Exercise 3
The following text is from Georgia Douglas Johnson’s 1922 poem "Benediction."
>Go forth, my son,
>Winged by my heart’s desire!
>Great reaches, yet unknown,
>Await
>For your possession.
>I may not, if I would,
>Retrace the way with you,
>My pilgrimage is through,
But life is calling you!
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
A. To express hope that a child will have the same accomplishments as his parent
did
B. To suggest that raising a child involves many struggles
C. To warn a child that he will face many challenges throughout his life
D. To encourage a child to embrace the experiences life will offer
2
The following text is adapted from William Shakespeare’s 1609 poem "Sonnet 27."
The poem is addressed to a close friend as if he were physically present.
>Weary with toil, I [hurry] to my bed,
>The dear repose for limbs with travel tired;
>But then begins a journey in my head
>To work my mind, when body’s work’s expired:
For then my thoughts—from far where I abide— [Begin] a zealous pilgrimage to
thee, And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,
What is the main idea of the text?
A. The speaker is asleep and dreaming about traveling to see the friend.
B. The speaker is planning an upcoming trip to the friend’s house.
C. The speaker is too fatigued to continue a discussion with the friend.
D. The speaker is thinking about the friend instead of immediately falling asleep.
3
The following text is from Oscar Wilde’s 1881 poem "Her Voice." The poem is told
by a speaker who is having to accept the end of a relationship she once vowed to
uphold for eternity.
>Look upward where the white gull screams,
>What does it see that we do not see?
>Is that a star? or the lamp that gleams
>On some outward voyaging argosy,—
>Ah! can it be
>We have lived our lives in a land of dreams!
>How sad it seems.
>Sweet, there is nothing left to say
>But this, that love is never lost,
>Keen winter stabs the breasts of May
>Whose crimson roses burst his frost,
>Ships tempest-tossed
>Will find a harbor in some bay,
And so we may.
What is the main idea of the text?
A. The speaker believes in a bright future of their relationship.
B. The speaker sees her lover as her destiny, despite the absence of love between
them.
C. The speaker identifies the differences between her and her lover.
D. The speaker explores the complexity of their relationship, in which they love
each other but cannot be together.
4
The following text is from Thomas Hardy’s poem "In Time of ‘the Breaking of
Nations’" written in 1915 when the First World War was raging.
>Only a man harrowing clods
>In a slow silent walk
>With an old horse that stumbles and nods
>Half asleep as they stalk.
>Only thin smoke without flame
>From the heaps of couch-grass;
>Yet this will go onward the same
>Though Dynasties pass.
>Yonder a maid and her wight
>Come whispering by:
>War’s annals will fade into night
Ere their story die.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
A. To suggest that the war is a regular part of human history
B. To highlight that the lives of meek people lasted long enough and will continue to
last
C. To assert that the impacts of work, nature, and love are more powerful than the
short-lived aftermath of war
D. To achieve consolation to people surviving a horrible war via pastoral life
unchanged for centuries
5
The following text is from Emily Dickinson’s 1883 poem "He Ate and Drank the
Precious Words."
>He ate and drank the precious words,
>His spirit grew robust;
>He knew no more that he was poor,
>Nor that his frame was dust.
>He danced along the dingy days,
>And this bequest of wings
>Was but a book. What liberty
A loosened spirit brings!
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
A. To describe an old, poor man’s joy from reading to free him from his life’s bonds
B. To portray a man with “wings" given by a book, able to dance, feel, and
experience life like before
C. To tell readers the words allows a poor man to escape reality
D. To encourage readers to find their own wings through reading
6
43. The following text is from Emily Dickinson’s 1890 poem "Autumn."
>The morns are meeker than they were,
>The nuts are getting brown;
>The berry’s cheek is plumper,
>The rose is out of town.
>The maple wears a gayer scarf,
>The field a scarlet gown.
>Lest I should be old-fashioned,
I’ll put a trinket on.
Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
A. It describes the weather as meek, and the berry as plumper.
B. It is a brief but sensory-rich exploration of autumn’s natural world.
C. It provides vivid sensory details about the changes in the world that shifts from
summer to autumn.
D. It describes the visual and sensory details, including no roses in autumn and the
colour of the nuts, trees, and fields.
7
The following text is from Emily Dickinson’s c. 1861 poem "‘Hope’ is the Thing with
Feathers."
>"Hope" is the thing with feathers —
>That perches in the soul —
>And sings the tune without the words —
>And never stops — at all —
>And sweetest — in the Gale — is heard —
>And sore must be the storm —
>That could abash the little Bird
>That kept so many warm —
>I’ve heard it in the chillest land —
>And on the strangest Sea —
>Yet — never — in Extremity,
It asked a crumb — of me.
