What a poem says, and what else it could mean

Grade 9 Reading Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Garage Sale (original poem)

   Stanza 1
   [1] By eight the driveway is a small bright country
   [2] of folding tables: lamps, a bread machine,
   [3] a shoebox of unmatched keys. The masking tape
   [4] still carries her handwriting: fifty cents, make offer.

   Stanza 2
   [5] A man in a golf visor lifts the thermos,
   [6] turns it twice, and says, "Would you take two?"
   [7] I say that's fine. I say it before I think,
   [8] the way you say yes to a doctor.

   Stanza 3
   [9] By noon the lamps are gone. A girl carries off
   [10] the bread machine like a trophy, and her mother
   [11] asks if it works. It does. It made
   [12] every Sunday smell like Sunday.

   Stanza 4
   [13] At five I fold the tables. The driveway
   [14] is only a driveway, gray and wide.
   [15] On the curb, the shoebox of keys
   [16] waits for a door that nobody here owns.
   Annotations: beside each stanza write what literally happens, then the mood.

2. 1.

   Ari writes what literally happens in stanza 2 of “Garage Sale.” Which choice gives it?

   • A shopper picks up a thermos and asks to pay less, and the speaker agrees at once.
   • A girl carries off a bread machine while her mother asks if it works.
   • The speaker gives up a piece of the family's past, the way a patient obeys a doctor.
   • A shopper argues about the thermos until the speaker raises the price.
3. 2.

   Bo writes the mood of stanza 1 of “Garage Sale.” Which choice names the mood and words that build it?

   • Bittersweet: “lamps, a bread machine, a shoebox of unmatched keys.”
   • Bittersweet: “still carries her handwriting” and “a small bright country.”
   • Carefree and festive: “still carries her handwriting” and “a small bright country.”
   • Hollow and tired: “gray and wide” in the empty driveway at five o'clock.
4. 3.

   Jun writes what literally happens in stanza 4 of “Garage Sale.” Which choice gives it?

   • At five the speaker folds the tables, and a shoebox of keys is left on the curb.
   • The lamps are gone by noon, and a girl takes the bread machine home as a trophy.
   • The speaker locks the past away by leaving the keys where no one can use them.
   • The speaker finds the door that the keys open and goes inside the house.
5. 4.

   Kira writes the mood of stanza 3 of “Garage Sale.” Which choice names the mood and words that build it?

   • Wistful pride: “like a trophy” and “every Sunday smell like Sunday.”
   • Bitter and angry: “like a trophy” and “every Sunday smell like Sunday.”
   • Quiet and hollow: “gray and wide” in the empty driveway at five o'clock.
   • Wistful pride: “By noon the lamps are gone.”

6. Long Division (original poem)

   Stanza 1
   [1] My mother's shift ends at six. At six-ten
   [2] she's at the table in her work shoes,
   [3] still smelling of the hospital's soap,
   [4] chasing my quotient with a yellow pencil.

   Stanza 2
   [5] "It goes in four," she says. "No, five." The eraser
   [6] has worn the paper thin as onion skin.
   [7] I tell her we can stop. She doesn't answer.
   [8] She carries the one the way she carries trays.

   Stanza 3
   [9] The house ticks. A pipe knocks twice. Somewhere
   [10] the dishwasher finishes its long sentence.
   [11] She slides the page to me: 17, with a remainder.
   [12] We look at the remainder together.

   Stanza 4
   [13] Neither of us is sure what to do with what is left.
   [14] She laughs first, a short surprised sound,
   [15] and writes the 3 smaller than the rest,
   [16] as if the leftover should not take up room.
   Annotations: beside each stanza write what literally happens, then the mood.

7. 5.

   Milo writes what literally happens in stanza 2 of “Long Division.” Which choice gives it?

   • The mother tries and erases answers until the paper thins, and the speaker offers to stop.
   • The mother carries a tray of food to the table and serves the speaker a late dinner.
   • The house ticks, a pipe knocks twice, and the dishwasher finishes its long cycle in the kitchen.
   • The mother leaves the table to answer a call from the hospital and then comes back.
8. 6.

   Noah writes the mood of stanza 1 of “Long Division.” Which choice names the mood and words that build it?

   • Tired but steady: “My mother's shift ends at six” and “a yellow pencil.”
   • Tired but steady: “in her work shoes” and “still smelling of the hospital's soap.”
   • Quiet and unsure: “The house ticks” and “We look at the remainder together.”
   • Playful and energetic: “work shoes” and “chasing my quotient with a yellow pencil.”
9. 7.

   Pia figures out who is speaking in “Long Division” and what is happening. Which choice fits the clues?

   • A hospital worker doing paperwork at the kitchen table after a long shift at the ward.
   • A child alone at the table, waiting for the mother to come home from the hospital.
   • A child and a mother arguing at the table about a poor math grade from school.
   • A child doing math at the kitchen table with a parent who has come from a hospital job.
10. 8.

    Ren writes what literally happens in stanza 4 of “Long Division.” Which choice gives it?

    • The mother slides the page across, and the two look at the remainder together in the quiet kitchen.
    • The mother shrinks the remainder because she wants the whole problem to disappear.
    • Neither knows what to do with the remainder; the mother laughs and writes the 3 smaller.
    • The mother erases the whole page and starts a new problem from the very beginning.
11. 9.

    Tala writes the mood of stanza 3 of “Long Division.” Which choice names the mood and words that build it?

    • Tired but steady: “still smelling of the hospital's soap” and “in her work shoes.”
    • Quiet, shared uncertainty: “She slides the page to me” and “17, with a remainder.”
    • Loud and angry: “A pipe knocks twice” and “look at the remainder together.”
    • Quiet, shared uncertainty: “The house ticks” and “look at the remainder together.”
12. 10.

    Zee figures out what stanza 2 of “Long Division” shows about the mother's situation. Which choice fits the clues?

    • The mother is angry at the speaker and wants the homework session to end quickly.
    • The mother is determined to finish, though the speaker offers to stop.
    • The mother has trouble reading the paper and needs the speaker's help to see it.
    • The mother has just been told the answer and is checking it against the page.