A Government Driver on His Retirement Questions and Answers
QUESTION 1: Discuss “A Government Driver on His Retirement” as a didactic poem.”
“A Government Driver on His Retirement” is a poem that teaches a lot of moral lessons. The poem persona is a dedicated and faithful driver who works assiduously for thirty-five years and retires gloriously. Hence, he is celebrated inviting his friends, families and well wishes to the occasion.
He tells us in the first stanza about his dedication and faithfulness to his duties which earns him the celebration after retirement. This teaches us to be faithful and dedicated to our duties.
“Many years on wheels.
In faithful service to his fatherland
Today retires him home
And a celebration he holds.”
The second stanza also tells us that he is obedient to the rules and regulations of his duty which makes him to be free after retirement.
This also teaches that we should be obedient and law abiding. This feat of being celebrated is achieved because of his good moral standing hence, he is able to invite his people for celebration.
His dedication also earns him a brand-new car which he takes home on the day of the celebration after thirty-five years of meritorious service to the fatherland. He also drinks a lot of drinks while celebrating.
In conclusion, the poem is didactic as it teaches us to be faithful and dedicated to our duties.
QUESTION 2: Give a vivid account of “A Government Drive on His Retirement.”
Retirement is when a person leaves employment, especially on reaching pensionable age. The pros and cons of this feat is discussed in this poem using a dedicated Government Driver who is retiring after thirty-five years of active and dedicated service to his fatherland to illustrate it.
This accomplishment is what every employee looks up to at the end of thirty-five years in service.
The first stanza opens by telling us the type of job the retiree engaged in and how faithful he was while carrying out the driving job for many years. He retires today and he is celebrating it.
“Many years on wheels.
In faithful service to his fatherland
Today retires him home
And a celebration he holds”
The second stanza also stresses the man’s many years of service, taking and obeying the rules and the regulations of the duty and these make him to be successful to become a freeman that is qualified to be celebrated today.
“Eligible for his country’s services.”
One of the characters of the majority of the drivers is brought out here. The driver in this poem is engaged in alcoholic drinks.
” Many years he pummeled his boozy throat.”
In the third stanza, the celebrity is still at the venue of the celebration inviting friends to come and rejoice with him of his freedom from all the rules of the duty; there is no more going to duty early in the morning.
He prepares to drink and drive himself home and rest to forget all the sufferings he passed through during the thirty-five years of faithful service to his fatherland. This glorious day has been long waited for by this driver and it has come, he is today’s celebrity.
“Come friends, rejoice with me,
I shall booze and zoom myself home
Away from duty rules,
Come celebrate my freedom”
Early to duty tomorrow holds not.
Thirty – five years of faithful service
I’ll booze to sleep away my sufferings
Today I’ve long waited for”
The driver is honoured and appreciated in the next stanza for the thirty-five years meritorious service to his fatherland as a result of his patience with a brand-new car.
The driver feels happy the more with the honour done to him that he calls on friends again to come and rejoice more, that this is joy unlimited. He feels like a king because of the honour and his freedom.
The driver celebrates his retirement with a lot of alcoholic drinks. This brings out one of the characters of drivers as we also have in the second stanza. Majority of drivers take alcoholic drinks a lot.
The last stanza discusses the climax of the celebration when the celebration comes to an end.
The driver, in the mood of happiness, drinks and drives himself home in his brand-new car given to him to rest at home forever. Nobody will boss him around again, he can sleep and wake up as he likes.
QUESTION 3: Identify the themes of “A Government Driver on His Retirement.”
Faithfulness: The driver in this poem achieves this feat as a result of his faithfulness to the service of driving for thirty-five years. He is being rewarded and celebrated for being faithful.
Maybe if he was not faithful, this day wouldn’t have come. He might have been sacked from service before now for going against the rules and regulations of his duty.
“Many years on wheels.
In faithful service to his fatherland”
Happiness: The driver is extremely happy that he invites his friends to come and celebrate his success with him.
He also takes a lot of alcoholic drinks to celebrate his freedom, because he is happy that there are no more duty rules to hold him back from doing what he likes; he can sleep and wake up as he likes.
To crown it up, he is given a brand-new car to appreciate the “undented thirty-five years of service. “He feels on top of the world for the honour done to him that he feels like a king.
