The Writing on the Wall: Vocabulary, Analyze, Craft

At the beginning of "The Writing on the Wall," the author quotes a poem that begins with these lines: Over a hundred poems are on the walls. Looking at them, they are all pining at the delayed progress. Which statement best explains the connection of this quotation to the central idea of the blog post?

• The quotation proves that the poems were written by immigrants detained on the island.

• The quotation illustrates the way the poems captured the experiences of the immigrants.

• The quotation expresses the writer's hope that more people will read the poems.

• The quotation helps demonstrate how angry the immigrants on the island felt.

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The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B. Part A Which sentence best expresses one central idea of "The Writing on the Wall"?

• People did not immediately see the value in the poems from Angel Island.

• People should organize efforts to preserve the poems from Angel Island.

• The immigrants who wrote poetry addressed one another in their poems.

• Poetry is a mighty and meaningful way to connect people across time.

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Part B Which quotation from "The Writing on the Wall" best supports the answer to Part A?

• Imagine you saw not just one poem written on or etched into the walls, but hundreds. Imagine nearly every inch of available wall space was taken up by a poem, and there was only a little space left.

• Because so many of the poets actually spoke to each other in their "posts," we know that the poems mattered to the people to whom they were addressed at the time.

• Or, I should say in the case of the detention center that it was years before anyone who was not being directly addressed recognized the language and understood why it mattered.

• Scholars are researching the poems, and people and poets like me, who need to believe in the power of poetry to speak beyond the here and now, can stand in front of those walls and understand the power of poetry: to calm, to communicate, to commiserate, and to conserve.

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One of the central ideas of “The Writing on the Wall” is that, for many years, Chinese immigrants were treated unfairly. How does the author develop that idea? Choose three options.

• by referring to the effects of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

• by including quotations from the poetry the Chinese immigrants wrote

• by describing how extensively the walls were covered by the poets’ work

• by describing how long some of the Chinese would-be immigrants were detained

• by writing about the difference in how Asian and European immigrants were treated

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"Leave this as a memento to encourage fellow souls" (paragraph 3)

If an immigrant can be said to keep a memento from a place, which of the following must be true?

• He or she would not want to go back there again

• He or she would want to send it back to that place.

• He or she would not want to forget having been there

• He or she would want to share it with many other people.

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"The Chinese immigrants, in particular, raised with a tradition of public poetry, composed carefully crafted verses that drew on Classical traditions, forms, and allusions." (paragraph 7)

If an immigrant can be said to have composed a poem, which of the following must be true?

• He or she read it out loud to an audience.

• He or she drew upon personal thoughts or feelings to create it

• He or she used a variety of tools to carve it into a wall.

• He or she repeated verses that had been memorized in the past

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"Once the need inscribed on those walls was translated, efforts began to preserve the detention center and to give the Angel Island Detention Center a place of honor in a newly created State Park." (paragraph 16)

If a poem can be said to have been inscribed, which of the following must be true?

• It had to be memorized and recited out loud.

• It had to be recorded in some way on a surface.

• It had to be another poem from another century.

• It had to be a Chinese symbol for a word or sound

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The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B.

Part A Which of the following statements best expresses the author’s opinion of the poems discovered at Angel Island?

• The poems are well written and use sophisticated techniques

• The style of the poems is too old-fashioned, but the imagery is beautiful.

• The ideas and feelings explored in the poems are interesting, but the poems are not well written.

• The poems are artifacts that reveal the history of Angel Island, not truly poetry in the traditional sense

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Which quotation from “The Writing on the Wall” best supports the answer to Part A?

• The Chinese immigrants, in particular, raised with a tradition of public poetry, composed carefully crafted verses that drew on Classical traditions, forms, and allusions

• The poets held at the Angel Island Immigration Station were partaking of a centuries-old tradition, creating a camaraderie far beyond the confines of the walls they found themselves isolated inside.

• Here we are, at least 60 years after this poem was penned, with a man from a different country, reading this lonely man’s words and sharing them with people who have come to read them

• Because so many of the poets actually spoke to each other in their “posts,” we know that the poems mattered to the people to whom they were addressed at the time.

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Read this quotation from “The Writing on the Wall.”

Imagine you have traveled on a ship from China to America. Imagine it is sometime between 1910 and 1940, and you may or may not know the man who you will call your father when you arrive in the new country whose language you likely do not know. Imagine that when you arrive . . . you are taken to . . . Angel Island.

Which of the following is a reasonable conclusion to draw from this quotation?

• Angel Island was used as an immigration station from at least 1910 until at least 1940.

• Some Chinese immigrants were quite fluent in English and adapted easily

• Immigration from China to the United States was unrestricted after 1940.

• Immigration from China to the United States became severely restricted in 1910.

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