Name:
Selection
Test
Date:
Read the selection in your Student Edition and choose the best answer to each question.
New Orleans
by Joy Harjo
1
In lines 14–20, the speaker most likely suggests that —
buildings and land can retain remembrance of powerful and painful occurrences
the shop is filled with materials her ancestors and their conquerors left behind
the building is constructed of red bricks that were made from the blessed land
people living in the modern city have no memory of the buildings first built on the land
2
The speaker’s use of repetition in lines 29–30 emphasizes —
the idea that the river and New Orleans are a mystical starting point to understanding
her history
the notion that the river will continue to flow from New Orleans long after she and
others are gone
the understanding that the Creek people still have a legal claim to the city and river
the illusion the speaker hangs on to about her own history and that of DeSoto
3
In lines 37–42 of the poem, the poet uses —
anecdotal information to illustrate the story of DeSoto’s life and death in New Orleans
irony to describe how DeSoto’s bones have become buried like the riches he once sought
paradox to show how DeSoto’s end was similar to that of the Creek people he met
satire to define how modern America has turned its back on DeSoto’s legacy
4
The speaker’s use of words such as destroy and buried contributes to an overall mood that is best
described as —
wondrous
haunting
oppressive
uplifting
Grade 11
© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
1
Selection Test
Name:
5
Date:
Selection
Test
This question has two parts. First, answer Part A. Then, answer Part B.
Part A
Which statement best describes a central theme of the poem?
Historical figures are rarely as important as people make them out to be.
Cities provide insight into the shared history of the location where they were built.
Individuals who devote a lot of time to understanding a culture’s past become
paralyzed by it.
Learning about a culture’s past can shape the individual’s experience of the present.
Part B
Which excerpt from the poem best supports the answer to Part A?
. . . I see a blue horse / caught frozen in stone in the middle of / a square. . . . (lines 5–7)
Nearby is a shop with ivory and knives. / There are red rocks. . . . (lines 14–15)
Maybe his body is what I am looking for / as evidence. To know in another way / that my memory is
alive. (lines 58–60)
And I know I have seen DeSoto, / having a drink on Bourbon Street, / mad and crazy / dancing with
a woman as gold / as the river bottom. (lines 68–72)
6
From the poem, the reader can most reasonably infer that the Creek people —
built many of the buildings the speaker visits
prevented DeSoto from entering the city
welcomed DeSoto when he arrived at the city
inhabit the city in a spiritual way for the speaker
Grade 11
© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
2
Selection Test
Name:
7
Selection
Test
Date:
Which two quotes from the poem most contribute to the theme that individuals connect to
the tragedies of the past by feeling a sense of loss in the present?
Nearby is a shop with ivory and knives. / There are red rocks. The man behind the / counter has no
idea that he is inside / magic stones. . . . (lines 14–17)
. . . It swims out of Oklahoma, / deep the Mississippi River. It carries my / feet to these places: the
French Quarter, / stale rooms, the sun behind thick and moist / clouds . . .
(lines 23–27)
There are ancestors and future children / buried beneath the currents stirred up by / pleasure boats
going up and down. (lines 33–35)
And knew he was one of the ones who yearned / for something his heart wasn’t big enough / to
handle. (lines 47–49)
The Creeks knew it, and drowned him in / the Mississippi River / so he wouldn’t have to
drown himself. (lines 55–57)
8
The poem “New Orleans” uses vivid language to tell its story. Mark the box that matches each
phrase to the correct literary device.
. . . blood, / a delta in the skin. . . . (lines 22–23)
There are stories here made of memory. (line 36)
. . . for shining streets / of beaten gold to dance
on with silk ladies. (lines 40–41)
graves that rise up out of soft earth in the rain,
(line 65)
9
Metaphor
Imagery
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
□
Which statement best describes what New Orleans means to the speaker?
New Orleans is the most important city in the history of the European exploration of
North America.
New Orleans is a reminder of how greed drove colonial expansion and resulted in tragedy for the
Creeks.
New Orleans represents all cities in America founded at the expense of the Creeks and other Native
peoples.
New Orleans is an example of how a place can overcome a tragic past and become a center
of wealth.
Grade 11
© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
3
Selection Test
Name:
Selection
Test
Date:
10
How does the poet use color in the poem? Cite evidence from the selection to support
your response.
11
Read lines 66–67 of the poem.
shops that sell black mammy dolls
holding white babies.
What purpose does this allusion to slavery most likely serve in the poem?
It criticizes the shop owners in New Orleans who sell the dolls.
It reminds readers that the history of New Orleans is too complex to capture
in one poem.
It emphasizes for readers that New Orleans has a negative past for other groups
as well as for the Creeks.
It shifts the main focus of the poem from the suffering of the Creeks to the suffering
of black slaves.
12
Which statement best explains why the speaker names famous New Orleans streets and landmarks in
the poem?
She wants to show she is reliable by demonstrating a thorough knowledge of the city.
She wants to tell the reader the exact locations in the city where the historical events described
took place.
She wants to show how important these places are to readers who may never get to visit New
Orleans.
She wants to help the reader contrast images of modern New Orleans with the violent history she is
describing.
Grade 11
© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
4
Selection Test
Name:
Selection
Test
Date:
Answer Key: New Orleans
Item
Number
Correct
Answer
1
A
2
A
3
B
4
B
5A
D
5B
C
6
D
7
B, C
8
11
12
ELA.K12.EE.3.1,
ELA.11.R.1.1,
ELA.11.R.1.4,
ELA.11.R.3.1
ELA.11.R.3.1,
ELA.11.R.1.3,
ELA.11.R.1.4
ELA.11.R.3.1,
ELA.11.R.1.1,
ELA.11.R.1.3,
ELA.11.R.1.4
ELA.11.R.3.1,
ELA.11.R.1.1
ELA.11.R.1.2
ELA.11.R.1.2,
ELA.11.R.1.1,
ELA.K12.EE.1.1
ELA.K12.EE.3.1,
ELA.11.R.1.4
ELA.11.R.1.2
Metaphor: blood . . .; There are stories . . .
Imagery: for shining streets . . .; graves that rise . . .
9
10
B.E.S.T.
Standards
B
ELA.11.R.3.1,
ELA.11.V.1.1
ELA.11.R.1.3,
ELA.11.R.1.4
Sample Answer: The poet uses color to appeal to the readers’ sense of
sight. For example, in lines 5–6, the poet writes, “a blue horse / caught
frozen in stone,” to use the color blue to suggest cold and the idea of a
living creature made immobile. In line 3, “tobacco brown bones” implies ELA.K12.EE.1.1,
the deep brown of age and the smell of earth. Later in the poem, in line
ELA.11.R.1.1,
64, the poet writes of “beaten silver paths” to refer to the steel trolley car ELA.11.R.3.1
rails that carry people back and forth. Her use of color enriches the
experience of the poem for readers and strengthens its themes related to
past and present.
ELA.11.R.3.1,
C
ELA.11.R.1.3,
ELA.11.R.1.4
ELA.11.R.1.3,
D
ELA.11.R.1.4
Grade 11
© Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
5
Depth of
Knowledge
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
3
2
3
3
2
2
Selection Test