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.

   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.
3. 2.

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

   • The speaker moves from calm, unwatched practice to counting each drop.
   • The speaker moves from throwing the ball to counting eleven drops in a row.
   • The wall and the ball change from hard to use into easy to use over time.
   • The speaker moves from counting each miss to catching without keeping count.
4. 3.

   Jun marks the turn in stanza 3 and the ending in stanza 4. Which message do the two marks add up to?

   • A skill can settle in without any announcement, so a learner may notice it only afterward.
   • Practicing where nobody watches is easier, because mistakes stay private and nobody counts them.
   • The poem tells about a speaker who practices alone and thinks about friends and team trials.
   • Counting mistakes is a habit that holds back anyone who is learning to do something new.
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. + [6] I try not to think about team trials,
   • [10] comes back and finds my palm without a search. + [14] count of the catches and don't notice losing.
   • [9] Somewhere in the second hour, the slap + [12] It comes back once again, and I am here.
   • [2] It slaps back wrong and rolls beneath the car. + [8] I think about the wall, the ball, my hands.
6. 5.

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

   • Stanza 4: the wall and the ball finally change after so much practice.
   • Stanza 2: the speaker begins to worry about the school team trials.
   • Stanza 3: the ball starts coming back to the speaker's palm without a search.
   • Stanza 1: the ball slaps back wrong and rolls beneath the car.

7. 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.

8. 6.

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

   • A neighbor's welcome will make a newcomer feel completely at home within a single day of moving in.
   • A new place starts to feel like home through the people who reach out, not through the rooms.
   • An empty house can sound strange, because a voice echoes off each bare wall.
   • The poem describes the first day in a new house after the moving truck has gone.
9. 7.

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

   • [9] That afternoon we search the kitchen drawers + [10] for forks, and someone's laughing in the hall.
   • [2] My voice comes back to me from every wall. + [6] a tray of lemon bars, a folded note.
   • [2] My voice comes back to me from every wall. + [12] but now it brings another voice along.
   • [1] The truck is gone. The boxes lean in rows. + [4] clean, and nothing in it knows my name at all.
10. 8.

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

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

    • [6] a tray of lemon bars, a folded note. + [16] and I leave mine on, so they know I'm here.
    • [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.
    • [5] Next morning, noises on the porch: a knock, + [6] a tray of lemon bars, a folded note.
12. 10.

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

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