Six and Out By G D Martineau

ActiveTeach Lighthouse Coursebook 5

Sandra Alice, Aparna Sethuraman, Pearson

Gerald Durani Martineau was born in 1897 in England. He wrote a lot about cricket, both poetry and prase. He contributed articles to cricket magazines and newspapers. He was a captain in the British armed forces under the Royal Sussex Regiment. He passed away in England in 1976.

The pitch was only smooth in parts;
In sank at either crease,
And motor vans and baker's carts
At times disturbed the peace.

The bowlers found it hard to hit
The lamp-post's slender stem
The broader wicket opposite
Was cleared at 6.00 P. M.

It was a keen, determined school,
Unorthodox and free;
Harsh circumstance oft made the rule,
And not the M. C. C.
The scorer, seated by the well,
Kept up a fire of talk;
He was both umpires, crowds, and all,
And plied a busy chalk.

So, standing musing on the scene,
I let the moments pass;
How well he drove it to the screen.
And then --- the crash of glass.

I watched the players as they ran,
And heard, whilst they fled,
The loud voice of an angry man,
The law's majestic tread.

1.
Choose the correct answer.
1. What could the first stanza mean?
1. They were playing on a hill
2. They were playing on a well maintained cricket pitch
3. They were playing on an empty field
4. They were playing on an uneven bit of road
2. In the first line of the third stanza, "It was a keen, determined school", what does "school" mean?
1. The actual school that the children attended
2. The type of cricket they were playing
3. The school that was nearby
4. The school that the poet went to when he was a child
3. In the line, "How well he drove it to the screen", who is "he"?
1. The bowler
2. The umpire
3. The batsman
4. The scorer
4. What is the speaker of the poem doing in the poem?
1. He is watching the game
2. He is playing in the game
3. He is coming to stop the game
4. He is not present in the poem
5. In the line "The loud voice of an angry man", why is the man angry?
1. He did not give permission for them to play on his property
2. The game was too loud
3. One of the players had broken something of his
4. His son was late for dinner because he was playing cricket
2.
What do you think the title means? Why would the poet add the subtitle "A Street Impression"?
3.
In the two lines "The broader wicket opposite/ / Was cleared by 6 P.M.", what could they have been using as the wicket? Think of something that would be "cleared by 6 P.M."
4.
Why would the scorer play "both umpires, crowd, and all"?
5.
What does the last line of the poem refer to?
6.
How old do you imagine these cricket players to be? Why?

8 more answer(s) available.

ActiveTeach Lighthouse Coursebook 5

Sandra Alice, Aparna Sethuraman, Pearson

Chapters

Six and Out

G D Martineau

Available Answers