Patricia Hubbell, Richard García, Langston Hughes

Patricia Hubbell, Richard García, Langston Hughes Poetry

​Reading: Reread and Read Ahead to Determine Meanings From Context

Poetry often contains unusual words with which you may not be familiar. Nevertheless, you can often understand these words if you examine the context—the words and phrases surrounding an unfamiliar word. When you find an unfamiliar word, reread and read ahead for context clues that will help you figure out the meaning.

When you think you have come up with a possible meaning, insert the meaning in place of the unfamiliar word, and reread the sentence. If it does not make sense, look for more context clues, or consult a dictionary.

​Reading: Reread and Read Ahead to Determine Meanings From Context

In “Concrete Mixers” by Patricia Hubbell, for example, the word ponderous may be unfamiliar, but the context provides clues to its meaning.

Tough gray-skinned monsters standing ponderous,

Elephant-bellied....

If you reread the line with ponderous and focus on “monsters standing” and then read ahead to “elephant-bellied,” you can figure out from these clues that ponderous probably means “big and heavy.”

• Likely meaning of hose in line 2:

• Likely meaning of muck in line 5:

• Likely meaning of perch in line 7:

• Likely meaning of bellow in line 14:

• Likely meaning of urban in line 16:

​Literary Analysis: Figurative Language

Poets often use imaginative figures of speech, or figurative language, to make their poems more musical and memorable. Figures of speech often compare unlike things. A simile directly states the comparison of two unlike things by using a word such as like or as. A metaphor suggests a comparison between two unlike things by saying that one is the other. Personification compares something nonhuman to a human being by giving it human characteristics.

Similes: Life is like a dance. The ocean is as moody as a child.

Metaphor: Life is a dance.

Personification: The ocean laughs and cries.

Multiple Choice

What does “Concrete Mixers” describe?

• a rural village in Africa

• a zoo in India

• a construction site in a modern city

• a large corporation

Multiple Choice

To what or whom does “Concrete Mixers” compare the operators of the concrete

mixers?

• elephants

• elephant drivers

• firefighters

• hoses

Multiple Choice

To what or whom does “Concrete Mixers” compare the mixing machines?

• elephants

• elephant drivers

• fire trucks

• washing machines

Multiple Choice

What does the word perch mean in the context of these lines from “Concrete Mixers”?

Their drivers perch on their backs like mahouts,

Sending the sprays of water up.

• water

• sneeze

• fish

• sit

Multiple Choice

What is the speaker doing in “Harlem Night Song”?

• hoping to join a band

• asking someone to join him or her

• giving a tour

• worrying about the weather

Multiple Choice

In “Harlem Night Song,” whom does the speaker seem to be addressing?

• a young child

• an elderly parent

• homeless person

• someone he or she loves

Multiple Choice

What kind of figure of speech do these lines from “Harlem Night Song” contain?

Stars are great drops

Of golden dew.

• simile

• metaphor

• personification

• none

Multiple Choice

In the context of these lines from “Harlem Night Song,” which word tells you that dew is probably some kind of moisture?

Moon is shining,

Night sky is blue.

Stars are great drops

Of golden dew.

• shining

• blue

• drops

• golden

Multiple Choice

What does “The City Is So Big” suggest about the city?

• It is boring.

• It is actually very small.

• It is old and creaky.

• It is frightening.

Multiple Choice

According to “The City Is So Big,” where do people in the city “disappear”?

• in elevators

• on bridges

• on trains

• on moving stairs

Multiple Choice

What does the word quake probably mean in the context of this line from “The

City Is So Big”?

Its bridges quake with fear

• accident

• shake

• smile

• stretch

Multiple Choice

Which lines from “The City Is So Big” contain a simile?

• The city is so big / Its bridges quake with fear

• The lights sliding from house to house / And trains pass with windows

  shining

• And trains pass with windows shining / Like a smile full of teeth

• I have seen machines eating houses / And stairways walk all by themselves

Multiple Choice

Which of these words often signal a simile?

• like and as

• so and and

• for and like

• none of the above

Multiple Choice

Which word is most nearly opposite in meaning to the word ponderous?

• light

• strong

• awkward

• thoughtful