Hard to Find Poem. English FAL

Hard to find -
Sinesipo Jojo

Pre-learning activity

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Table of contents

Biographical information

The Poem

01

03

02

05

The Poet

‘Hard to find’
Summary of Poem

Themes

04

and structure

Analysis of

poem

06

Diction, mood

and tone

About the poet:
Sinesipo Jojo

Sinesipo Jojo was born in the Eastern
Cape (Port St Johns) in 1993.

She studied at Nelson Mandela University
in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth).

In her final year of studying Psychology,
she joined a creative writing workshop.

She wrote this poem during those
workshops.

‘Hard to find’

Words are everywhere
daily
we read them, and they fly out
like nobody's business¹ when we are provoked ²…

but there's always something hard to understand...

they are hard to find
when they are needed by the heart;³

when the heart feels,
words hide⁴ like they are not part of life.

While words are busy playing some twisted games
my heart looks sadly through the glass windows
as the raindrops slowly slide down, gently
on a cloudy lifetime,
hoping that one day,

words will realize what my heart wants to say.

5

10

15

Summary of ‘Hard to find’

Words

The poet looks at
how words comes
freely at times, and
how they hide when

she really needs

them.

Irony

The world is full of

words but

sometimes it is

impossible to find
the right words to
express how she

feels.

Without
thought

We read words

everyday and when

we are angry or

upset, words come

without thought.

Hide-and-

seek

The poet feels

frustrated that when

she needs to find
words to describe
her ‘heart’ then they
play a cruel game of

hide-and-seek.

1

2

3

4

Trapped

She feels trapped.

The weather
reflects her

emotions (cloudy &

rain).

5

Analysis of Poem

Words are everywhere (l. 1)
the speaker highlights the abundance of
words

daily
we read them, and they fly out
like nobody's business¹ when we
are provoked ²… (l. 2-4)

line 2 is just 1 word. Emphasises the
availability of words every day.

Lines 3-4 Simile: Words come quickly
(‘fly’) when one is angry/upset. ‘like
nobody’s business’ – very quickly/fast.
The speaker has no control over his/her
words.

Provoked: A provoked response: a
sudden reaction or feeling when
someone makes you angry. No time to
think carefully about what words to use.

Analysis of Poem

but there's always something hard
to understand… (line 5)
Irony: ‘but’ indicates a
contradiction.

Lines 6-7
they are hard to find
when they are needed by the heart;

It is difficult to understand that
words are hard to find when they
are needed to express emotions
(‘needed by the heart’). The right
words are hard to find. Word ‘hard’
is repeated.

Watch
video on
irony

Analysis of Poem

Lines 8-9
when the heart feels,
words hide⁴ like they are not part of life.

Personification: When a person is
emotional and needs the right
words to express themselves,
words conceal themselves. Ellipsis
– slows down the pace and the
way we read the poem. It gives us
time to think about the meaning of
the words/to think about the words
used when provoked and the
words which are difficult to hear
and understand. No answer to her
problem.

Analysis of Poem

Lines 10-14
While words are busy playing some twisted games
my heart looks sadly through the glass windows
as the raindrops slowly slide down, gently
on a cloudy lifetime,
hoping that one day,

Metaphor: Words are
compared to someone
playing a cruel game. The
twisted game makes the heart
miserable. The heart looks
sadly through the window.
The raindrops represent the
speaker’s tears. She is deeply
hurt by her inability to express
herself through words.

Analysis of Poem

Line 12-15
as the raindrops slowly slide down, gently
on a cloudy lifetime,
hoping that one day,

words will realize what my heart wants to say.

Mood: The word ‘cloudy’
indicates something darkened
by gloom or anxiety. It creates
a sad mood/atmosphere

Line 14: Brings a little optimism
or hope that words will
become aware of / clearly
understand what the speaker’s
heart wants. The heart wants to
write poetry.

Themes

To find the right words

Difficulty to

find the
express
oneself

Disappointment

Hope/Patience

Structure

(represents the

emotions the

poet

experiences).
Mixture of long
and short lines
creates stanzas
that portray the
speaker’s mixed

feelings.

Free verse

Title

Irony of title

The title refers to
the fact that the
poet feels that
words are hard to
find
A poet is a master
of words. They use
words to create
their art. Thus it is
ironic.

Words are often
inadequate when it
comes to
describing exactly
how one feels.

Tone and mood

angry and
frustrated

Sombre and sad

Hopeful

First part

At the end

Diction and figurative language

Personification ‘heart feels’, ‘words hide’,
‘my heart looks sadly’
Alliteration (sibilance) – repeated ‘s’ sounds
in lines 11 – 12
Irony – use ‘but’ to find the opposites. This is a poem
about how words are hard to find but words have
been used to explain how the poet feels and create a
poem.
Simile – ‘words hide like they are not part of life’
Enjambment (run on lines)
Punctuation: ellipsis (used twice).