Life Doesn't Frighten Me Study Guide

What inference can you make about the speaker’s response to fears?

• A The speaker goes back to sleep.

• B The speaker stays inside at night.

• C The speaker smiles and makes fun of fears.

• D The speaker does not read or listen to scary stories.

Select two excerpts that show that using your imagination is an important topic in the poem.

• A “Bad dogs barking loud / Big ghosts in a cloud” (lines 4–5)

• B “I make fun / Way they run” (lines 15–16)

• C “(Kissy little girls / With their hair in curls)” (lines 30–31)

• D “I can walk the ocean floor / And never have to breathe.” (lines 39–40)

Why do we the reader think that the speaker repeats the line Life doesn’t frighten me at all?

• To help overcome her fears

• To explain that the world is not scary

• To show that some people have many fears

• To suggest that she is braver than her classmates

The genre of this poem, “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me” is considered a?

• narrative poem, telling a long story in a direct way

• limerick, describing a brief incident in a humorous way

• nursery rhyme, delivering a simple message in a fun way

• haiku, giving a structured description of something in nature

Read lines 1–2 from the poem.

Shadows on the wall / Noises down the hall

Which two words best describe the setting in lines 1–2?

• Loud

• Silent

• Creepy

• Mysterious

The speaker references elements of "fantasy" throughout the poem to show..?

• fears are imaginary

• fantasy is scary

• feeling afraid is immature

• fantasy is cool

Which lines in the poem best support the idea that the speaker knows how to drive
away fears?

• Lines 1–6

• Lines 7–12

• Lines 13–20

• Lines 41–44

The last 2 stanzas of the poem are important because..?

• They are sad words used to warn the reader.

• They are silly words used to amuse the reader.

• They are hair-raising words used to inspire fear.

• They are sing-song words used to dismiss fear.

Which lines describe the most realistic threat to the poem’s speaker?

• Lines 5–6

• Lines 7–8

• Lines 28–29

• Lines 39–40

When does the speaker say she might be scared in the poem?

• At night

• in her dreams

• Fighting tigers

• On the ocean floor