Our Wreath of Rose Buds

Where do the flowers described in “Our Wreath of Rose Buds” come from?

• people’s minds

• the natural world

• gardeners’ planted spaces

• pictures drawn of wreaths

What is unusual about the flowers described in “Our Wreath of Rose Buds”? Choose two options.

• They can be nourished by a reader’s look.

• They appear only in shades of yellow.

• They will last for a very long time.

• They are freely given to people.

• They grow only beside rivers.

In “Fantasy,” what seems to have caused the unusual colors of the things that the speaker sees?

• the moonlight

• the peacock

• the queen

• the bush

The word fair has several meanings. Which meaning of fair does the speaker use in this stanza from “Our Wreath of Rose Buds”?

Ask you where these flowers are found?

Not on sunny slope, or mound;

Not on prairies bright and fair

Growing without thought or care.

• neither very good nor very bad

• sunny and with few clouds

• pleasing to the eye

• free from injustice

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

Read the following stanza from “Our Wreath of Rose Buds.”

The tiny buds which here you see

Ask your kindly sympathy;

View them with a lenient eye,

Pass each fault, each blemish by.

Part A What is the most likely meaning of blemish in this stanza?

• a painful thorn

• a mark of imperfection

• a common plant disease

• an accusation of wrongdoing

Part A answer: A blemish is a mark of imperfection.

The tiny buds which here you see

Ask your kindly sympathy;

View them with a lenient eye,

Pass each fault, each blemish by.

Part B Which phrase from the stanza is the context clue that most clearly supports the answer to Part A?

• kindly sympathy

• lenient eye

• tiny buds

• each fault

What does the context suggest is the most likely meaning of the word hyacinth in this stanza from “Fantasy”?

A slim-necked peacock sauntered there

In a garden of lavender hues,

And you were strange with your purple hair

As you sat in your amethyst chair

With your feet in your hyacinth shoes.

• rubber and leather

• old and squeaky

• tall and pointy

• bright violet

In “Our Wreath of Rose Buds,” what is most likely suggested by the speaker’s comment about the rose buds that are “Warmed by the sunshine of your eyes”?

• A reader’s eyes, like the sun, can be bright.

• A reader’s eyes, like flowers, respond to light.

• Temperature is important in a flower’s development.

• Ideas, like rose buds, will develop if they are appreciated.

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

Part A According to “A Wreath of Rose Buds,” what happens to the buds as time passes?

• They wilt and die.

• They mature and blossom.

• They are stifled and quieted.

• They are forgotten and abandoned.

Part A answer: As time passes, the buds mature and blossom.

Part B Which quotation from the poem includes the context clue that most clearly supports the answer to Part A?

• Not on prairies bright and fair / Growing without thought or care.

• No, our simple wreath is twined / From the garden of the mind; . . .

• The tiny buds which here you see / Ask your kindly sympathy; . . .

• Their petals fair will soon unclose, / And every bud become—a Rose.