What is the main idea of the text?
A. Hope is in the soul and pertains no matter what.
B. Hope gives people power and drives them.
C. Hope helped during troubled times without asking for anything.
D. An abstract concept is reinstated through figurative language and unexpected
imagery.
8
The following text is adapted from William Shakespeare’s 1609 poem "Sonnet 27."
The poem is addressed to a close friend as if he were physically present.
Weary with toil, I [hurry] to my bed, The dear repose for limbs with travel tired; But
then begins a journey in my head To work my mind, when body’s work’s expired:
For then my thoughts—from far where I abide— [Begin] a zealous pilgrimage to
thee, And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,
What is the main idea of the text?
A. The speaker is asleep and dreaming about traveling to see the friend.
B. The speaker is planning an upcoming trip to the friend’s house.
C. The speaker is too fatigued to continue a discussion with the friend.
D. The speaker is thinking about the friend instead of immediately falling asleep.
9
The following text is from Ezra Pound’s 1909 poem "Hymn III," based on the work of
Marcantonio Flaminio.
>As a fragile and. lovely flower unfolds its gleaming
>foliage on the breast of the fostering earth, if the dew and the rain draw it forth;
>So doth my tender mind flourish, if it be fed with the
>sweet dew of the fostering spirit,
>Lacking this, it beginneth straightway to languish,
>even as a floweret born upon dry earth, if the
dew and the rain tend it not.
Based on the text, in what way is the human mind like a flower?
A. It becomes increasingly vigorous with the passage of time.
B. It draws strength from changes in the weather.
C. It requires proper nourishment in order to thrive.
D. It perseveres despite challenging circumstances.
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Exercise 4
The following text is from the 1924 poem "Cycle" by D’Arcy McNickle, who was a
citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.
>There shall be new roads wending,
>A new beating of the drum—
>Men’s eyes shall have fresh seeing,
>Grey lives reprise their span—
>But under the new sun’s being,
>Completing what night began,
>There’ll be the same backs bending,
>The same sad feet shall drum—
>When this night finds its ending
And day shall have come.....
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
A. To consider how the repetitiveness inherent in human life can be both rewarding
and challenging
B. To question whether activities completed at one time of day are more memorable
than those completed at another time of day
C. To refute the idea that joy is a more commonly experienced emotion than
sadness is
D. To demonstrate how the experiences of individuals relate to the experiences of
their communities
2
The following text is adapted from Gwendolyn Bennett’s 1926 poem "Street Lamps
in Early Spring."
>Night wears a garment
>All velvet soft, all violet blue...
>And over her face she draws a veil
>As shimmering fine as floating dew...
>And here and there
>In the black of her hair
>The subtle hands of Night
Move slowly with their gem-starred light.
Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
A. It presents alternating descriptions of night in a rural area and in a city.
B. It sketches an image of nightfall, then an image of sunrise.
C. It makes an extended comparison of night to a human being.
D. It portrays how night changes from one season of the year to the next.
3
The following text is from the 1923 poem "Black Finger" by Angelina Weld Grimké, a
Black American writer. A cypress is a type of evergreen tree.
>I have just seen a most beautiful thing,
>Slim and still,
>Against a gold, gold sky,
>A straight black cypress,
>Sensitive,
>Exquisite,
>A black finger
>Pointing upwards.
>Why, beautiful still finger, are you black?
And why are you pointing upwards?
Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
A. The speaker assesses a natural phenomenon, then questions the accuracy of her
assessment.
B. The speaker describes a distinctive sight in nature, then ponders what meaning
to attribute to that sight.
C. The speaker presents an outdoor scene, then considers a human behavior
occurring within that scene.
D. The speaker examines her surroundings, then speculates about their influence on
her emotional state.
4
The following text is from Charlotte Forten Grimké’s 1888 poem "At Newport."
>Oh, deep delight to watch the gladsome waves
>Exultant leap upon the rugged rocks;
>Ever repulsed, yet ever rushing on—
>Filled with a life that will not know defeat;
>To see the glorious hues of sky and sea.
>The distant snowy sails, glide spirit like,
>Into an unknown world, to feel the sweet
>Enchantment of the sea thrill all the soul,
>Clearing the clouded brain, making the heart
Leap joyous as it own bright, singing waves!
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a
whole?
