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sea lullaby
elinor wylie

the old moon is tarnished
with smoke of the flood,
the dead leaves are varnished
with color like blood,

a treacherous smiler 5
with teeth white as milk,
a savage beguiler
in sheathings of silk,

the sea creeps to pillage,
she leaps on her prey; 10
a child of the village
was murdered to-day.

she came up to meet him
in a smooth golden cloak,
she choked him and beat him 15
to death, for a joke.

her bright locks were tangled,
she shouted for joy,
with one hand she strangled
a strong little boy. 20

now in silence she lingers
beside him all night
to wash her long fingers
in silvery light.

read the passage on the left to answer the following questions:

1)
which figurative device is used most often throughout the poem?
a) hyperbole
b) metaphor
c) onomatopoeia
d) personification
2)
with words such as dead, blood, treacherous, savage, prey, murdered, and strangled, the author creates a picture of the ocean that is
a) calm and cool.
b) rough and stormy.
c) smooth and silky.
d) cruel and bloodthirsty.

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that old straw sojourner
david matherne

an old patched hat, which was almond with trim-red,
watched as it sat on an old, thin head.
and what it saw, and what it knew,
was more than more of you
might even ever construe 5
from just a patched, old hat.

it’d seen a child die—depression--a war,
bowed at the bedside of the lady once adored,
watched while its owner did weep when his store
burned down to the ground, nothing left but the floor10
and that brand-new hat on his head.

it saw with lucid eyes inhuman, divine
the tired man grew older, while his boy grew wise.
some said, ‘so tragic,’ the son said, ‘fate’
when the lightning left a char on the elder’s pate 15
and they both did loving before too late.
that special bequest.

so he wore his farming father’s dingy hat every day,
hoping it would make him like his only hero in that way.
so the hat went to school, 20
then it kept him somewhat cool
as he worked the plow and mule
like his fallen father had.

it had been there when the midwife had announced, ‘you’ve a boy.’
the hat was there when his wife had their second little joy.25
so the family worked the farm
until the boy took arm-in-arm
a girl from town with mighty charm
who had a fancy for shoes and hats.

the married lad watched his dad lose his crops, then his wealth,30
while the hat witnessed worse, constant fleeting of his health.
on the porch until the end, father son simply sat.
being heir, he got the farm, and the house, and the cat.
but what he really wanted most was that one thing that
was truly old hat. 35

he got it and he wore it and he tore it and he patched it,
but the hat didn’t mind since the man truly matched it.
he grew thin and he grew old,
of all the things he’d ever sold,
no value like what he’d unfold 40
to his own son one patched old hat.

read the passage on the left to answer the following questions:

3)

an old patched hat, which was almond with trim-red,
watched as it sat on an old, thin head.
which kind of figurative language is found in lines 1-2?
a) metonymy
b) oxymoron
c) personification
d) simile
4)

burned down to the ground, nothing left but the floor
which stylistic device does the author use in line 10 ?
a) alliteration
b) assonance
c) personification
d) repetition
5)

‘farming father’s dingy hat,’
‘like his fallen father had,’ and
‘while the hat witnessed worse’
which kind of figurative language do the selected phrases have?
a) satire
b) simile
c) alliteration
d) internal rhyme
6)

he got it and he wore it and he tore it and he patched it,
which stylistic device is found in line 36?
a) allusion
b) inversion
c) onomatopoeia
d) repetition
7)

bowed at the bedside of the lady once adored,
which stylistic device does the author use in line 8?
a) assonance
b) inversion
c) alliteration
d) internal rhyme