POEM WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO LULU?

By Charles Causley
Instructions:
a) Read the poem on your own.
b) Do this exercise in your writing exercise book.
c) You can either:
i) print out this page and paste this page in your exercise book
ii) write out the answers on a new page
OR
iii) rewrite everything in your exercise book
d) We will discuss the poem and the answers in class.
Summary of the Poem
A. Fill in the blanks with suitable answers
In this poem, the persona is the poet himself as a young child. He tells us that his elder
sister, Lulu, is (1) ____ . Actually she has run away, but when he asks his (2) ___ , she does not
tell him what has happened. He sees Lulus old (3) ___ on her bed and a (4) ___ by its side. Her
window is open and her (5) ___ is gone. When he asks his mother why she is (6) ___ and
burning a (7) ___ , she says that it is nothing. He is puzzled and asks her innocently what has
happened to Lulu, but she is silent. Then he tells her that he heard (8) ___ and a car late at
night, but she says that he must have been (9) ___. Next, he says that he heard somebody
crying in anger or in (10) ___, but she explains that it must have been the (11) ___ . He is
confused. He notices that his mother is confused too and wants to know what has happened to
his (12) ___.
B. Answer the following questions based on the poem.
1. Who is the persona in this poem?
2. Which item in Stanza 1 symbolises innocence?
3. What does the flapping curtain (Stanza 2, Line 2) represent?
4.

a) What happened to the money box?

b) Why do you think so?

5. In Stanza 3, Line 2, what does the tear drops fall mean in one word?
6. What 2 things is the personas mother doing in Stanza 3?
7.

a) In Stanza 3, why does the personas mother throw the note into the fire?
b) How does she feel about Lulu?

8) What 2 things woke the persona up?

9) What do you think could have happened to Lulu? Give a possible reason for your answer.
10) Write down 2 messages that this poem conveys.