“come friends and rejoice more,
Joy till no more joy to joy
Today frees and make me a king”
Retirement: The subject matter of this poem is retirement. The poem is didactic in nature as it teaches a lot of virtues on good service to one’s fatherland. The driver is presented as being faithful, dedicated and patient.
These virtues lead to the success of the driver to have a glorious retirement. This teaches us that retirement comes with dedication, faithfulness and patience.
Celebration: The driver celebrates his success at the end of the thirty-five years’ service. He invites friends and well-wishers to celebrate with him on his glorious retirement. There are lots of drinks on the ground for him and the invited guests.
Freedom: The driver gains his freedom after thirty-five years of active service. He is free from the duty rules and regulation; from “early to duty tomorrow.” He can sleep and wake up as he likes.
Reward: There is reward for everything done on this earth, whether good or bad. The driver in the poem is being rewarded for good service done to his fatherland.
He is well celebrated and honoured after a faithful and dedicated thirty-five years’ service. He is also appreciated with a brand-new car to cap it up.
Endurance: Endurance and patience is needed to be successful, because the road to success is rough. This is illustrated in the poem as the driver is presented as somebody that is patient and endures.
He has to obey the rules and regulations of his duties, even if he is not convenient with it; this is responsible for his success at the end of the thirty-five years’ service.
QUESTION 4: Discuss the theme of Happiness in “A Government Driver on His Retirement.”
The driver is extremely happy that he invites his friends to come and celebrate his success with him.
There are many things that make him happy; he has become a freeman as there are no more duty rules to hold him back from doing what he likes; he can sleep and wake up as he likes. There is no more early to duty or taking orders from anybody.
To crown it up, he is given a brand-new car to appreciate the “undented thirty-five years of service. “He feels on top of the world for the honour done to him that he feels like a king. He takes a lot of drinks to celebrate and invites his friends and well wishes to celebrate with him.
“come friends and rejoice more,
Joy till no more joy to joy
Today frees and make me a king”
The poem persona is so happy that he feels like a king that day while being celebrated.
QUESTION 5: Identify the poetic devices used in the poem “A Government Driver on His Retirement.”
These are the poetic devices used in the poem:
Alliteration: This is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of two or more words in a line of a poem. This is used extensively in the poem. We have it in lines;
2-In faithful service to his fatherland
3- Today retires him home
4- And a celebration he holds
5- Many years has he pummeled his boozy throat
6- In obedience to duty rules and regulations
7- Today, he’ll go home a freeman
15- I’ll booze to sleep away my sufferings
17- More joy to send him home.
18- A brand new car in his name
23- Joy till no more joy to joy
24- Today frees and make me a king”
26- And so, he boozed and boozed
27- Celebrating the celebration of his retirement
28- From faithful service to fatherland
29- He battled with his bottle booze
30- On his way home on wheels
31- Booze boozed his vision and clear judgement
32- He boomed his brand-new car
33- And it sent him home
Assonance: This is the repetition of a vowel sound in a line of a poem. We have this in lines;
10- I shall booze and zoom myself home
23- Joy till no more joy to joy
26- And so, he boozed and boozed
31- Booze boozed his vision and clear judgement
Repetition: There is repetition of some words in the poem; “many years, come friends, rejoice, booze, fatherland, service, home, brand new car. The essence of repetition in a poem is for emphasis and to call attention.
Onomatopoeia: This is a combination of sounds in a word that resembles or suggests what the word refers to. This is used in lines;
10- I shall booze and zoom myself home
32- He boomed his brand-new car
Synecdoche: This is when a part is used to represent a whole, or a whole is used to represent a part. In the poem, “wheel” as used in line 30 represents a vehicle; “wheel” is a part of a vehicle.
Personification: This is giving the attributes of a living thing to the non-living things as we have in lines;
3- Today retires him home
24- Today frees and make me a king”
Hyperbole: This is the use of an undue exaggeration in a poem as in lines;
23- Joy till no more joy to joy
24- Today frees and make me a king”
34- Home to rest in peace.
Metaphor: This is when two things are compared without the use of “as” and “like” as we have in line;
29- He battled with his bottle booze.