The message of a poem, line by line

Grade 7 Reading Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Against the Wall (original poem)

   Stanza 1
   [1] I throw the ball against the garage wall.
   [2] It slaps back wrong and rolls beneath the car.
   [3] Eleven drops. I count them like a list.
   [4] I mark the misses; nothing else is kept.

   Stanza 2
   [5] Nobody watches. That's the one good part.
   [6] I try not to think about team trials,
   [7] or friends who catch behind their backs.
   [8] I think about the wall, the ball, my hands.

   Stanza 3
   [9] Somewhere in the second hour, the slap
   [10] comes back and finds my palm without a search.
   [11] I do not cheer. I throw it once again.
   [12] It comes back once again, and I am here.

   Stanza 4
   [13] Last week I counted drops. Today I lose
   [14] count of the catches and don't notice losing.
   [15] The wall has not changed. The ball has not changed.
   [16] Something in my hands has learned to wait.
   Annotations: stanza 1 = the struggle; stanza 2 = the focus; stanza 3 = the change; stanza 4 = looking back.

2. 1.

   Ari marks the struggle, the change and the ending. Which theme fits the whole poem?

   • Keeping a running count of each drop can make a person's practice feel like a list of failures.
   • The poem describes a person who practices throwing a ball against a garage wall for hours.
   • Skill grows quietly through steady practice, and the change shows in the person more than the place.
   • Practicing alone in a garage will soon make a person better than friends who already catch well.
3. 2.

   Bo looks for proof of the change. Which two lines show the speaker moving from counting drops to losing count of catches?

   • [3] Eleven drops. I count them like a list. + [7] or friends who catch behind their backs.
   • [4] I mark the misses; nothing else is kept. + [8] I think about the wall, the ball, my hands.
   • [1] I throw the ball against the garage wall. + [2] It slaps back wrong and rolls beneath the car.
   • [3] Eleven drops. I count them like a list. + [14] count of the catches and don't notice losing.
4. 3.

   Esme compares stanza 1 with stanza 4. What changes from the first stanza to the last?

   • The speaker moves from throwing the ball to counting eleven drops in a row.
   • The speaker moves from calm, unwatched practice to counting each drop.
   • The speaker moves from counting each miss to catching without keeping count.
   • The wall and the ball change from hard to use into easy to use over time.
5. 4.

   Kira wants proof of two things: catching has become easy, and the speaker has stopped keeping score. Which two lines show both?

   • [10] comes back and finds my palm without a search. + [14] count of the catches and don't notice losing.
   • [2] It slaps back wrong and rolls beneath the car. + [8] I think about the wall, the ball, my hands.
   • [10] comes back and finds my palm without a search. + [6] I try not to think about team trials,
   • [9] Somewhere in the second hour, the slap + [12] It comes back once again, and I am here.

6. The Empty Room (original poem)

   Stanza 1
   [1] The truck is gone. The boxes lean in rows.
   [2] My voice comes back to me from every wall.
   [3] The new house smells of paint and someone else's
   [4] clean, and nothing in it knows my name at all.

   Stanza 2
   [5] Next morning, noises on the porch: a knock,
   [6] a tray of lemon bars, a folded note.
   [7] “We're across the street,” it says. “Come by.”
   [8] I hold the tray. The paper bends a bit.

   Stanza 3
   [9] That afternoon we search the kitchen drawers
   [10] for forks, and someone's laughing in the hall.
   [11] My voice comes back to me from every wall,
   [12] but now it brings another voice along.

   Stanza 4
   [13] The boxes are the same. The rooms are, too.
   [14] The window shows the same square of street.
   [15] Tonight the light across the way is on,
   [16] and I leave mine on, so they know I'm here.
   Annotations: stanza 1 = the empty house; stanza 2 = the visit; stanza 3 = the change; stanza 4 = the ending.

7. 5.

   Milo marks the empty house, the visit and the ending. Which theme fits the whole poem?

   • A new place starts to feel like home through the people who reach out, not through the rooms.
   • The poem describes the first day in a new house after the moving truck has gone.
   • An empty house can sound strange, because a voice echoes off each bare wall.
   • A neighbor's welcome will make a newcomer feel completely at home within a single day of moving in.
8. 6.

   Noah looks for proof of the house changing. Which two lines show the speaker's voice echoing alone first, and then with another voice?

   • [1] The truck is gone. The boxes lean in rows. + [4] clean, and nothing in it knows my name at all.
   • [2] My voice comes back to me from every wall. + [12] but now it brings another voice along.
   • [2] My voice comes back to me from every wall. + [6] a tray of lemon bars, a folded note.
   • [9] That afternoon we search the kitchen drawers + [10] for forks, and someone's laughing in the hall.
9. 7.

   Pia compares stanza 1 with stanza 4. What changes from the first stanza to the last?

   • The speaker goes from feeling unknown in the house to leaving a light on to be known.
   • The speaker goes from welcoming a neighbor to feeling that nothing in the house knows a name.
   • The speaker goes from smelling fresh paint to hearing an echo in the empty rooms.
   • The boxes get unpacked and the rooms look different from the way they looked before.
10. 8.

    Ren marks the visit in stanza 2 and the light in stanza 4. Which message do the two marks add up to?

    • Belonging is built when someone makes a first move and someone else answers it.
    • The poem is about a tray of lemon bars and a note that a neighbor leaves.
    • Leaving a light on for a neighbor is the way to make friends in any new town.
    • A new place feels strange at first, because nothing in it seems to know a newcomer.
11. 9.

    Tala wants proof of a first move and an answer. Which two lines show a neighbor reaching out and the speaker's answer at the end?

    • [5] Next morning, noises on the porch: a knock, + [6] a tray of lemon bars, a folded note.
    • [8] I hold the tray. The paper bends a bit. + [10] for forks, and someone's laughing in the hall.
    • [6] a tray of lemon bars, a folded note. + [13] The boxes are the same. The rooms are, too.
    • [6] a tray of lemon bars, a folded note. + [16] and I leave mine on, so they know I'm here.
12. 10.

    Zee looks for the turn in the poem. Which stanza holds the turn, and what turns?

    • Stanza 1: the speaker finds that nothing in the new house knows a name.
    • Stanza 3: the speaker's echoing voice is joined by another voice in the house.
    • Stanza 4: the speaker notices that the boxes and the rooms have finally changed.
    • Stanza 2: the neighbor's knock makes the speaker feel even more alone in the new house.