Poem 1 - The Newcomer | Paraphrasing | Theme | Summary | New Oxford Modern English Grade 8

Poem: The Newcomer Poet: Brian Patten 

Learning objectives 

At the end of the lesson, the students will be able to: 

Paraphrase the poem 

Summarize the poem 

Write the theme 

Stanza 1 

 'There's something new in the river,' 

The fish said as it swam. 

'It's got no scales, no fins and no gills, 

And ignores the impassable dam.’ 

Paraphrasing 

The fish sees something new in the water that it has never seen before. It is an object that is not of its species, that is, something not naturally seen in the river. It doesn't look like the other things that live in the water because it has no scales, no fins and no gills like a fish. It is not even afraid of passing through the huge dam . 

Stanza 2 

'There's something new in the trees.' 

I heard a bloated thrush sing. 

'It's got no beak, no claws, and no feathers, 

And not even the ghost of a wing.’ 

Paraphrasing 

Stanza 3 'There's something new in the warren,' Said the rabbit to the doe. 'It's got no fur, no eyes and no paws, Yet digs further than we dare go.’ Paraphrasing The rabbit said to a doe, “There is something in the warren. It is physically not like them. It has no fur, no eyes or no paws but still it digs deeper than them”. Stanza 4 'There's something new in the whiteness, 'Said the snow-bright polar bear.'I saw its shadow on a glacier, But it left no pawmarks there.’ Paraphrasing The snow-bright polar bear said to other bears “There’s something new in the snow region. I saw its shadow on the glacier, but it left no footprints there”. Stanza 5 Through the animal kingdom The news was spreading fast. No beak, no claws, no feather, No scales, no fur, no gills, It lives in the trees and the water, In the soil and the snow and the hills, And it kills and it kills, and it kills. Paraphrasing The news of the newcomer was spreading fast through the kingdom of animals. It has no physical similarity to the animals, that is, it has no beak, no claws, no feather, no scales, no fur and no gills but it lives in the trees, water, in the soil, snow and the hills. The only thing it does is killing other creatures. Message Author’s Message: Animals should be protected. They should be given their due right of living safely in their habitats. They should not be disturbed as they are also living creatures and they deserve to live peacefully. Theme In this poem, the poet conveys a great message of animals’ fear of extinction at the hands of human beings. Humans can live and adapt to any sort of climate and overcome the obstacles faced by other creatures, but we have a terrible power to kill off other creatures. The presence of this stranger is a great danger to their existence. The newcomer is very strange in appearance. The arrival of man brings destruction. Summary “The Newcomer” is a beautiful poem written by Brian Patten. In this poem, the poet tells us that a unknown creature has come to the forest and every animal is scared of it. According to them, it doesn't have any physical similarity with any animal living in the forest. It has no gills, no fins or no feathers. In fact. they all are talking about humans. We can swim in the seas like fish, fly in airplanes like birds and dig up burrows like rabbits. The animals think of us as a weird creature as we don't take care of wild animals. They have their apprehensions that man only hunts and kill them. Man is always cruel to the animals. The focal point in this poem is that we should not hurt or kill animals unnecessarily. We should let them live. #newoxfordmodernenglish​ #englishliterature​