Grade 10-11 English Language - Poetry

Reading Comprehension- Poetry

Flowers

I have never learnt the names of flowers

From beginning , my world has been a place

Of pot-holed streets, where thick, sluggish gutters race

In slow time, away from garbage heaps and sewers

5 Past balanced old houses around which cowers

Stagnant earth. There scarce green things grew to chase

The dull-grey squalor of sick dust; no trace

Of plant save few sparse weeds; just these, no flowers

One day they cleared a space and made a park

10 There in the city’s slums; and suddenly

Came stark glory like lighting in the dark

While perfume and dark petals thundered slowly,

I learnt no names, but hue, shape and scent mark

My mind, even now, with symbols holy.

by: Dennis Craig

The speaker in the poem is

• a. a child playing

• b. an adult dreaming

• c. a child remembering

• d. an adult remembering

How does the speaker feel about flowers?

• awed

• indifferent

• enamored

• appreciative

The mood of stanza 1 of the poem is

• bleak

• lonely

• bland

• desolate

The speaker’s attitude to the environment in the FIRST stanza is one of

• misery

• realism

• resignation

• resentment

What device is used in line 11 to describe the park?

• simile

• metaphor

• oxymoron

• personification

The device used in line 12 compares the beauty of flowers to

• light

• storms

• lighting

• thunder

Which of the following BEST describes the theme of the poem?

• a. Nature is a vital part of human life.

• b. The impacts of nature is positive and deep.

• c. Plants and flowers brighten the human experience.

• Nature, specifically parks, should be introduced in all slums.

The use of “ stark glory” ( line 11) BEST suggests that the flowers

1. stimulated the speaker with their beauty

11. had a religious significance to the speaker

111. Amazed the speaker with the difference they made

• a. 1 and 11 only

• b. 1 and 111 only

• c. 11 and 111 only

• d. 1, 11 and 111