the words are taken
from the English language, the combination of these words is absolutely
unheard of in Standard English Language. A calque is, therefore, a distinctive
feature of Creole. For example; skin-teet, hard-mout, long-eye.