T.S. Eliot, "Morning at the Window" (MCQs)

In line 5, the "waves" are

("The brown waves of fog toss up to me")

• so big they reach the speaker's window

• part of the poem's bigger conceit that compares the scene below to an ocean

• a metaphor for the fog that carries the images of face down below up to the speaker at his window

• part of a hypothetical situation thought up by the speaker

• a hallucination that characterizes the speaker as depressed and delusional

Answer explanation

In an implied metaphor, the speaker says, "The brown waves of fog toss up to me . . ." (5). The fog is presented as waves because it rises up from the street below to the speaker's window, from which he is observing the scene. The fog is also presented as a wave because it provides an image of how the fog carries the images of people's faces up to the speaker to see; it is as if the faces are riding the wave of fog.

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.8

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.8.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.10

CCSS.RL.9-10.9

The subject to which the word "tear" (7) refers is

("And tear from a passer-by with muddy skirts")

• the speaker

• damp souls

• an aimless smile

• a passer-by

• the brown waves

Answer explanation

The sentence that contains the word "tear" reads: "The brown waves of fog toss up to me/ Twisted faces from the bottom of the street,/ And tear from a passer-by with muddy skirts/ An aimless smile . . ." (5-8). The subject of the sentence is the waves, and they perform two actions: they toss and they tear. The waves tear an aimless smile from a passer-by and toss it up to where the speaker is.

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.8

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.8.5

CCSS.RL.9-10.10

CCSS.RL.9-10.9

The words "fog . . . faces from" (5-6) are an example of

• repetition

• anaphora

• assonance

• alliteration

• consonance

Answer explanation

The words "fog . . . faces from" are an example of alliteration because the same letter and sound is repeated at the start of multiple words in close succession.

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.8

CCSS.RL.8.10

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.10

CCSS.RL.9-10.9

The poem's assonance

• is found in the word "rattling" (1) and allows the reader to hear what the speaker hears

• is found in the words "muddy skirts" (7) and emphasizes the ugliness of the scene being described

• is found in the words "fog toss" (5) and create a feeling of upward movement to complement the movement of the waves

• is found in the "brown waves" (5) emphasizes the disparity between ugliness and beauty

• is found in the words "faces from" (6) and creates a soothing sound to ease the speaker's discomfort

Answer explanation

Assonance occurs when the internal vowel sound of multiple words in close succession is the same, as in "fog" and "toss." In this example, our mouths open vertically to pronounce the sound of the "o," which compliments the tall rise upward of the waves and fog being described. None of the other answer choices includes examples of assonance.

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.8

CCSS.RL.8.10

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.10

CCSS.RL.9-10.9

Regarding the scene he is describing, the speaker is

• removed and observant

• apathetic

• fatalistic

• obsessed and upset

• optimistic

Answer explanation

The speaker is physically removed from the scene he is describing; he is up at his window, and the people are at "the bottom of the street" (6). He observes the people below from afar and describes his subjective impressions of their souls (3), clothes (7), and faces (6, 8). The speaker sees the scene as "despondent" (4), which could indicate that he himself is upset (B), but it is too extreme to say that he is obsessed (B) with the scene below his window. While there is a moment of optimism in the descriptions ("an aimless smile"), the rest of the descriptions are more gloomy and sad. Since there is that one moment of observing a smile, the speaker is not entirely fatalistic (D) either. He is definitely not apathetic (E); he vigilantly watches the people below and carefully describes what he observes in vivid detail.

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

The people described in the poem are characterized mostly as

• penurious

• starving

• grotesque

• pathetic

• ghostlike

Answer explanation

The speaker uses ghostly diction like "rattling" (1), "damp souls" (3), "waves of fog" (5), "twisted faces" (6), "muddy" (7), "aimless" (8), "hovers in the air" (8), and "vanishes" (9). Even though the people appear to be penurious (poor; B), the specific word choice clearly creates a ghostly image that communicates the people's poverty and their haunting, deadly, empty auras. Also, even though the people are poor, dirty, and working class, there are no details to suggest the speaker sees them as pathetic (D). Only the "twisted faces" characterize the people as grotesque (E).

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.8

CCSS.RL.8.10

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.10

CCSS.RL.9-10.9

The speaker is differentiated from the people he describes by

I. his wealth

II. his location

III. his actions

• I only

• I and II only

• II only

• II and III only

• III only

Answer explanation

The speaker is, unlike the people he describes, up at the window -- II. Also unlike the the people he describes, he is merely observing the people who are "rattling breakfast plates" (1) and "[s]prouting despondently" (4) -- III. While we can infer that the speaker is perhaps from a higher class than the working class he watches, there are no actual details to suggest he is wealthier -- I.

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.6

CCSS.RL.8.6

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

The tone of the poem is developed through

I. diction

II. imagery

III. metaphor

• I only

• I and II only

• II and III only

• III only

• I, II, and III

Answer explanation

The tone is developed through the speaker's ghostly diction ("rattling," "damp air," "vanishes"). The speaker uses sensory images that allow us to hear the "rattling" of breakfast plates and see the "brown . . . fog" (5). The metaphor of the "waves of fog" (5) below him as ghostlike; their faces rise up to him on the waves of fog and then vanish "along the level of the roofs" (9).

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.8

CCSS.RL.8.10

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.10

CCSS.RL.9-10.9