Incident Poetry

In "Incident," what is the narrator remembering?

• Neighbors gathering to celebrate Christmas Eve.

• a very bad dream the speaker once had

• the Ku Klux Klan burning a cross on the lawn

• a hurricane striking the neighborhood

After telling the story, why does the speaker in “Incident” say “nothing really happened”?

• The men put out the fire; the house was not in danger from the fire.

• The men did not physically hurt anyone; they burned the cross and went

  away.

• The men looked at the cross and left; they did not cause any damage.

• The men were having a celebration; they did not mean to frighten

  anyone.

In “Incident,” what did the speaker’s family do when the men dressed in white came? Choose TWO options.

• They watched from behind drawn shades.

• They called the police to come.

• They went to a neighbor’s house.

• They darkened their rooms and lit lamps.

• They confronted the men on the lawn.

In which case is someone most likely to start trembling?

• Friends are planning a picnic.

• The temperature is becoming hot.

• Something very scary is happening.

• The sun has come out from behind the clouds.

Read this last stanza from “Incident.”

When they were done, the men left quietly. No one came.

Nothing really happened.

By morning all the flames had dimmed.

We tell the story every year.

                If nothing happened, why does the speaker’s family tell the story every year?

• It was the closest that the speaker ever came to witnessing something scary.

• It was a very unusual event in their otherwise peaceful community.

• It happened during the speaker’s childhood, and childhood events stay with us forever.

• It frightened the family very much at the time, and the fear remains a part of them.

What is the primary emotion described in “Incident”?

• Joy

• Fear

• Curiosity

• Nostalgia

From “Incident,” which of the following is most evident or strongest characteristic of poetic stucture?

• the inclusion of vivid sensory images.

• the use of rhyme and rhythm

• the evocation of strong emotions

• the repetition of lines from stanza to stanza