Poem Reminiscing

Read the following poem.

Reminiscing by Ralph Cortez

1 Watermelons were so much sweeter then,

2 When boys were the stuff of super men,

3 And summers seemed so much longer too,

4 With nothing pending and nothing due.

5 We were swordsmen—swashbuckling heroes,

6 Eternal victors—never zeroes;

7 Second basemen and clean-up hitters;

8 Forever winners, never quitters.

9 Play was a ritual in those days,

10 To go on magical mind forays,

11 To play the game with aplomb and ease,

12 To venture forth when and where we’d please.

13 We would feign death, and then rise up again.

14 Watermelons were so much sweeter then.

What is the main purpose of “Reminiscing”?

• to tell a story about a childhood experience

• to capture a feeling from the past

• to debate whether childhood or adulthood is better

• to describe a person who was important in the life of a child

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Read the following lines from "Reminiscing" and answer the question that follows.

11 To play the game with aplomb and ease,

12 To venture forth when and where we’d please.

According to the context, what does aplomb mean?

• Logic

• Confidence

• Embarrassment

• Confusion

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Read the following poem and answer the question that follows.

Piano by D. H. Lawrence

1 Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me:

2 Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see

3 A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling

strings

4 And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles

as she sings.

5 In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song

6 Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong

7 To the old Sunday evenings at home, winter outside

8 And hymns in the cozy parlor, the tinkling piano our guide. 9 So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamor

10 With the great black piano appassionato. The glamour

11 Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast

12 Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for

the past.

The word “appassionato” in line 10 of “Piano” contains a Latin root that tells you that the music is played -

• softly and quietly.

• loudly and humorously.

• with a gentle touch.

• with strong feeling.

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CCSS.RL.7.4

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Read the poem and answer the question that follows.

Piano by D. H. Lawrence

1 Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me:

2 Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see

3 A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling

strings

4 And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles

as she sings.

5 In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song

6 Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong

7 To the old Sunday evenings at home, winter outside

8 And hymns in the cozy parlor, the tinkling piano our guide. 9 So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamor

10 With the great black piano appassionato. The glamour

11 Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast

12 Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for

the past.

In “Piano,” what causes the speaker to recall a memory?

• a winter day

• a woman singing

• the sight of a piano

• familiar music

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CCSS.RL.7.10

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Read "Piano" and answer the question that follows.

Piano by D. H. Lawrence

1 Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me:

2 Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see

3 A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling

strings

4 And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles

as she sings.

5 In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song

6 Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong

7 To the old Sunday evenings at home, winter outside

8 And hymns in the cozy parlor, the tinkling piano our guide. 9 So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamor

10 With the great black piano appassionato. The glamour

11 Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast

12 Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for

the past.

In lines 11 and 12 of “Piano,” the words “my manhood is cast down in the flood of remembrance” mean that the speaker feels

• proud of what he has accomplished.

• strongly connected to his father.

• that his mother relied on him when he was a child.

• as if he were a child.

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Read "Piano" and answer the question that follows.

Piano by D. H. Lawrence

1 Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me:

2 Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see

3 A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling

strings

4 And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles

as she sings.

5 In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song

6 Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong

7 To the old Sunday evenings at home, winter outside

8 And hymns in the cozy parlor, the tinkling piano our guide. 9 So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamor

10 With the great black piano appassionato. The glamour

11 Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast

12 Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for

the past.

What does vista mean as it is used in line 2?

• blindness

• view

• kind

• perspective

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CCSS.RL.7.4

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Reread "Reminiscing" and "Piano" and use the two texts to answer the question that follows.

Reminiscing by Ralph Cortez

1 Watermelons were so much sweeter then,

2 When boys were the stuff of super men,

3 And summers seemed so much longer too,

4 With nothing pending and nothing due.

5 We were swordsmen—swashbuckling heroes,

6 Eternal victors—never zeroes;

7 Second basemen and clean-up hitters;

8 Forever winners, never quitters.

9 Play was a ritual in those days,

10 To go on magical mind forays,

11 To play the game with aplomb and ease,

12 To venture forth when and where we’d please.

13 We would feign death, and then rise up again.

14 Watermelons were so much sweeter then.

Piano by D. H. Lawrence

1 Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me:

2 Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see

3 A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling

strings

4 And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who

smiles as she sings.

5 In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song

6 Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong

7 To the old Sunday evenings at home, winter outside

8 And hymns in the cozy parlor, the tinkling piano our guide. 9 So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamor

10 With the great black piano appassionato. The glamour

11 Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast

12 Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for

the past

The structure of “Reminiscing” is similar to that of “Piano” in that both poems -

• separate ideas into stanzas.

• alternate the length of lines.

• organize lines into rhyming couplets.

• use the same number of syllables per line.

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Read paragraph 3 and answer the question that follows.

1 The Supreme Court was absolutely correct to say it’s OK for students to grade one another’s homework, quizzes, and tests; in fact, it’s a great idea.

2 By grading one another’s papers and seeing the problems their peers encounter, as well as their own, students double their exposure to the troubles that they may meet on future exams and tests. The basic purpose of school is to learn not just what others have done right, but to learn from what they have done wrong. How better to teach this than to put it directly into the lives of students?

3 Teachers are underappreciated and underpaid for the number of hours they have to work to be able to really teach well. Grading all their students’ papers can take hours on end. Some of that time and energy can be saved by spending a few minutes in class, while providing an invaluable learning experience.

4 I understand that some individuals are sensitive to their classmates seeing their work or grades. School is a place where every mistake can be learned from, and self-esteem can be built. Any good teacher would make allowances for students who don’t want their classmates to grade their assignments.

5 Grading one another’s papers may be one of the best ways for students to reinforce within themselves the ways to respond to the most difficult parts of what they are learning. It simply can’t be denied that in-class grading of assignments is a great way to learn, and those with personal issues can resolve those issues if they just present their problems to their teachers. Allowing students to learn in the best way they are able should be the responsibility of society. If learning in school upsets some students and their parents, perhaps they don’t really realize what they are upset about.

Which summary of paragraph 3 is the most accurate?

• Students can do a better job of grading than teachers can.

• Teachers should be paid higher salaries for grading.

• Teachers can devote more time to teaching duties if students do the grading.

• Students learn more from one another than from teachers.

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Read the excerpt and answer the question that follows.

Grading one another’s papers may be one of the best ways for students to reinforce within themselves the ways to respond to the most difficult parts of what they are learning.

In this sentence, the verb to reinforce has the same meaning as -

• to deliver.

• to imagine.

• to strengthen.

• to create.

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CCSS.RI.7.4

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Read the following:

"What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?"

This is what type of figurative language?

• simile

• metaphor

• hyperbole

• onomatopoeia

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CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.8.10

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