Name
Date
from Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford
Reading Warm-up A
Read the following passage. Then, complete the activities.
One of the mysteries of early America is the fate of the
Lost Colony of Roanoke. In 1587, a group of English settlers built a village on Roanoke Island off the coast of what
is now North Carolina. The Roanoke colonists encountered all manner of hardship. They faced starvation, fear,
discouragement, and Native Americans who did not trust
them. The governor, John White, found it necessary to
return to England for supplies, and the colonists agreed
that if they left the site, they would carve their destination
on a tree.
When White returned in 1590, everyone in the colony
had vanished. “Cro” was carved on a tree, and “Croatan”
was etched on a fence. But why did the colonists omit any
further information, leaving out some idea of their plan?
Croatan was a nearby island, but no evidence has ever
been found to certify that the colonists arrived there.
History, science, legend, and guesswork have become
entangled, caught in a web of possibilities. One possible
theory is that the colonists, perceiving danger, set out for
Chesapeake Bay, but that this journey met with disaster.
Another theory is that Spanish soldiers wiped out the colonists. The truth is that no one knows what calamity
brought about the settlers’ end.
Today, the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site oversees
the area. Over the years, people have uncovered objects
that affirmed the existence of the colony at the site and
supported the historical claims. However, remains of the
actual settlement have not been found. After consultation
and examination of the evidence, some scientists think
that the site may now be under water. Archaeologists hope
to continue to excavate in the area and eventually solve
the mystery of the Lost Colony of Roanoke.
Unit 1 Resources: A Gathering of Voices
© Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
72
1. Circle the word that means
the same as encountered.
Use encountered in a sentence about a situation that
you’ve found challenging.
2. Underline the words that
explain omit. If you write your
initials, what do you omit?
3. Underline the word that
helps explain certify. How do
you certify that you agree to
a contract?
4. Circle the word that helps
explain entangled. Use
entangled in a sentence.
5. Underline the word that identifies what the colonists were
perceiving. Give some words
that mean the same thing as
perceiving.
6. Underline the words that tell
what the calamity did to the
settlers. Name a calamity
that has been in the news
recently.
7. Circle the words that tell
what the objects affirmed.
Use affirmed in a sentence.
8. Give a word that means the
same as consultation. Briefly
explain something you might
have a consultation about
with your friends.
Name
Date
from Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford
Reading Warm-up B
Read the following passage. Then, complete the activities.
Americans are familiar with the early events described
by William Bradford in his magnificent chronicle, Of Plymouth Plantation—the voyage, the Mayflower Compact, the
landing, the Starving Time, the First Thanksgiving. However, Bradford’s book did not end with the events of 1621.
It is comprised of records of Plymouth up to 1647, including tales of remarkable privation and danger. For all the
commendations that history has given Bradford, even
more praise should be given to him for dealing with such
adversity over so many years.
In 1623, for example, some sailors staying in Plymouth
resolved to fight the cold by building a huge fire, deciding
to burn down a number of houses. The fire was set next to
the communal storehouse, which housed the people’s
basic commodities, such as grain, vegetables, and meat.
Only with tremendous effort was the colony’s food supply
saved. Bradford admits that if the storehouse had been
destroyed, the colony would not have survived.
In 1633, an outbreak of smallpox ravaged the community, followed by an attack of locusts that ate everything in
sight. Even the most staunch and devoted of the colonists
began to doubt they could survive plagues of such biblical
proportions. Some perhaps began to question divine
mercy in the face of such cruel disasters. However, misfortune did not relent. In 1635 a hurricane struck, and in
1638 an earthquake shook the area.
Three ships full of pirates landed in Plymouth in 1646.
Each pirate was such a rogue that he would show contempt for the rule of law and scoff at the attempts of the
villagers to keep them under control. Bradford had great
difficulty in maintaining order. After six weeks, the pirates
sailed away to find richer plunder than in Bradford’s fragile but iron-willed community.
Unit 1 Resources: A Gathering of Voices
© Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
73
1. Underline the word that
helps explain comprised. The
U.S. Congress is comprised
of two governing bodies;
name them.
2. Circle the words that tell
what the sailors resolved to
do. Name something that
people have often resolved
to do on New Year’s Day.
3. Underline the words that
identify commodities. Name
three commodities you
would find in a supermarket.
4. Circle the word that means
the same as staunch. How
would you expect a staunch
friend to act in a crisis?
5. Tell why the colonists began
to doubt divine mercy. Have
you ever asked for mercy
from someone? Tell about it.