A. It portrays the surroundings as an imposing and intimidating scene.
B. It characterizes the sea’s waves as a relentless and enduring force.
C. It conveys the speaker’s ambivalence about the natural world.
D. It draws a contrast between the sea’s waves and the speaker’s thoughts.
5
The following text is from Walt Whitman’s 1860 poem "Calamus 24."
>I HEAR it is charged against me that I seek to destroy institutions;
>But really I am neither for nor against institutions
>(What indeed have I in common with them?— Or what with the destruction of
them?),
>Only I will establish in the Mannahatta [Manhattan] and in every city of These
States, inland and seaboard,
>And in the fields and woods, and above every keel [ship] little or large, that dents
the water,
>Without edifices, or rules, or trustees, or any argument,
The institution of the dear love of comrades.
Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
A. The speaker questions an increasingly prevalent attitude, then summarizes his
worldview.
B. The speaker regrets his isolation from others, then predicts a profound change in
society.
C. The speaker concedes his personal shortcomings, then boasts of his many
achievements.
D. The speaker addresses a criticism leveled against him, then announces a grand
ambition of his.
6
The following text is from T. S. Eliot’s 1917 poem "Morning at the Window."
>They are rattling breakfast plates in basement kitchens,
>And along the trampled edges of the street
>I am aware of the damp souls of housemaids
>Sprouting despondently at area gates.
>The brown waves of fog toss up to me
>Twisted faces from the bottom of the street,
>And tear from a passer-by with muddy skirts
>An aimless smile that hovers in the air
And vanishes along the level of the roofs.
Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
A. The speaker hears and sees tyrannised servants sadly and dismally engaged in
their morning chores.
B. The speaker notices the disembodied faces through the polluted air filled with
brown fog.
C. The speaker indicates the direction for the readers to travel around the residence
in the morning, starting from places nearby and proceeding to the distant ones.
D. The speaker marks modern urban life by severe class inequality, despair, and
alienation.
7
The following text is from Robert Frost’s 1923 poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay."
>Nature’s first green is gold,
>Her hardest hue to hold.
>Her early leaf’s a flower;
>But only so an hour.
>Then leaf subsides to leaf.
>So Eden sank to grief,
>So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
A. To assert that all things fade over time, which can partially make some of them
beautiful
B. To assert that the commonly appreciated beauty of the first buds and spawns of
green rising up after a lengthy winter is extremely precious
C. To assert that it is impossible to maintain a plant green forever
D. To clarify that there is nothing constant in nature
8
The following text is from William Butler Yeats’s 1916 poem "The Fisherman." In the
poem the speaker recalls a fisherman and "write for my own race and the reality."
>The living men that I hate,
>The dead man that I loved,
>The craven man in his seat,
>The insolent unreproved,
>And no knave brought to book
>Who has won a drunken cheer,
>The witty man and his joke
>Aimed at the commonest ear,
>The clever man who cries
>The catch-cries of the clown,
>The beating down of the wise
And great Art beaten down.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
A. To clarify that fishing calms the souls by connecting people with something real,
which is beyond themselves
B. To assert that the general public was generally inadequate and disrespectful to
art
C. To exhibit the dissatisfaction by the speaker towards the actual Irish population
D. To express that the great men are dead, and the living men are hated by the
speaker
9
The following text is from Walt Whitman’s 1860 poem "Calamus 24."
>I HEAR it is charged against me that I seek to destroy institutions;
>But really I am neither for nor against institutions
>(What indeed have I in common with them?— Or what with the destruction of
them?),
>Only I will establish in the Mannahatta [Manhattan] and in every city of These
States, inland and seaboard,
>And in the fields and woods, and above every keel [ship] little or large, that dents
the water, Without edifices, or rules, or trustees, or any argument,
The institution of the dear love of comrades.
Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
A. The speaker questions an increasingly prevalent attitude, then summarizes his
worldview.
B. The speaker regrets his isolation from others, then predicts a profound change in
society.
C. The speaker concedes his personal shortcomings, then boasts of his many
achievements.
D. The speaker addresses a criticism leveled against him, then announces a grand
ambition of his.
10
The following text is from Georgia Douglas Johnson’s 1922 poem "Benediction."
>Go forth, my son,
>Winged by my heart’s desire!
>Great reaches, yet unknown,
>Await
>For your possession.
>I may not, if I would,
>Retrace the way with you,
>My pilgrimage is through,
>But life is calling you!
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
A. To express hope that a child will have the same accomplishments as his parent
did
B. To suggest that raising a child involves many struggles
C. To warn a child that he will face many challenges throughout his life
D. To encourage a child to embrace the experiences life will [Link]
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