English Final Exam
Cold Read Practice: Poetry
“The Charge of the Light Brigade”
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
1Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
"Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
2
"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a mandismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
3
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.
4
Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.
5
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.
6
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.
- Describe the image you consider most powerful in the poem. What literary devices make the poem powerful?
- How does the speaker of the poem feel about the Light Brigade? Support your answer with evidence from the text.
- Are the soldiers of the Light Brigade heroes? Why or why not? Consider lines 11-12 of the poem, how the soldiers fought, and the tragic outcome of the charge.
- What is the theme or message of the poem? How do you know? Use textual evidence to support your assertion.
- What might have happened if a number of the soldiers had refused to obey the order to charge?
- How might the Russian gunners have viewed the charge? Describe the attack from their point of view.
“Legacy II”
Leroy V. Quintana
Grandfather never went to school
spoke only a few words of English
a quiet man; when he talked
talked about simple things
planting corn or about the weather
sometimes about herding sheep as a child
One day pointed to the four directions
taught me their names
El Norte
Poniente Oriente
El Sur
He spoke their names as if they were
one of only a handful of things
a man needed to know
Now I look back
only two generations removed
realize I am nothing but a poor fool
who went to college
trying to find my way back
to the center of the world
where Grandfather stood
that day
“The Courage That My Mother Had”
Edna St. Vincent Millay
The courage that my mother had
Went with her, and is with her still;
Rock from New England quarried;
Now granite in a granite hill.
The golden brooch my mother wore
She left behind for me to wear;
I have no thing I treasure more;
Yet, it is something I could spare.
Oh, if instead she’d left to me
The thing she took into the grave! ---
That courage like a rock, which she
Has no more need of, and I have.
“The Secret Heart”
Robert P. Tristram Coffin
Across the years he could recall
His father one way best of all.
In the stillest hour of night
The boy awakened to a light.
Half in dreams, he saw his sire
With his great hands full of fire.
The man had struck a match to see
If his son slept peacefully.
He held his palms each side the spark
His love had kindled in the dark.
His two hands were curved apart
In the semblance of a heart.
He wore, it seemed to his small son,
A bare heart on his hidden one,
A heart that gave out such a glow
No son awake could bear to know.
It showed a look upon a face
Too tender for the day to trace.
One instant, it lit all about,
And then the secret heart went out.
But it shone long enough for one
To know that hands held up the sun.
“I Stepped from Plank to Plank”
Emily Dickinson
I stepped from plank to plank
So slow and cautiously;
The stars about my head I felt,
About my feet the sea.
I knew not but the next
Would be my final inch,--
This gave me that precarious gait
Some call experience.
“Mother to Son”
Langston Hughes
Mother to Son
Mother to Son
Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So, boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps.
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now—
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
Speech to the Young
Speech to the Progress-Toward
(Among them Nora and Henry III)
Gwendolyn Brooks
Say to them,
say to the down-keepers,
the sun-slappers,
the self-soilers,
the harmony-hushers,
"even if you are not ready for day
it cannot always be night."
You will be right.
For that is the hard home-run.
Live not for battles won.
Live not for the-end-of-the-song.
Live in the along.
Questions for “The Secret Heart”
- What significance does the title have?
- What is the most important word or phrase in the poem? Explain its importance.
What words or images are repeated? How does the repletion contribute to the theme of the poem? - What line(s) indicate a slight shift in the mood of the poem?
- The speaker says that the look on his father’s face was “too tender for the day to trace.” What does this line mean?
Title: Ponder the title before reading the poem.
Paraphrase: Translate the poem into your own words.
Devices of sound: Note repetitions of sounds, words, rhythms, and phrases. Also note unusual rhythms or syntax. Explore what each example might suggest, emphasize, or represent. Note punctuation, capitalization, and their absence.
Connotation:Identify the general feelings in the poem, beyond the literal level.
Attitude: Observe both the speaker’s and the poet’s attitude (tone)
Shifts: Note shifts in speakers and attitudes. Also note shifts in the way a word or line can be read and understood.
Title: Examine the title again, this time on an interpretive level. Note how the title relates to the rest of the poem.
Theme: Determine the primary point the poet makes.
Purpose: Consider each of the above and identify the author’s purpose, noting the lines that suggest it.