Hearing whose voice carries the images

English · Reading Comprehension · ages 15-16

Name ______________________ Date ____________

What does imagery do in a poem?
- It gives concrete pictures so ideas land without direct statement
- It lists publication dates
- It counts the stanzas
A poem says we while describing a dawn march. Who is speaking?
- Always the poet in person
- A speaker the poet built, who may differ from the poet
- The printer of the book
A poem should be read only once, silently, before judging it.
Circle one: True False
One grim image sits oddly among gentle ones. How should you treat it?
- Mark it, since the oddest image often does the most work
- Skip it as a printing error
- Delete the stanza
Light returns in every stanza of a hopeful poem, growing stronger. What is it doing?
- Filling space between rhymes
- Proving the poet owns a lamp
- Building the poem's claim piece by piece without stating it
Why connect each appearance of a repeating image with a line?
- To decorate the margin
- To count syllables faster
- To watch what the image gathers as it crosses stanzas
Swapping the speaker from marcher to bystander changes every image's weight. What does that show?
- Images mean nothing at all
- Poems should have no speaker
- The voice you hear decides which pictures matter and how
A critic says the caged bird stanza proves the poet was jailed. What is the flaw?
- Speaker and poet can stand far apart, so biography needs more proof
- Poems never use birds
- Stanzas cannot be counted

Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

It gives concrete pictures so ideas land without direct statement · Word-pictures carry the feeling the sentences never state.
A speaker the poet built, who may differ from the poet · The voice inside belongs to the poem, not automatically its author.
False · Read twice at least: silent first, then aloud for the ear.
Mark it, since the oddest image often does the most work · Friction against the pattern is usually where meaning gathers.
Building the poem's claim piece by piece without stating it · A developing image carries the argument the lines withhold.
To watch what the image gathers as it crosses stanzas · Linked marks turn scattered pictures into one visible thread.
The voice you hear decides which pictures matter and how · Voice shapes the image set, so test the poem under another voice.
Speaker and poet can stand far apart, so biography needs more proof · An invented voice can suffer things its maker never lived.