The End and The Beginning

(RL.2.4) PART A: What tone is developed throughout the poem?

• grim

• hateful

• sympathetic

• hopeful

(RL.2.4) PART B: Select the detail from the text that BEST supports your response to PART A.

• “to prop the wall,”

• “Someone, broom in hand,”

• “gawking at clouds.”

• “so the carts loaded with corpses”

(RL.2.4) What is the impact of the repetition of the word “Someone” throughout the poem?

• It draws attention to the hope of those who survived the war.

• It emphasizes the individual impacts the war had on the survivors.

• It conveys the sense of confusion of those who did not live through the war.

• It explains the contrast between those who were victims of the war and those who survived.

(RL.2.5) PART A:  How does the author use structure to convey a sense of tension in the poem?

• By using a shift in the poem to show the conflict between those who remember the devastation of war and those who do not know about the suffering.

• By foreshadowing the ending of the war and the many casualties in the first stanza.

• By utilizing flashbacks to capture the perspective of someone who has lived through the war.

• By using multiple narrators to describe the differing perspectives of those who lived through the war.

(RL.2.5) PART B: Select the detail from the text that BEST supports your response to PART A?

• “After every war / someone has to tidy up.” (Stanza 1)

• “All the cameras have gone / to other wars.” (Stanza 5)

• “But others are bound to be bustling nearby / who’ll find all that / a little boring.” (Stanza 7)

• “From time to time someone still must / dig up a rusted argument / from underneath a bush / and haul it off to the dump.” (Stanza 8)

(RL.2.6) PART A: What cultural experience is conveyed in the poem?

• The cultural experience is that of someone who wants to forget the suffering of the war.

• The cultural experience is that of someone who has heard about the devastation of war but did not experience it themselves.

• The cultural experience is that of someone who wants to learn about the tragedies of the war in order to prevent it from happening again

• The cultural experience is that of someone who has lived through the aftermath of war but recognizes that society will move on and forget the suffering.

(RL.2.6) PART B: Select the detail from the text that BEST supports your response to PART A.

• “Things won’t pick/themselves up, after all.” (Stanza 1)

• “Someone has to trudge/through sludge and ashes,/through the sofa springs,/the shards of glass,/the bloody rags.” (Stanza 3)

• “The bridges need to be rebuilt,/the railroad stations, too./Shirtsleeves will be rolled/to shreds.” (Stanza 6)

• “Those who knew/what this was all about/must make way for those/who know little./And less than that./And at last nothing less than nothing.” (Stanza 9)

(RL.2.4) PART A: PART A: What impact does the author’s use of the word “gawking” in Stanza 10 have on the poem?

• It shows the beauty that can come once a war is over.

• It emphasizes that people during war need a break.

• It highlights the ignorance some people have on the effects of war.

• It conveys how people are the ones who have to clean up a government’s mess.

(RL.2.4) PART B: What stanza best supports your answer to Part A?

• stanza 1

• stanza 5

• stanza 8

• stanza 9

(RL.1.2) What statement best expresses the theme of the poem?

• War has long term effects on societies that take time to heal.

• The effects of war should be appreciated for years after.

• People choose to ignore the impacts of war because it is easier.

• War negatively impacts the physical health of people.