On Turning Ten- Review

From the speaker’s experience, the reader can learn that --

• It is easier to grow older than it is to stay young.

• Growing older means the loss of your imagination.

• Childhood is something that you will not miss when you are older.

• We can never go back to being young again.

Which stanza from the poem expresses the idea that, when you grow up you no longer have time to play outside?

• Stanza 1

• Stanza 2

• Stanza 3

• Stanza 5

Which line from the poem best suggests that the speaker feels that he used to be able to overcome hardship more easily?

• I could make myself invisible

• You tell me it is too early to be looking back

• I skin my knees, I bleed

• If you cut me I could shine.

Why does the poet include the metaphor in stanza 1?

• To show how when we age we are more prone to sickness

• To explain he has a headache from reading in bed.

• To express the thought of getting older makes him feel sick.

• To suggest that he did not get vaccinated when he was young.

Read the following lines from the poem.

“And my bicycle never leaned against the garage/ as it does today/ all the dark blue speed drained out of it.”

The poet uses personification in these lines to express--

• that the bike is tired and resting against the fence.

• that he longs for the days when he could ride his bide fast.

• that the bike has a personality.

What does the poet suggest about growing old in stanza 2?

• He spends too much time laying in his bed and thinking about the past.

• He wants to live his life pretending to live in a fantasy world.

• Being two was a hard age but all of the others are easy.

• When you get older you forget how to imagine and play.

How does the poet develop the theme of this poem?

• By comparing what life was like when he was a younger to what it will be like when he is old.

• By explaining the reason the speaker is happy with his/her life

• By telling the reader how to stay young forever.

• By describing how growing up has required him to leave behind some of his childish ideas.