6. Circle the words that show
that nature did not relent.
Use relent in a sentence of
your own.
7. Underline the word that tells
who was a rogue. Give
another word that means the
same as rogue.
8. Underline the words that
explain scoff. Define scoff in
your own words.
Name
Date
from Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford
Literary Analysis: Author’s Purpose and Audience
To understand a nonfiction reading selection, it is helpful to identify the author’s purpose and
audience. What does he or she wish to achieve with the selection, and to whom is he or she
writing? When William Bradford returned to England, he wrote about the events that occurred
during the first journey to Plymouth and the settlement of the colony. He hoped that others would
also want to journey to the New World.
Read this passage from the selection:
Being thus arrived in a good harbor and brought safe to land, they fell upon their
knees and blessed the God of heaven, who had brought them over the vast and
furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to
set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element . . .
This passage shows that Bradford is writing for an audience that has a deep belief in a God
who will bless their endeavors and keep them safe. He is also writing to show that although the
trip was perilous, the company made it to shore safely.
DIRECTIONS: Read each passage from Of Plymouth Plantation, and then answer the questions.
What could now sustain them but the spirit of God and his grace? May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean,
and were ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord, and He heard their voice,
and looked on their adversity, etc.
1. Who is Bradford’s audience in this passage?
2. What is his purpose in writing this passage?
And of these in the time of most distress, there was but six or seven sound persons, who, . . .
spared no pains, night nor day, but with abundance of toil and hazard of their own health, fetched
them wood, made them fires, dressed them meat . . . ; in a word, did all the homely and necessary
offices for them . . . ; and all this willingly and cheerfully, without any grudging in the least, showing
herein their true love unto their friends and brethren. . . . And I doubt not but that their recompense [reward] is with the Lord.
3. What is his Bradford’s purpose in writing this passage?
4. Of what does he hope to convince his audience in this passage?
Unit 1 Resources: A Gathering of Voices
© Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
74
Name
Date
from Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford
Reading Strategy: Breaking Down Sentences
One way to understand complex passages in a selection is to break down sentences to help
unlock their meaning. This strategy is especially useful for reading the work of writers from
centuries past, who tend to write in long, complicated sentences. In the following passage from
Of Plymouth Colony, notice how the vital information telling who and what has been underlined,
while all the less essential material has been bracketed. Breaking down material in this way
helps you analyze clarity of meaning.
After they had enjoyed fair winds and weather for a season, they [were encountered
many times with crosswinds, and] met with many fierce storms, [with which the ship
was shrewdly shaken, and her upper works made very leaky; and one of the main
beams in the mid ships was bowed and cracked,] which put them in some fear that
the ship could not be able to perform the voyage.
DIRECTIONS: Break down the following passages by bracketing less essential material and
underlining the essential information that tells who and what.
1. But that which was most sad and lamentable was that in two or three months’ time, half of
their company died, wanting houses and other comforts; being infected with the scurvy
and other diseases, which this long voyage and their inaccommodate condition had
brought upon them; so as there died sometimes two or three of a day, in the foresaid time;
that of one hundred and odd persons, scarce fifty remained.
2. But after they had sailed that course about half a day, they fell amongst dangerous shoals
and roaring breakers, and they were so far entangled therewith as they conceived themselves in great danger; and the wind shrinking upon them withal, they resolved to bear up
again for the Cape, and thought themselves happy to get out of those dangers before night
overtook them, as by God’s providence they did.
3. At length they understood by discourse with him that he was not of these parts, but
belonged to the eastern parts, where some English ships came to fish, with whom he was
acquainted, and could name sundry of them by their names, amongst whom he had got his
language.
Unit 1 Resources: A Gathering of Voices
© Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
75
Name
Date
from Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford
Vocabulary Builder
Using the Word List
adversity
calamity
habitation
peril
relent
subject to
A. Many words have related forms with similar meanings. For example, peril means “danger”; a
related form is the adjective perilous, which means dangerous. Using your understanding of
the Word List words, circle the letter of the best answer to the following questions.
1. Which word most likely means “residents”?
A. inhabitants
B. subjects
C. adversaries
2. Which word most likely means “placing in danger”?
A. subjugating
B. imperiling
C. relenting
3. Which word most likely means “persistent” or “never-ceasing”?
A. subjective
B. uninhabitable C. relentless
B. DIRECTIONS: On the line, write the letter of the definition before the word or phrase it defines.
___
___
___
___
___
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
subject to
calamity
habitation
relent
adversity
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
become more merciful
unfavorable circumstances
disaster
place to live; group of homes or
affected by something
C. DIRECTIONS: On the line provided, write the word or phrase from the Word List that best
completes each of the following sentences. Use each word only once.
