**Name: _________________________________
Date: _________________________
HR: ___________________________________
Teacher: ______________________
Objectives:
SWBAT unpack a poem using the Poetry Big 4
SWBAT use the test-taking strategy of covering answer options with their hand
Do Now:
Directions: Use your poetry reference task to help you. Pay Attention to the important
underlined words in the questions.
1. Is the speaker the same as the poet?
a. YES
b. NO
2. What is the rhyme scheme of the following four lines?
The big black bear
Wandered without a care
As he hunted fish in the stream
He watched the water gleam
And eventually returned to his lair
a.
b.
c.
d.
AABBC
AABBA
ABCDE
ABABC
3. “Our washing machine went whisity whirr, whisity whisity whisity whir” is an example of:
a. Personification
b. Onomatopoeia
c. Simile
d. Metaphor
4. “A dozen dreams to dance to you” is an example of:
a. Simile
b. Metaphor
c. Alliteration
d. Onomatopoeia
5. “Little trees like pencil strokes” is an example of:
a. Metaphor
b. Onomatopoeia
c. Simile
d. Personification
6. “Silence walks the city in her pretty velvet shoes” is an example of:
a. Metaphor
b. Simile
c. Personification
d. Alliteration
7. “My feet were two woolen fish in those outrageous socks” is an example of:
a. Metaphor
b. Simile
c. Personification
d. Onomatopoeia
8. Hyperbole is:
a. A word that makes a noise or sound
b. Exaggeration
c. Rhyming
d. The attitude of the speaker in a poem
9. Poetry is:
a. When two or more words make the same sound at the end of the word
b. A genre of literature that uses the way words look and sound (rhythm) to transmit
meaning to the reader
c. A group of lines in a poem, like a paragraph in a story
d. Any writing written in sections like newspapers, essays, articles
10. Match the following terms with their definitions:
TONE ________
A. The feeling an author creates in a
story (IOW, how the author wants
you, the reader, to feel)
MOOD ________
B. The attitude of the speaker in the
poem (IOW, how the speaker feels)
Directions: Reread the poem and answer the questions that follow. Pay attention to
important underlined words in the questions.
Fifteen
By William Stafford
5
South of the bridge on Seventeenth
I found back of the willows one summer
day a motorcycle with engine running
as it lay on its side, ticking over
slowly in the high grass. I was fifteen.
10
I admired all that pulsating gleam, the
Shiny flanks, the demure headlights
Fringed where it lay; I led it gently
To the road and stood with that
companion, ready and friendly. I was fifteen.
15
We could find the end of the road, meet
the sky on out Seventeenth. I thought about
hills, and patting the handle got back a
confident opinion. On the bridge we indulged
a forward feeling, a tremble. I was fifteen.
20
Thinking, back farther in the grass I found
the owner, just coming to, where he had flipped
over the rail. He had blood on his hand, was pale—
I helped him walk to his machine. He ran his hand
over it, called me a good man, roared away.
I stood there, fifteen.
1. Based on the first stanza what is most likely the definition of “willows”?
a. a type of tall tree
b. small ponds
c. streets and alleys
2. Based on line 7 what does the word “flanks” most likely mean?
a. grasses
b. helmet
c. sides
3. According to the poem what appeals most to the speaker about the motorcycle?
a. the monetary worth of the bike
b. the beauty and freedom it possesses
c. breaking the law and driving underage
4. In stanza 3 who is the “we” the speaker refers to?
a. The speaker and his girlfriend
b. The speaker and the motorcycle
c. The speaker and the injured man
5. What is the effect of the last line?
a. it makes the speaker seem more mature for his age
b. it helps the reader visualize the boy’s appearance
c. it creates a sense of loneliness as the rider drives away