Fog by Carl Sandburg
The fog comes
On little
cat feet.
It sits looking
Over the city
On silent haunches
And then moves on.
- Fog is compared to a cat because
- both move quietly
- both can be driven away
- both go out at night only
- cats like foggy nights
- What sits looking over the harbor and city?
- a cat
- haunches
- feet
- the fog
- Why did the author say it “Sits on silent
haunches”?
- because it sits low to the ground
- because “haunches” is a spooky word
- silent haunches is another name for boat docks
- he wanted to combine “haunted” and “hunches.”
- When fog “sits looking over the city…” the author
is using
- metaphor
- simile
- personification
- hyperbole
The Falling Star
by Sara Teasdale
I saw a star slide down the
sky.
Blinding the north as it went
by,
Too burning hot and too quick
to hold,
Too lovely to be bought or
sold,
Good only to make wishes on
And then
forever to be gone.
- The falling star is about
- a rock star that is not popular anymore
- a sun setting quickly
- a shooting star
- the Northern Lights
- Falling stars are only good for
- blinding people in the north
- holding on to
- buying and selling
- to make wishes on
- Falling stars are forever gone because
- comets seldom come our way
- no one can find them
- they burn up in our atmosphere
- they get sold for souvenirs
Dream Deferred
by Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream
deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore-
And then run? 5
Does it stink like rotten
meat?
Or crust and sugar over-
Like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
Like a heavy load. 10
Or does it explode?
- Deferred means to
- accomplish
- nightmare
- day dream
- put off until later
- A dream deferred is like a
- goal in life that one puts off
- goal in life that one accomplishes
- nightmare that haunts us repeatedly
- nap in the afternoon on a warm summer day
- A dream deferred is compared to
- a raisin
- a sore
- rotten meat
- all of the above
- One would assume that the author would urge us
all to
- put off what you can until tomorrow
- not put off any dreams in your life
- buy his book
- not buy rotten meat
- Since the poem starts with a question, and ends
with a question, we may assume that
- The author really doesn’t know what happens to a
dream deferred
- The author likes riddles
- The author is stupid
- He wants you stay tuned for part II, coming next
season on HBO
- Every sentence in the poem is a question except
line(s)
- 4,5
- 6
- 7,8
- 9,10
Sea-Fever by John Masefield
I must go down to the seas
again, to the lonely sea and sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship
and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel’s kick and wind’s
song and the white sails shaking,
And a gray
mist on the sea’s face and a gray dawn breaking.
I must go down to the seas
again, for the call of the running tide 5
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day
with the white clouds flying,
And the
flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
I must go down to the seas
again to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the
whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife; 10
And all I ask is a merry yarn
from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet
dream when the long trick’s over.
- In line 3 “the wheel’s kick” and “wind’s song”
and “sail’s shaking” makes one think that these things are
- alive
- singing and dancing to the disco beat
- trying to beat up sailors
- sailor’s drunken hallucinations
- In line 4 the “sea’s face” is
- the reflection of the sailor’s face in the water
- a fish looking out of the water
- the surface of the water
- another drunken hallucination
- The “call” that the sailor beckons to in lines 5
and 6 is
- the call of the sea-gulls
- a fog-horn
- a phone call, but a wrong number
- something within a person that makes him or her want to
do a certain thing in life. (A calling in life.)
- In line 9 a sailor is compared to a gypsy because
- both travel a lot
- both wear neat clothes
- both tell fortunes, and are superstitious
- neither like to “rock the boat”
- “all I ask is a merry yarn…” means
- a cheery sweater to wear
- good conversation and funny stories
- yarn for Christmas wool socks
- all of the above
- Since the title is “Sea-Fever” one may assume
that
- the author gets sea-sick frequently
- the author runs a high temperature while in a
boat
- this is a sickness one gets from drinking salt
water
- the author gets a real craving to go sailing
every once in a while
Preface To a Twenty Volume
Suicide Note by Leroi Jones
Lately, I’ve become
accustomed to the way
The ground opens up and
envelops me
Each time I go out to walk
the dog.
Or the broad edged silly
music the wind
Makes when I run for a bus – 5
Things have come to that.
And now, each night I count
the stars,
And each night I get the same
number.
And when they will not come
to be counted
I count the holes they leave. 10
Nobody sings anymore.
And then last night, I
tiptoed up
To my daughter’s room and
heard her
Talking to someone, and when
I opened
The door, there was no one
there… 15
Only she on her knees,
Peeking
into her cupped hands.
- In line 2 the author means
- the ground actually opens up and swallows him
- he feels isolated and lonely
- the dog drags him down canyons
- he’d like to mail himself in an envelope
- In line 4 the author means
- the whistling sound the wind makes whipping past
your ear
- the wind is playing silly music
- there is loud music coming from some person’s
radio
- someone is running for a bus
- When the stars don’t come out to be counted, they
leave
- counts
- songs
- music
- holes
- Since this is a preface to a twenty volume
suicide note, we may assume
- that the author intends to commit suicide soon
- that he will kill his dog
- it will take a lifetime to finish his “note”
- he’ll wait until Hollywood makes a film out of his
paperback
- When the poem states “The ground opens up and
envelops me”, the author wants
- to give human qualities to the ground
- to confuse us
- to make us think he is in danger
- to simply add more words to the poem
- The author sees his daughter
- praying her night prayers
- talking to a leprechaun
- talking to herself
- talking on her cell phone