The message of a poem, line by line
Grade 7 Reading Worksheet
Circle the best answer.
Read this first
Borrowed Umbrella (original poem)
Stanza 1
[1] The bus stop roof was built for only three.
[2] I stood in rain, my backpack on my head,
[3] until a woman tipped her umbrella my way.
[4] “Take it,” she said. “I'm almost home.” And left.Stanza 2
[5] For days the umbrella leaned beside my door,
[6] a gift I had no way to give back.
[7] I thought of it as something I still owed,
[8] a small weight in the hall that said “not yet.”Stanza 3
[9] Then Monday, rain again. A boy I knew
[10] by sight alone stood soaking by the gate.
[11] I opened it above us both and walked
[12] him to his door. “Keep it,” I said. “I'm close.”Stanza 4
[13] I did not feel I'd paid the debt. It felt
[14] like something else: the same umbrella, passed.
[15] It never was the sort of thing you return.
[16] It was the sort of thing you hand along.
Annotations: stanza 1 = the gift; stanza 2 = the weight; stanza 3 = the choice; stanza 4 = the meaning.Kira marks how the idea grows from stanza 1 to stanza 4. Which theme includes how the speaker's view of the gift changes?
- The poem tells about a rainy day, a borrowed umbrella, some days by a door and a boy at a gate.
- A stranger's kindness can rescue a person from the rain at a crowded bus stop.
- A kindness received can feel like a debt at first, but it is meant to be passed along.
- Anyone helped by a stranger should find that person again and give the umbrella back.
Luz compares stanza 2 with stanza 3. What does stanza 3 add to the idea that stanza 2 began?
- It shows the speaker returning the umbrella to the woman from the bus stop.
- It shows the speaker acting differently by lending the umbrella instead of keeping it.
- It adds details about the rain and the gate, but the speaker's view stays the same.
- It repeats that the umbrella is a weight in the hall that the speaker still owes to the woman.
Noah marks the owed umbrella in stanza 2 and the passed umbrella in stanza 4. Which message carries the poem's whole development?
- Helping a stranger once will make that person want to help someone else soon.
- Receiving help can feel like owing someone, until it becomes a reason to help another person.
- Feeling that a gift must be repaid can make a small kindness feel heavy.
- The poem is about an umbrella that moves from a woman at a bus stop to the speaker and then to a boy.
Pia looks at the final stanza. What does stanza 4 add to the events of stanza 3?
- It adds that the speaker bought a new umbrella and kept the old one.
- It shows the speaker feeling the debt has finally been paid back to the woman at the bus stop.
- It retells that the speaker walked a boy home in the rain.
- It explains what the speaker now thinks the gift means: something to pass on, not repay.
Ren wants proof that the speaker's action matches the final message. Which two lines show the umbrella being shared and what that means?
- [13] I did not feel I'd paid the debt. It felt + [16] It was the sort of thing you hand along.
- [11] I opened it above us both and walked + [16] It was the sort of thing you hand along.
- [3] until a woman tipped her umbrella my way. + [6] a gift I had no way to give back.
- [11] I opened it above us both and walked + [9] Then Monday, rain again. A boy I knew
The Map from Memory (original poem)
Stanza 1
[1] I drew our neighborhood without a look,
[2] each street in ink, the park a perfect green.
[3] I could have walked it blind, I told myself.
[4] I taped the map above my desk with pride.Stanza 2
[5] Then Saturday I carried it outside.
[6] The bakery was one block farther down.
[7] A footpath cut between the library
[8] and the fence, a shortcut I had never drawn.Stanza 3
[9] I stood there with my pencil. On the page
[10] the streets were straight and sure. In the real air
[11] a thousand things were happening at once:
[12] a gate, a puddle, bicycles, a hill.Stanza 4
[13] I added what I'd missed in smaller lines.
[14] The map looks messier now, and it is better.
[15] I know the place less than I thought I did,
[16] which is the first good thing I've learned about it.
Annotations: stanza 1 = the confident map; stanza 2 = the walk; stanza 3 = the real street; stanza 4 = the new map.Tala marks the proud map in stanza 1 and the corrected map in stanza 4. Which theme shows how the speaker's thinking develops?
- A map drawn by someone who walks the streets is better than a map made from memory alone, however carefully.
- The poem is about a map of a neighborhood with a bakery, a library and a park.
- Real knowledge begins when a person admits what was missed and goes back to look again.
- Drawing a map from memory can make a person feel proud and certain about a place.
Zee compares stanza 1 with stanza 2. What does stanza 2 add to the speaker's proud claim in line 3?
- It adds that the paper was too small to hold everything the speaker knew.
- It shows the speaker finding each street exactly where the map put it.
- It repeats that the speaker could walk the neighborhood blind and draw each street.
- It tests the claim against the real streets and finds things the map left out.
Ari looks for proof that confidence turned into curiosity. Which two lines together show it?
- [3] I could have walked it blind, I told myself. + [12] a gate, a puddle, bicycles, a hill.
- [3] I could have walked it blind, I told myself. + [15] I know the place less than I thought I did,
- [2] each street in ink, the park a perfect green. + [4] I taped the map above my desk with pride.
- [13] I added what I'd missed in smaller lines. + [14] The map looks messier now, and it is better.
Bo marks all four stanzas. Which theme includes the speaker's confidence, the discovery and what the speaker does about it?
- The poem describes a person who makes a map and then walks outside to check it.
- Admitting what you have missed can make your understanding of a place better than before.
- Walking outside shows a person things that the first map did not hold, such as a footpath.
- Feeling certain about a place is what makes a person want to learn more about it.
Esme looks at stanza 3. What does it add to the discovery in stanza 2?
- It widens the discovery: the real street holds far more than the straight lines of a map.
- It repeats that the bakery was farther away than the map showed, one block down the street.
- It shows that the real street is simpler and straighter than the straight lines of the map.
- It adds the names of places on the map, such as the library and the fence.
