Name
Period
Tuesday, 4/7
Read and analyze the following poem and answer the multiple choice questions below.
Habit
The shoes put on each time
left first, then right.
The morning potion’s teaspoon
of sweetness stirred always
5 for seven circlings—no fewer, no more—
into the cracked blue cup.
Touching the pocket for wallet,
for keys,
before closing the door.
10 How did we come
to believe these small rituals’ promise,
that we are today the selves we yesterday knew,
tomorrow will be?
How intimate and unthinking,
15 the way the toothbrush is shaken dry after use,
the part we wash first in the bath.
Which habits we learned from others
and which are ours alone we may never know.
Unbearable to acknowledge
20 how much they are themselves our fated life.
Open the traveling suitcase—
There the beloved red sweater,
bright tangle of necklace, earrings of amber.
Each confirming: I chose these, I.
25 But habit is different: it chooses.
And we, its good horse,
opening our mouths at even the sight of the bit.
—Jane Hirshfield
from Slate, March 15, 2000
“Habit” Questions
1. Lines 1 through 9 include a series of
(1) common fears
(2) everyday actions
(3) important lessons
(4) cherished memories
2. According to the poem, people view “small
rituals” (line 11) as a way to preserve their
(1) wealth
(2) intelligence
(3) potential
(4) identity
3. The contents of the traveling suitcase (lines 21
through 24) most likely symbolize
(1) self-awareness
(2) careful organization
(3) a love of fashion
(4) a desire to escape
What do you think the theme—the primary message—of this poem is?
Identify one literary element used by the author in above poem. Describe how the author uses
the element—the impact/effect it has. Consider tone, imagery, rhyme scheme, diction (word
choice) and figurative language. Feel free to use Writer’s Inc. to review poetry terminology.
Read and analyze the following poem and answer the multiple choice questions below.
So I Said I Am Ezra
So I said I am Ezra
and the wind whipped my throat
gaming1 for the sounds of my voice
I listened to the wind
go over my head and up into the night
Turning to the sea I said
I am Ezra
but there were no echoes from the waves
The words were swallowed up
in the voice of the surf
or leaping over the swells
lost themselves oceanward
Over the bleached and broken fields
I moved my feet and turning from the wind
that ripped sheets of sand
from the beach and threw them
like seamists2 across the dunes
swayed as if the wind were taking me away
and said
I am Ezra
As a word too much repeated
falls out of being
so I Ezra went out into the night
like a drift of sand
and splashed among the windy oats
that clutch the dunes
of unremembered seas
5
10
15
20
25
— A. R. Ammons
from Ommateum, 1955
Dorrance & Company
1.
2.
gaming — gambling
seamists — sea mists
So I Said I Am Ezra Questions
1. The poet repeats the phrase “I am Ezra” to
emphasize the speaker’s desire
(1) to rebel
(2) to play
(3) for knowledge
(4) for recognition
2. The sea’s response to the poet’s words (lines 9
through 12) is presented through the use of
(1) personification
(2) irony
(3) onomatopoeia
(4) allusion
3. Although the speaker is ignored by the wind, the
sea, and the fields, he still retains his
(1) individuality
(2) naturalness
(3) foolishness
(4) reluctance
What do you think the theme—the primary message—of this poem is?
Identify one literary element used by the author in above poem. Describe how the author uses
the element—the impact/effect it has. Consider tone, imagery, rhyme scheme, diction (word
choice) and figurative language. Feel free to use Writer’s Inc. to review poetry terminology.
Read and analyze the following poem and answer the multiple choice questions below.
Night Light
5
10
Only your plastic night light dusts its pink
on the backs and undersides of things; your mother,
head resting on the nightside of one arm,
floats a hand above your cradle
to feel the humid tendril1 of your breathing.
Outside, the night rocks, murmurs … Crouched
in this eggshell light, I feel my heart
slowing, opened to your tiny flame
as if your blue irises mirrored me
as if your smile breathed and warmed
and curled in your face which is only asleep.
There is space between me, I know,
and you. I hang above you like a planet—
you’re a planet, too. One planet loves the other.
—Anne Winters
from The Key to the City, 1986 The University of Chicago Press
_________________
tendril — something resembling a long, slender, coiling extension on a plant stem
1
Night Light Questions
1. The mother’s action in lines 4 and 5 demonstrates her
(1) need for sleep
(2) desire for understanding
(3) concern for the child
(4) wish for the dawn
2. The poet’s use of the pronoun “I” reveals that the
(1) child has awakened
(2) mother is the narrator
(3) poet is the observer
(4) father has arrived
3. The phrase “blue irises” (line 9) refers to the
(1) eyes of the child
(2) photos near the cradle
(3) flowers below the window
(4) sky above the house
4. Lines 13 and 14 convey the concept that the parent and child are
(1) uninterested
(2) unhappy
(3) lonely
(4) connected
What do you think the theme—the primary message—of this poem is?
Identify one literary element used by the author in above poem. Describe how the author uses
the element—the impact/effect it has. Consider tone, imagery, rhyme scheme, diction (word
choice) and figurative language.