Third form Lit Diagnostic Test

Sketch By Carl Sandburg

The shadows of the ships

Rock on the crest

In the low blue lustre

Of the tardy and the soft inrolling tide.

A long brown bar at the dip of the sky

Puts an arm of sand in the span of salt.

The lucid and endless wrinkles

Draw in, lapse and withdraw.

Wavelets crumble and white spent bubbles

Wash on the floor of the beach.

Rocking on the crest

In the low blue lustre

Are the shadows of the ships.

• What is being described in the poem?

• a storm

• a ship

• a beach

• a ship on the shore

The shadows of the ships

Rock on the crest

In the low blue lustre

Of the tardy and the soft inrolling tide.

• The line "of the tardy and the soft inrolling tide" is an example of a/an

• simile

• personification

• metaphor

• alliteration

A long brown bar at the dip of the sky

Puts an arm of sand in the span of salt.

• What literary device can be found in lines one and two of this stanza?

• simile

• onomatopoeia

• metaphor

• alliteration

The lucid and endless wrinkles

Draw in, lapse and withdraw.

Wavelets crumble and white spent bubbles

Wash on the floor of the beach.

• "The lucid and endless wrinkles" refer to...

• the sky

• the ship

• the waves

• actual wrinkles

The lucid and endless wrinkles

Draw in, lapse and withdraw.

Wavelets crumble and white spent bubbles

Wash on the floor of the beach.

"The lucid and endless wrinkles" is an example of a/an

• metaphor

• personification

• simile

• alliteration

The lucid and endless wrinkles

Draw in, lapse and withdraw.

Wavelets crumble and white spent bubbles

Wash on the floor of the beach.

• What visual image is created in the above stanza?

• a beach of bubbles

• a ship on the sea

• the tide rolling in and out

• a river meeting a sea

Rocking on the crest

In the low blue lustre

Are the shadows of the ships.

The word "shadows" makes reference to

• the reflection of the ship

• the darkness of the ship

• the colour of the water

• the sail of the ship

Sketch By Carl Sandburg

The shadows of the ships

Rock on the crest

In the low blue lustre

Of the tardy and the soft inrolling tide.

A long brown bar at the dip of the sky

Puts an arm of sand in the span of salt.

The lucid and endless wrinkles

Draw in, lapse and withdraw.

Wavelets crumble and white spent bubbles

Wash on the floor of the beach.

Rocking on the crest

In the low blue lustre

Are the shadows of the ships.

• What language device is used in the first and last stanzas of the poem?

• simile

• repetition

• metaphor

• personification

The shadows of the ships

Rock on the crest In the low blue lustre

Of the tardy and the soft inrolling tide.

• Why are the waves being described as 'tardy' in this stanza?

• because they are moving

• because they are always late

• because they are touching the boat

• because they are moving slowly

A long brown bar at the dip of the sky

Puts an arm of sand in the span of salt

• This stanza is making reference to...

• the sky

• the shore line

• a bar on the ship

• the sea