Skills Lesson: Structure Answers

Which phrase best defines “figurative language”?

In the movie X-Men: First Class (2011), the character Mystique must decide between defending the people who hate her or using violence to gain human rights. What type of conflict does Mystique face?

What is character motivation?

Read the excerpt below from “The Lake of the Dismal Swamp” by Thomas Moore and complete the instruction that follows. Away to the Dismal Swamp he speeds—His path was rugged and sore,Through tangled juniper, beds of reeds,Through many a fen where the serpent feeds,And man never trod before. Identify the pattern of rhyme and meter.

Read the poem below and answer the question that follows. “Hanging Fire”by Audre Lorde I am fourteenand my skin has betrayed methe boy I cannot live withoutstill sucks his thumbin secrethow come my knees arealways so ashywhat if I diebefore the morning comesand momma’s in the bedroomwith the door closed. I have to learn how to dancein time for the next partymy room is too small for mesuppose I die before graduationthey will sing sad melodiesbut finallytell the truth about meThere is nothing I want to doand too muchthat has to be doneand momma’s in the bedroomwith the door closed. Nobody even stops to thinkabout my side of itI should have been on Math Teammy marks were better than hiswhy do I have to bethe one wearing bracesI have nothing to wear tomorrowwill I live long enoughto grow upand momma’s in the bedroomwith the door closed. Source: Lorde, Audre. “Hanging Fire.” The Black Unicorn: Poems. New York: Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, 1978. El Camino College. Web. 06 June 2011. Which poetic techniques are illustrated in the opening lines “I am fourteen/and my skin has betrayed me/the boy I cannot live without/still sucks his thumb/in secret”?

Read the poems below and answer the question that follows. “The Taxi”by Amy Lowell When I go away from youThe world beats deadLike a slackened drum.I call out for you against the jutted starsAnd shout into the ridges of the wind.Streets coming fast,One after the other,Wedge you away from me,And the lamps of the city prick my eyesSo that I can no longer see your face.Why should I leave you,To wound myself upon the sharp edges of the night? Source: Lowell, Amy. “The Taxi.” Sword Blades and Poppy Seeds. New York: MacMillan Co., 1914. Google Books. Web. 29 June 2011. “Where Have You Gone”by Mari Evans Where have you gonewith your confidentwalk withyour crooked smile why did you leavemewhen you took yourlaughterand departedare you aware thatwith youwent the sunall lightand what few starsthere were? Where have you gonewith your confidentwalk yourcrooked smile therent moneyin one pocket andmy heartin another . . . Source: Evans, Mari. “Where Have You Gone.” I Am a Black Woman. New York: Morrow, 1970. Google Books. Web. 29 June 2011. Which statement offers the best comparison of the two poems?

Read the excerpt below from “The Lake of the Dismal Swamp” by Thomas Moore and answer the question that follows. “They made her a grave, too cold and dampFor a soul so warm and true;And she’s gone to the Lake of the Dismal Swamp,Where, all night long, by a fire-fly lamp,She paddles her white canoe. “And her fire-fly lamp I soon shall see,And her paddle I soon shall hear;Long and loving our life shall be,And I’ll hide the maid in a cypress tree,When the footstep of death is near.” Who is the speaker in this section of the poem?

Read the poem below and answer the question that follows. “Fog”by Carl Sandburg The fog comeson little cat feet. It sits lookingover harbor and cityon silent haunchesand then moves on. Source: Sandberg, Carl. “Fog.” Chicago Poems. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1916. 71. Web. Representative Poetry Online. Web. 9 June 2011. Which of the following excerpts from the poem reflects the use of figurative language? I. “The fog comes/on little cat feet.” II. “It sits looking/over harbor and city” III. “on silent haunches/and then moves on.”

When the plot of a story includes the main character’s internal conflict, which of the following may be true?

Read the poem below and answer the question that follows. “The Taxi”by Amy Lowell When I go away from youThe world beats deadLike a slackened drum.I call out for you against the jutted starsAnd shout into the ridges of the wind.Streets coming fast,One after the other,Wedge you away from me,And the lamps of the city prick my eyesSo that I can no longer see your face.Why should I leave you,To wound myself upon the sharp edges of the night? Source: Lowell, Amy. “The Taxi.” Sword Blades and Poppy Seeds. New York: MacMillan Co., 1914. Google Books. Web. 29 June 2011. Which poetic techniques does Lowell use in the first three lines of this poem?

Which words are an example of slant rhyme?

Read the poem below and answer the question that follows. “Fog”by Carl Sandburg The fog comeson little cat feet. It sits lookingover harbor and cityon silent haunchesand then moves on. Source: Sandberg, Carl. “Fog.” Chicago Poems. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1916. 71. Representative Poetry Online. Web. 9 June 2011. Which two things are being compared in the poem?

Read the excerpt below from the poem “I Knew a Woman” by Theodore Roethke and answer the question that follows. She played it quick, she played it light and loose;My eyes, they dazzled at her flowing knees;Her several parts could keep a pure repose,Or one hip quiver with a mobile nose(She moved in circles, and those circles moved). Source: Roethke, Theodore. “I Knew a Woman.” The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke. New York: Random House Inc., 1961. Poetry Foundation. Web. 9 June 2011. Which of the following images from the excerpt indicates an exhilarated mood? I. “She played it quick, she played it light and loose;” II. “My eyes, they dazzled at her flowing knees;” III. “(She moved in circles, and those circles moved).”

Read the excerpt below from the poem “There’s a certain Slant of light” by Emily Dickinson and answer the question that follows. When it comes, the landscape listens,Shadows hold their breath. Source: Dickinson, Emily. “There’s a certain Slant of light.” The Poems of Emily Dickinson. Ed. R. W. Franklin. Harvard: Harvard University Press, 1999. Poetry Foundation. Web. 9 June. 2011. Which technique does this excerpt use?

Read the excerpt below from the poem “Ulysses” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and answer the question that follows. Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;Death closes all; but something ere the end,Some work of noble note, may yet be done,Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deepMoans round with many voices. Come, my friends,‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.Push off, and sitting well in order smiteThe sounding furrows; for my purpose holdsTo sail beyond the sunset, and the bathsOf all the western stars, until I die.It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’We are not now that strength which in old daysMoved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;One equal temper of heroic hearts,Made weak by time and fate, but strong in willTo strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. Source: Tennyson, Alfred. “Ulysses.” The Early Poems of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. London: Edward Moxon, 1842. Project Gutenberg. 2005. Web. 7 June 2011. In this poem, Tennyson refers to both Ulysses and Achilles. What is this technique called in literature?