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CLPMS Language & Literature Grade 8

Guest
Name:____________________________ Period:______________________ Date:__________
8th Grade Summative Assessment
Assessment Points Possible: 30
Read the following poems and answer the questions that follow in complete sentences
where appropriate.
Poem A: Reading Myself to Sleep
The house is all in darkness except for this corner
bedroom
2where the lighthouse of a table lamp is guiding
3my eyes through the narrow channels of print,
1

Poem B: Introduction to Poetry

I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
3like a color slide
1
2

or press an ear against its hive.

and the only movement in the night is the slight

swirl of curtains, the easy lift and fall of my
breathing,
6and the flap of pages as they turn in the wind of
my hand.
4
5

Is there a more gentle way to go into the night

than to follow an endless rope of sentences
9and then to slip drowsily under the surface of a
page

I say drop a mouse into a poem

and watch him probe his way out,
7or walk inside the poems room
8and feel the walls for a light switch.
5
6

I want them to waterski

across the surface of a poem
11waving at the authors name on the shore.

10

But all they want to do

13is tie the poem to a chair with rope
14and torture a confession out of it.
15They begin beating it with a hose
16to find out what it really means.
12

into the first tentative flicker of a dream,

passing out of the bright precincts of attention
12like cigarette smoke passing through a window
screen?
10
11

All late readers know this sinking feeling of

falling
14into the liquid of sleep and then rising again
15to the call of a voice that you are holding in your
hands,
13

as if pulled from the sea back into a boat

where a discussion is raging on some subject or
other,
18on Patagonia or Thoroughbreds or the nature of
war.
16
17

Is there a better method of departure by night

2othan this quiet bon voyage with an open book,
21the sole companion who has come to see you
off,
19

to wave you into the dark waters beyond

22

Billy Collins

.CLPMS Language & Literature Grade 8

Guest
Name:____________________________ Period:______________________ Date:__________
language?
23I can hear the rush and sweep of fallen leaves
outside
24where the world lies unconscious, and I can feel
myself
dissolving, drifting into a story that will never be
written,
26letting the book slip to the floor where I will find
it
27in the morning when I surface, wet and streaked
with daylight.
25

Billy Collins

Part A: Figurative Language

Points: _____/ 20

Total

1. Two words that indicate consonance in Poem A are________ and ________.(2)

2. In Poem A, the phrase, I can feel myself dissolving is a _________.(2)
3. In Poem B, the torture is a symbol of _____________________________________ .(2)
4. Line 24 of Poem A ...the world lies unconscious is an example of ____________.
(2)
5. Poem A consists of

stanzas. A stanza is __________________________________.(2)

6. Line 4 in Poem B is an example of ____________________________. (2)

7. In Poem B, the poet uses the word _________ as a form of _____________ to
emphasize a point. (2)
8. In Poem A, an example of a metaphor is
______________________________________________ . (2)
9. In Poem B what lines use imagery? _________(2)
10. In Poem B, which lines contains a simile? ________ (2)

.CLPMS Language & Literature Grade 8

Guest
Name:____________________________ Period:______________________ Date:__________
Part B: Analysis and Interpretation
Total
Pts. ____ /10
1. In 2-3 complete sentences, explain what the speakers in the two poems have in
common. Quote at least one line of direct evidence from each poem to support your
opinion. (1)

2. Who is the speaker in Poem B? How do you know? Use evidence from the poem.
(1)

3. What statement does the speaker make about reading in Poem A? How do you
know? (1)

4. Write a different metaphor for lines 9-10 in Poem B? (1)

5. Using the graphic organizer below, compare/contrast the main themes of the two
poems.(2)
Poem A
Theme
Supporting Evidence 1.
(same)
Supporting Evidence 2.
(different)

Poem B

.CLPMS Language & Literature Grade 8

Guest
Name:____________________________ Period:______________________ Date:__________

6. Using the information gathered in the graphic organizer above, write a paragraph
below comparing and contrasting the themes of Reading Myself to Sleep and
Introduction to Poetry. You may refer to them as Poem A and Poem B. (4)