He stalks in his vivid stripes
The few steps of his cage,
On pads of velvet quiet,
In his quiet rage.
He should be lurking in shadow,
Sliding through long grass
Near the water hole
Where plump deer pass.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · 2026-06-15 07:15 · grounding stimulus+chapter
Model Answer
(i) (d) he is not free
(ii) He is lurking in shadows because he should be in the wild, hiding near the water hole to hunt plump deer — that is his natural instinct and habitat.
(iii) It is clear that metaphor is the poetic device used for 'pads of velvet' because the tiger's paws (pads) are directly compared to velvet — a soft, smooth fabric — without using 'like' or 'as', thus transferring the quality of softness and silence to the tiger's feet.
(iv) (d) stalk
(v) TRUE — The tiger should be lurking in shadow, sliding through long grass near the water hole, stealthily waiting for the plump deer to pass.
Source: "A Tiger in the Zoo" — Stanza 1
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Explanation
- (i) "Quiet rage" captures the tiger's suppressed anger at being caged and losing freedom — option (d) is the direct cause.
- (ii) Focus on the word "should" — the poet is describing what the tiger ought to be doing in the wild.
- (iii) For metaphor, remember: direct comparison WITHOUT 'like/as'. Here, paws = velvet (no connecting word), so it is a metaphor, not a simile.
- (iv) "Stalks" means to walk with stiff, measured strides — a standard dictionary meaning examiners expect.
- (v) The extract clearly says "lurking in shadow… near the water hole / Where plump deer pass" — so TRUE.