1. They fought the high seas and strong winds all day and feared the ship would break up,
but then at dusk the winds began to
and soon the ocean was calm
again.
2. The heavy rains poured for days, which was inconvenient for travel, but then landslides
began to pour down the slopes and the situation turned into a
.
3. The family experienced much financial
their business off the ground and start to show a profit.
Unit 1 Resources: A Gathering of Voices
© Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
76
before they were able to get
Name
Date
from Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford
Enrichment: Art
William Bradford provides us with a historical narrative of the Mayflower crossing and the
Pilgrims’ first efforts at establishing a settlement in America. While he writes from a personal
perspective that affects his description of matters both great and small, his account is still
largely factual and grounded in reality. The N. C. Wyeth painting, on the other hand, has as its
principal aim not a factual presentation but an idealized depiction of the Mayflower crossing.
Realistic and idealized depictions of historical events have different purposes and different
effects on their audience. For example, imagine that you were writing about your elementaryschool days. If your aim were to provide a realistic depiction of your experiences, you would try
to include accurate facts and an objective review of all important events, both positive and
negative, from that time. If your aim were to provide a nostalgic, idealized evocation of your
childhood, you would probably offer only the positive experiences, presenting the past in a hazy
glow in which the negative aspects are “air-brushed” out.
DIRECTIONS: Review the selection from Of Plymouth Plantation, and study the painting The
Coming of the Mayflower. How are they the same? How do they differ? On the lines below,
compare the two depictions. Summarize them in your own words, and analyze their purposes.
Also describe the effects each depiction has on you, the audience.
Unit 1 Resources: A Gathering of Voices
© Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
78
Name
Date
from Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford
Open-Book Test
Short Answer Write your response to the questions in this section on the lines provided.
1. In paragraph 1 of Of Plymouth Plantation, the sailors work to deal with the peril
of storms and threats to the ship. What were they hoping for that means the opposite
of peril?
2. Reread the sentence beginning “And truly there was great distraction and
difference of opinion . . .” in the first paragraph of Of Plymouth Plantation. What is
the difference of opinion, or conflict, among the sailors in this sentence?
3. Reread paragraph 4 in Of Plymouth Plantation, which begins “Being thus arrived
. . .”. What is Bradford’s religious purpose in writing this paragraph?
4. Reread the section beginning “Besides, what could they see but a hideous and
desolate wilderness . . .” through the end of the section from Chapter 9 of Of
Plymouth Plantation. To whom is Bradford addressing his words, and what is his
purpose in writing this section?
5. Break down the passage from Of Plymouth Plantation in this graphic organizer. As you
break it down, fill in the Who, What, and Why boxes. Then, fill in the Main Idea box.
But that which was most sad and lamentable was that in two or three
months’ time, half of their company died, especially in January and
February, being the depth of winter, and wanting house and other
comforts; being infected with the scurvy and other diseases, which this
long voyage and their inaccommodate condition had brought upon them.
Who:
What:
Why:
Main Idea:
Unit 1 Resources: A Gathering of Voices
© Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
79
Name
Date
6. Reread the second paragraph under Book 2 of Of Plymouth Plantation. What
message is Bradford giving to his audience about the presence of God in the midst of
sickness and death?
7. Reread the sentence beginning “But now amongst his company there was far
another kind of carriage . . .” in Of Plymouth Plantation. Identify who is being
described in this passage. Then, describe the attitude of these people toward
their companions (1) when everyone is healthy and (2) when illness strikes.
8. The final paragraph in the selection from Of Plymouth Plantation tells you that there
was no want in the summer months because the company fished, hunted, and
grew corn. Elsewhere, Bradford says that they learned these things from Squanto.
What would have been his purpose for writing this information in his narrative?
9. Read statements 1 and 2 in Of Plymouth Plantation of the peace agreement between
Bradford’s company and Massasoit. Do these statements describe a mutual situation? Why or why not?
10. The first paragraph in the selection from Of Plymouth Plantation tells of “desperate
and inevitable peril.” What synonym for the word peril does the context of the paragraph provide?
Essay
Write a brief response to the question of your choice or to the question or questions your
teacher assigns you.
11. In a brief essay, describe why agreements 3 and 4 are the most fair and just of the
six agreements reached by the Native Americans and the Pilgrims in Of Plymouth
Plantation.
Unit 1 Resources: A Gathering of Voices
© Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
80