WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO LULU?

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? by Charles Causley
 1. Where is the setting of the poem?

2. Who is asking what has happened to Lulu?

3. In stanza 6, how does the persona’s mother feel?

4. Lulu has left the house. Give two reasons why do you think Lulu

decided to do so.

5. From stanza 4,

“I woke to voices late last night”

Whose voices the persona may have heard that woke him up?

6. What can you infer from the line “I heard an engine roar”?

7. In stanza 5, what does the phrase “gust of rain” being compared to?

8. What is the persona’s mother doing in stanza 6 and why do you think

she reacts that way? Give a reason for your answer.

9. In stanza 1, what can be seen on Lulu’s bed?

10. I woke up to voices late last night’

11. In your opinion, why do you think teenagers run away? Give two

reasons.

12. What does the line “the curtain flapping free” indicates?

13. What did Lulu take with her?

14. In stanza 3, why do you think the mother says “It is nothing at all?”

15. In your opinion, what do you think had happened to Lulu?

16. Who is the persona?

17. Which line in stanza 3, suggest the mother is crying

18. Why was the mother crying?

 19. The number of teenagers running away from home is on the rise.

What could be the factors that contribute to this?

A Poison Tree
BY WILLIA M B LA KE
I was angry with my friend;
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I waterd it in fears,

Night & morning with my tears:
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night.

Till it bore an apple bright.
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine.

And into my garden stole,

When the night had veild the pole;
In the morning glad I see;
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.