The message of a poem, line by line

Grade 8 Reading Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   The High Board (original poem)

   Stanza 1
   [1] Eleven rungs. I count them as I climb,
   [2] each one wet and cold beneath my feet.
   [3] The line behind me shuffles, waits its turn.
   [4] Nobody calls out “Hurry.” That is worse.

   Stanza 2
   [5] The board runs out ahead, a long gray tongue.
   [6] My knees have started shaking on their own.
   [7] I tell them, “Stop,” and they ignore me, so
   [8] I walk the way a person walks on ice.

   Stanza 3
   [9] At the end, the pool looks small and far,
   [10] a blue square no bigger than a stamp.
   [11] I think of going back, but then I see
   [12] the rungs again, the line, the long way down.

   Stanza 4
   [13] The fear does not leave. It comes along,
   [14] still shaking, in the air beside me, and
   [15] I jump with it. The water slaps my palms.
   [16] Behind me, someone claps. My knees still shake.
   Annotations: stanza 1 = the climb; stanza 2 = the body; stanza 3 = the edge; stanza 4 = the jump.

2. 1.

   Ari marks the shaking knees, the fear that stays and the jump. Which theme fits the whole poem?

   • A person who jumps from a high board once will soon find that heights stop being frightening for good.
   • Courage is waiting for the fear to leave, so a person steps forward when the shaking has stopped.
   • Fear can make the body shake and the way back feel long, as the speaker's knees and the long climb show.
   • Courage is acting while the fear is still there, because the fear can come along instead of leaving first.
3. 2.

   Bo reads the poem. All four lines are true. Which line proves this most strongly: “The speaker jumps even though the fear is still there”?

   • [8] I walk the way a person walks on ice.
   • [13] The fear does not leave. It comes along,
   • [15] I jump with it. The water slaps my palms.
   • [3] The line behind me shuffles, waits its turn.
4. 3.

   Esme looks for the turn, the place where the speaker's thinking changes direction. Which line is the turn?

   • [16] Behind me, someone claps. My knees still shake.
   • [11] I think of going back, but then I see
   • [9] At the end, the pool looks small and far,
   • [6] My knees have started shaking on their own.
5. 4.

   Jun marks the careful walk, the jump and the knees that still shake. Which theme fits the whole poem?

   • Being brave does not mean the fear is gone; it means the fear does not decide what a person does.
   • Fear is the body's warning, so a climber whose knees shake is wise to turn around and go back.
   • A silent line behind a climber can feel worse than being rushed, especially on a cold, wet ladder.
   • A swimmer climbs a ladder, walks out on a board, looks at a pool far below and then jumps into the water.
6. 5.

   Kira reads the poem. All four lines are true. Which line proves this most strongly: “Going back down looks as hard as going forward”?

   • [11] I think of going back, but then I see
   • [14] still shaking, in the air beside me, and
   • [12] the rungs again, the line, the long way down.
   • [10] a blue square no bigger than a stamp.
7. 6.

   Luz compares stanza 2 with stanza 4. What changes for the speaker from the second stanza to the last?

   • The speaker's knees begin to shake in stanza 2 and are still shaking in the last stanza.
   • The board changes from a long gray tongue into a safe path as the speaker walks out onto it.
   • The speaker moves from ordering the shaking to stop, to jumping with the fear still there.
   • The speaker moves from jumping with the fear still there, to ordering the shaking to stop.

8. New Seat (original poem)

   Stanza 1
   [1] The cafeteria hums like a hive.
   [2] I carry my tray in both hands, like a map
   [3] of somewhere I can't read, past the long tables
   [4] where every seat already has a name.

   Stanza 2
   [5] I pick the empty end of the last bench,
   [6] unwrap my sandwich slowly, take my time,
   [7] and watch the doors as if someone were late
   [8] to meet me. No one is. The clock goes on.

   Stanza 3
   [9] Then Luz slides down the bench without a word
   [10] and sets a tray beside mine. Not a hello,
   [11] just the scrape of plastic and an apple
   [12] rolling to a stop against my wrist.

   Stanza 4
   [13] Nobody makes a speech. Nobody has to.
   [14] The bench is still the bench, the noise the noise,
   [15] but the end of it holds two of us now,
   [16] and what was just an edge is starting to be a place.
   Annotations: stanza 1 = the crowd; stanza 2 = the wait; stanza 3 = the gesture; stanza 4 = the change.

9. 7.

   Milo marks the crowded room, the quiet gesture and the ending. Which theme fits the whole poem?

   • The poem describes a new student carrying a tray across a cafeteria and sitting at the end of a bench.
   • A crowded room can make a new person feel that the seats already belong to someone else.
   • One friendly tray is enough to make a new school feel like home from the first lunch on.
   • A small, quiet kindness can turn a lonely spot in a crowded room into a place where a person belongs.
10. 8.

    Ren marks the long wait, the silent gesture and the quiet after it. Which theme fits the whole poem?

    • Waiting alone in a crowded room can make time feel slow, as the clock in line 8 shows.
    • A new person should wait to be welcomed in words, because a silent gesture does not make a place.
    • Belonging can begin with a gesture so small that no words are needed to make it count.
    • A person who is welcomed once should expect the whole school to make room soon after.
11. 9.

    Tala compares stanza 1 with stanza 4. What changes for the speaker from the first stanza to the last?

    • The bench and the noise change from loud and crowded to calm and quiet around the speaker.
    • The speaker moves from sharing the end of a bench, to carrying a tray past seats that already have names.
    • The speaker moves from carrying a tray past seats that already have names, to sharing the end of a bench.
    • The speaker sits at the end of a bench in stanza 2 and is still sitting at the end of it in stanza 4.
12. 10.

    Zee reads the poem. All four lines are true. Which line proves this most strongly: “By the end, the speaker's spot has turned from a leftover into a place”?

    • [11] just the scrape of plastic and an apple
    • [5] I pick the empty end of the last bench,
    • [10] and sets a tray beside mine. Not a hello,
    • [16] and what was just an edge is starting to be a place.