Resource 3: Praise poems and stories

 Teacher resource for planning or adapting to use with pupils

A Yoruba poem in praise of the python

Some praise poetry praises animals or objects rather than people. Here is a poem from the Yoruba people. Explanation of some of the language is provided after the poem.

Python

Swaggering prince [Line 1]

Giant among snakes.

They say python has no house.

I heard it a long time ago

And I laughed and laughed and laughed.

For who owns the ground under the lemon grass? [Line 6]

Who owns the ground under the elephant grass?

Who owns the swamp – father of rivers?

Who owns the stagnant pool – father of waters?

Because they never walk hand in hand [Line 10]

People say that snakes walk only singly.

But just imagine

Suppose the viper walks in front

The green mamba follows

And the python creeps rumbling behind – [Line 15]

Who will be brave enough

To wait for them?

Notes

1. To walk with a swagger is to walk proudly – thinking you are the best, showing off. In Line 1, the poem describes the python as a swaggering prince.
2. The questions in Lines 6 to 9 suggest that the python has many houses – both on the ground and in water.
3. In verse two, the poem suggests that other animals and people would be too frightened to walk next to the snakes – that is why snakes ‘walk’ singly (by themselves).

A praise story about a mother

Mother by Hugh Lewin

I would like you, said Gahima, to meet my mother. There is nobody I know quite like my mother. My mother is like the earth – full of goodness, warm and brown and strong. My mother is like the sun rising in the early morning, lighting up the dark corners and gently coaxing us awake.

She prods the fire into life and soon everywhere is filled with the smoky smell of food, bringing rumbles to my tummy and making me want to get up.

As the sun starts its day and the flowers burst open to run and follow it across the sky, I think of my mother. Like the sky, she’s always there. You can always look up and see her.

At midday when the sun is high and strongest, she shades and comforts us, like the willows on the bank of the river. Or when the day has become too hot and stuffy, she cools us as the rain does when it runs the dust-bows into rippling puddles, washing out the grass and making it green again.

She doesn’t often complain, even in the bad times. But beware! If she finds you cheating at a game, or teasing your younger sisters, she can sound like thunder in the afternoon and her eyes will flash like the lightning out of the dark clouds.

My mother doesn’t often storm, said Gahima, and it’s much nicer when she sings. She sings to us as she cooks the evening meal. If you’ve heard a hoopoe call across the mealies, you’ve heard my mother sing.

After supper, it’s time for the stories. Somehow, said Gahima, I think I almost love my mother best then – after the food and the hurrying, when the sun’s going down and everything’s quieter and cooler. Then she hugs us round her and chases away our sadnesses. We talk about today, and yesterday, and especially tomorrow.

Then as the blanket of night spreads out over the world, with a bright moon above, my mother wraps us up carefully and with a kiss and goodnight, puts us to sleep.

Python taken from English Matters, Grade 7 Anthology, compiled by Lloyd, G. & Montgomery, K.

Mother by Hugh Lewin taken from New Successful English, Reading Book, Grade 6