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?

   • Practicing alone in a garage will soon make a person better than friends who already catch well.
   • Skill grows quietly through steady practice, and the change shows in the person more than the place.
   • 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.
3. 2.

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

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

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

   • The speaker moves from counting each miss to catching without keeping count.
   • 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 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?

   • [9] Somewhere in the second hour, the slap + [12] It comes back once again, and I am here.
   • [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,
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 1: the ball slaps back wrong and rolls beneath the car.
   • 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.

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.

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

   • [2] My voice comes back to me from every wall. + [6] a tray of lemon bars, a folded note.
   • [1] The truck is gone. The boxes lean in rows. + [4] clean, and nothing in it knows my name at all.
   • [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. + [12] but now it brings another voice along.
9. 7.

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

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

    • [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.
    • [8] I hold the tray. The paper bends a bit. + [10] for forks, and someone's laughing in the hall.
    • [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 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.
    • Stanza 2: the neighbor's knock makes the speaker feel even more alone in the new house.