Name:
Seat#:
Date:
Mrs. Edge
English 2
Poetry Unit Test
I. DIRECTIONS: Choose two poems from the collection of poems (all of which we have read or
studied in class) that are typed below. For each poem you choose, demonstrate your ability to
critically read and think by completing the following:
1. “Notice” / text mark the poem
2. List the types of text markings you made
3. Write 1 factual, 2 interpretive, and 1 evaluative question and label each question
4. Analyze at least 2 literary techniques/devices in the poem (indicating
specifically how the technique/device contributes to the poem’s meaning).
5. On your own separate sheet of paper, write an extended analytical paragraph
(which includes your final interpretation of the poem as well as your support for
your interpretation of the poem).
6. On your own paper, write a response paragraph (which includes what you think,
feel, or are reminded of because of the poem and/or how you connect your own
life, pieces of literature, or the world at large to the poem).
Courage
Anne Sexton
It is in the small things we see it.
The child's first step,
as awesome as an earthquake.
The first time you rode a bike,
wallowing up the sidewalk.
The first spanking when your heart
went on a journey all alone.
When they called you crybaby
or poor or fatty or crazy
and made you into an alien,
you drank their acid
and concealed it.
Later,
if you faced the death of bombs and bullets
you did not do it with a banner,
you did it with only a hat to
cover your heart.
You did not fondle the weakness inside you
though it was there.
Your courage was a small coal
that you kept swallowing.
If your buddy saved you
and died himself in so doing,
then his courage was not courage,
it was love; love as simple as shaving soap.
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Name:
Seat#:
Date:
Mrs. Edge
English 2
Later,
if you have endured a great despair,
then you did it alone,
getting a transfusion from the fire,
picking the scabs off your heart,
then wringing it out like a sock.
Next, my kinsman, you powdered your sorrow,
you gave it a back rub
and then you covered it with a blanket
and after it had slept a while
it woke to the wings of the roses
and was transformed.
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Later,
when you face old age and its natural conclusion
your courage will still be shown in the little ways,
each spring will be a sword you'll sharpen,
those you love will live in a fever of love,
and you'll bargain with the calendar
and at the last moment
when death opens the back door
you'll put on your carpet slippers
and stride out.
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If You Were Coming in the Fall
Emily Dickinson
If you were coming in the Fall,
I'd brush the Summer by
With half a smile, and half a spurn,
As Housewives do, a Fly.
If I could see you in a year,
I'd wind the months in balls -And put them each in separate Drawers,
For fear the numbers fuse -If only Centuries, delayed,
I'd count them on my Hand,
Subtracting, till my fingers dropped
Into Van Dieman's Land.
If certain, when this life was out -That yours and mine, should be
I'd toss it yonder, like a Rind,
And take Eternity --
Name:
Seat#:
Date:
Mrs. Edge
English 2
But, now, uncertain of the length
Of this, that is between,
It goads me, like the Goblin Bee -That will not state -- its sting.
I Am Offering This Poem
Jimmy Santiago Baca
I am offering this poem to you,
since I have nothing else to give.
Keep it like a warm coat
when winter comes to cover you,
or like a pair of thick socks
the cold cannot bite through,
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I love you,
I have nothing else to give you,
so it is a pot full of yellow corn
to warm your belly in winter,
it is a scarf for your head, to wear
over you hair, to tie up around your face,
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I love you,
Keep it, treasure this as you would
if you were lost, needing direction,
in the wilderness life becomes when mature;
and in the corner of your drawer,
tucked away like a cabin or Hogan
in dense trees, come knocking,
and I will answer, give you directions,
and let you warm yourself by this fire,
rest by this fire, and make you feel safe,
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I love you,
It’s all I have to give,
and all anyone needs to live,
and to go on living inside,
when the world outside
no longer cares if you live or die;
remember,
I love you.
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Name:
Seat#:
Date:
Mrs. Edge
English 2
II. DIRECTIONS: Choose one of the (new) poems from those typed below. Demonstrate your
ability to critically read and think by completing the following:
1. “Notice” / text mark the poem
2. List the types of text markings you made
3. Write 1 factual, 2 interpretive, and 1 evaluative question and label each question
4. Analyze at least 2 literary techniques/devices in the poem (indicating
specifically how the technique/device contributes to the poem’s meaning).
5. On your own paper, write an extended analytical paragraph (which includes your
final interpretation of the poem as well as your support for your interpretation
of the poem).
6. On your own paper, write a response paragraph (which includes what you think,
feel, or are reminded of because of the poem and/or how you connect your own
life, other pieces of literature, or the world at large to the poem).
Metaphor
Eve Merriam
Morning is
A new sheet of paper
For you to write on.
Whatever you want to say,
all day,
until night
folds it up
and files it away.
The bright words and the dark words
are gone
until dawn
and a new day
to write on.
Dream Deferred
Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a soreAnd the run?
Does it stink like rotten m meat?
Or crust and sugar overLike a syrupy sweet?
Name:
Seat#:
Date:
Mrs. Edge
English 2
Maybe it just sags
Like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Hope is the Thing with Feathers
Emily Dickenson
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I ’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
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III. DIRECTIONS: Reflect on your learning over the last two weeks of class by thinking about
the specific strategies and poems we have read and discussed in class and how they helped or did
not help you to think critically, read critically, notice details, comprehend, and/or appreciate
poetry. On your own paper, write a specific and detailed paragraph which describes your
learning process. Be sure to include what you learned as well as how or why you learned it. If
appropriate, you might even want to include suggestions for what else could help you understand
poetry and why it could help. (Note: There is no one right answer! The key here is honest
reflection and analysis of your own learning.)
IV. BONUSES:
1. What is the “teacher word” for the reflection that Mrs. Edge asks you to do? (+1)
2. There are five distinctive aspects of a sonnet. Explain (specifically) how the poem
below illustrates each of those five aspects. (+1 each)
Name:
Seat#:
Date:
Mrs. Edge
English 2
Sonnet 98
William Shakespeare
From you have I been absent in the spring,
When proud-pied April dress'd in all his trim
Hath put a spirit of youth in every thing,
That heavy Saturn laugh'd and leap'd with him.
Yet nor the lays of birds nor the sweet smell
Of different flowers in odour and in hue
Could make me any summer's story tell,
Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew;
Nor did I wonder at the lily's white,
Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose;
They were but sweet, but figures of delight,
Drawn after you, you pattern of all those.
Yet seem'd it winter still, and, you away,
As with your shadow I with these did play: