“Sunday Morning Early” and “I wish I was a Poet”

22. Which words best help the reader understand the meaning of the word russet in line 8

• F blue-black water

• G boats, grasses

• H gold, sunburnt

• J empty blue sky

Tags

CCSS.L.8.4A

CCSS.L.8.4B

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

23. Read the following lines from the poem.

I say, “It’s Sunday, and here we are in the church of the out-of-doors.”

By using this analogy, the poet emphasizes —

• A the speaker’s authority as a parent

• B the importance of spending time with family

• C the speaker’s emotional vulnerability

• D the sacredness of nature

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.4

24. Read these lines from the poem.

A clap of thunder beyond those hills. How well sound travels over water. . . .

The poet uses these lines to emphasize the importance of —

• F truth

• G listening

• H power

• J imagination

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.2

25. Which line best explains why the speaker begins to speak at the end of the poem but then stops?

• A A clap of thunder beyond those hills.

• B it hits me that my daughter is a young woman,

• C the russet and gold of late summer’s sunburnt grasses,

• D That’s the trick in life—learning to leave well enough alone.

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.8.3

26. What does the poet mean by the lines “suddenly everything is a metaphor for how/short a time we are granted on earth”?

• F Nature often serves as a reminder that time does not stand still.

• G Time passes differently for different people.

• H The future represents uncertainty.

• J Ordinary occurrences in nature cannot always be described.

Tags

CCSS.L.8.5A

CCSS.RL.8.4

27. What is the most likely reason the poet ends the first stanza after line 13?

• A To emphasize the poem’s central message

• B To indicate a change in the poem’s setting

• C To introduce new details about the poem’s speaker

• D To highlight a shift in point of view

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.5

28. What is the primary purpose of paragraphs 1 and 11?

• F To show how the narrator’s viewpoint changes

• G To frame the story with the narrator’s primary conflict

• H To contrast the narrator’s opinion with Marge’s opinion

• J To highlight the resolution of the narrator’s conflict

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.1

29. In paragraph 6, what is the effect of the author’s use of figurative language?

• A It highlights the old couple’s naiveté.

• B It reveals the clerk’s confusion.

• C It shows how reluctant the old man is to pay.

• D It emphasizes the tension of the scene.

Tags

CCSS.L.8.5A

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

30. Which sentence best supports the idea that the old couple is still in love after many years?

• F No, they were white, and you’ve never seen such a couple in your life—a man and his wife, and they must have been in their seventies.

• G Marge, he was lookin’ at her like every woman on earth dreams of bein’ looked at, and her eyes were doin’ the same thing back at him.

• H They started over toward the elevator and then the old lady turned away from the man and made her way over to the receptionist’s desk.

• J The couple smiled in such a dignified way, and it seemed like they hadn’t noticed a thing.

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.W.8.9A

31. The narrator faces a major conflict over how to —

• A capture the beauty and essence of the story she is relating

• B communicate effectively with Marge

• C succeed in becoming a writer

• D find happiness like that shared by the old couple

Tags

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.8.3