In this worksheet you will an extract of 'A Ballad of John Silver' by John Masefield. Read the extract from the start of the poem, and answer the following questions.
*********************
We were schooner-rigged and rakish, with a long and lissome hull,
And we flew the pretty colours of the crossbones and the skull;
We'd a big black Jolly Roger flapping grimly at the fore,
And we sailed the Spanish Water in the happy days of yore.
We'd a long brass gun amidships, like a well-conducted ship,
We had each a brace of pistols and a cutlass at the hip;
It's a point which tells against us, and a fact to be deplored,
But we chased the goodly merchant-men and laid their ships aboard.
*********************
In this worksheet you will be asked questions about the extract above. If you need to read it again you can do so by clicking on the Help button.