Sunday Morning Early STAAR questions

Which words best help the reader understand the meaning of the word russet in line 8

• F blue-black water

• G boats, grasses

• H gold, sunburnt

• J empty blue sky

Read the following lines from the poem -

I say, “It’s Sunday, and here we are

in the church of the out-of-doors.”

By using this analogy, the poet emphasizes —

• A the speaker’s authority as a parent

• B the importance of spending time with family

• C the speaker’s emotional vulnerability

• D the sacredness of nature

Read these lines from the poem -

A clap of thunder beyond those hills. How well sound

travels over water. . . .

The poet uses these lines to emphasize the importance of —

• F truth

• G listening

• H power

• J imagination

Which line best explains why the speaker begins to speak at the end of the poem but then stops?

• A A clap of thunder beyond those hills.

• B it hits me that my daughter is a young woman,

• C the russet and gold of late summer’s sunburnt grasses,

• D That’s the trick in life—learning to leave well enough alone.

What does the poet mean by the lines “suddenly everything is a metaphor for how/short a time we are granted on earth”?

• F Nature often serves as a reminder that time does not stand still.

• G Time passes differently for different people.

• H The future represents uncertainty.

• J Ordinary occurrences in nature cannot always be described.

What is the most likely reason the poet ends the first stanza after line 13?

• A To emphasize the poem’s central message

• B To indicate a change in the poem’s setting

• C To introduce new details about the poem’s speaker

• D To highlight a shift in point of view

The mood of this selection is —

• A depressing

• B bittersweet

• C frightening

• D carefree