The Rainbow  by William Wordsworth

 

My heart leaps up when I behold

     A rainbow in the sky;

So was it when my life began;

So is it now I am a man;

So be it when I shall grow old,

     Or let me die.

 

  1. If rainbows stop thrilling the author, he would rather
    1. grow old
    2. die
    3. watch the rain
    4. just paint a rainbow of his own

 

 

  1. When the author sees a rainbow
    1. he has a seizure
    2. he still sees it as a thrilling event
    3. he knows the rain is almost over

 

  1. The poem mentions three parts to life
    1. birth, marriage, and retirement
    2. birth, marriage, and death
    3. birth, adulthood, and death
    4. birth, adulthood, and old age

 

Sonnet 29  by William Shakespeare

 

When, in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon myself and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friends possess’d

Desiring this man’s art, and that man’s scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least;

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,

Haply I think on thee; and then my state,

Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate!

   For thy sweet love rememb’red such wealth brings

   That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

 

  1. Why does the speaker curse his fate?
    1. heaven has made him deaf
    2. because he likes to swear
    3. he’s in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes
    4. he’s weeping since he was cast out of state

 

  1. Why would heaven be deaf?
    1. one gets no immediate physical response
    2. no one is listening
    3. heaven is in trouble
    4. it’s too busy to listen to one man

 

  1. What does the speaker want?
    1. to be more rich in hope
    2. to have good looks, and lots of friends
    3. talent and brains
    4. all of the above

 

  1. The speaker compares his mood to a lark because
    1. his mood gets happy with thoughts of his love, like a lark waking and then singing at sunrise
    2. larks are moody birds, crying one minute and singing the next
    3. his moods are never serious
    4. he just wants to flatter his girl friend

 

  1. The speaker wouldn’t even switch places with a king because
    1. he already is a king
    2. he scorns kings
    3. his “wealth” come from remembering “thy sweet love”
    4. his girlfriend is a queen

 

  1. To whom is the speaker talking?
    1. a lark
    2. his girlfriend
    3. Fortune
    4. Heaven

 

George Gray  by Edgar Lee Masters

 

I have studied many times

The marble which was chiseled for me –

A boat with a furled sail at rest in a harbor.

In truth it pictures not my destination

But my life.                                                                                                                           5

For love was offered me and I shrank from its disillusionment;

Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was afraid;

Ambition called to me, but I dreaded the chances.

Yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my life.

And now I know that we must lift the sail                                                                      10

And catch the winds of destiny

Wherever they drive the boat.                                                                                          

To put meaning in one’s life may end in madness,

But life without meaning is the torture

Of restlessness and vague desire-                                                                                     15

It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.

 

  1. Since this poem speaks about George Gray’s life and it is written in the past tense, we may assume that
    1. he is old
    2. he is dead
    3. he used the wrong verb tense
    4. we can’t assume anything

 

  1. “The marble which was chiseled for me – “ is his
    1. surfboard
    2. shooter marble – the kind kids play marbles with
    3. tombstone
    4. a statue he keeps over his fireplace

 

  1. Life is compare to
    1. a sea wind
    2. the sea
    3. sorrow and ambition
    4. a boat

 

  1. George Gray could have had a fulfilling life, but
    1. he was afraid to try new things
    2. he liked the boring, dull life he was leading
    3. he missed the boat to America
    4. he got sea-sick from boat rides

 

  1. Life and boats are compared because
    1. both can suggest smooth trips once in a while
    2. both can be represented to “travel over rough areas”
    3. both can end up in unintended places
    4. all of the above

 

  1. The author has a picture of a sailboat at rest in a harbor on his tombstone. He says it does not picture his final destination,
    1. for he still sails his boat in heaven
    2. but compares it to his life since he took many chances and risked his life all the time
    3. because sorrow knocked at his door
    4. but compares it to his life since he took no chances in life

 

Solitaire  by Amy Lowell

 

When night drifts along the streets of the city,

And sifts down between the uneven roofs,

My mind begins to peek and peer.

It plays at ball in odd, blue Chinese gardens,

And shakes wrought dice-cups in Pagan temples                                                          5

Amid the broken flutings of white pillars.

It dances with purple and yellow crocuses in its hair,

And its feet shine as they flutter over drenched grasses.

How light and laughing my mind is,

When all good folk have put out their bedroom candles,                                            10

And the city is still.

 

  1. How does the real place and time of day contrast with the places and atmospheres the speaker imagines?
    1. one is good the bad
    2. one is old, the other new
    3. it’s really daytime and foreign, but she imagines it’s night time in the city
    4. it’s really night, but she imagines it’s day and in far-off places

 

  1. The author’s mind is light and laughing when others’ minds are
    1. light and laughing too
    2. sleeping
    3. drifting along the streets of the city
    4. out of their minds

 

  1. “My mind peeks”… It plays ball… and shakes dice-cups… It dances… Its feet shine… All these statements are a figure of speech called:
    1. metaphor
    2. simile
    3. onomatopoeia
    4. personification

 

  1. Examples of personification in this poem are
    1. night drifts along the streets
    2. and (night) sifts down between the uneven roofs
    3. the city is still
    4. all of the above

 

  1. Personification is usually written using
    1. prepositional phrases
    2. adjectives and adverbs
    3. nouns and verbs
    4. adjectival clauses

 

 

 

Mother to Son   by Langston Hughes

 

Well, son, I’ll tell you;

Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

It’s had tacks in it,

And splinters

And boards torn up,

And places with no carpet on the floor –

Bare.

But all the time

I’se been a-climbin’ on,

And reachin’ landin’s

And turnin’ corners,

And sometimes goin’ in the dark

Where there ain’t been no light.

So, boy, don’t you turn back,

Don’t you set down on the steps

‘Cause you finds it kinder hard.

Don’t you fall now –

For I’se stll goin’, honey,

I’se stll climbin’

And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

 

  1. What is this mother’s advice to her son?
    1. wait on the stairs for life’s rewards
    2. no matter what life sends your way, keep trying
    3. if things get tough, quit
    4. don’t climb stairs without carpets

 

  1. What does her advice show about her?
    1. she raced from place to place
    2. she lived on the top floor
    3. she surrounded herself with crystal
    4. she never gave up no matter how hard the struggle

 

  1. What would the landings represent in her life?
    1. return from a plane trip
    2. stops she made to remove splinters
    3. points in life when she had reached goals
    4. places where she planted her garden

 

  1. One may assume that the mother is giving her son advice because
    1. he is leaving home
    2. he has just gotten a job
    3. he has just encountered his first setback or failure in life
    4. all of above may be possible

 

  1. If the son does not take his mother’s advice
    1. she may leave him behind, because “I’se still climbin’ “
    2. he may achieve all of his goals
    3. she will wait for him
    4. he will find the going quite easy because his mother doesn’t know anything