America Poem

What is the author's purpose of placing some lines in parenthesis?

• Those lines are meant to be ignored.

• Those lines represent the speaker's imagination.

• Those lines introduce a second speaker in the poem.

• Those lines are the most important parts of the text.

Who does the poem's second speaker represent?

• people who owned American land

• people who profited from stolen land

• people who suffered in the formation of America

• people who fought for American independence

The second speaker claims that...

• ...they built Africa

• ...they built Poland

• ...they built Ireland

• ...they built America

For the second speaker America will be America again when...

• those who worked hard to make America are free

• the people who stole the land from others are gone

• the people who stole the lang from others are remorseful

• those who worked hard to make America are ready to fight

What is the theme of the poem?

• America was once great, and it can be great again.

• America was once great, but it will never be great again.

• America was never great for those who built it, and it never will be.

• America was never great for those who built it, but it can be in the future.

Which statement best supports the poem's central theme?

• "I am the young man, full of strength and hope, / Tangled in that ancient endless chain" (Lines 25-26)

• "I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil / I am the worker sold to the machine" (Lines 31-32)

• "I am the man who never got ahead, / The poorest worker bartered through the years." (Lines 37-38)

• O, let America be America again— / The land that never has been yet—" (Lines 62-63)

Which statement best expresses how the author develops the second speaker's point of view?

• The second speaker agrees with the first speaker, but wants everyone in America to be happy and free.

• The second speaker questions the first speaker and explains that there are lots of people who are treated unfairly in America.

• The second speaker disagrees with the first speaker and explains the history of those people who have been treated unfairly in America.

• The second speaker builds on what the first speaker says, and describes America as becoming a place where everyone is happy and free once more.

What does the phrase, "And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?" likely mean, as it is used in line 18?

• Who is this person who is talking about space exploration?

• Who is this person who is talking over me when I am speaking?

• Who is this person who is talking negatively about my positive attitude?

• Who is this person who is talking negatively about the design of the American flag?