FIRST READ EXTENSION QUESTIONS

Retort / from The People, Yes

1
Name:       Date:      

Retort
Paul Laurence Dunbar

from The People, Yes

Carl Sandburg

DIRECTIONS: Complete the following items after you have read the two poems.
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RL.8.1 Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

1. (a) Draw an inference from the text.

In “Retort,” what can you infer to be the relationship of Phyllis to the speaker?
    

(b) Cite textual evidence to support your inference.

Explain how details in the poem support the inference you drew.
    

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RL.8.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including
figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and
tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.

2. Analyze figurative language.

Personification is figurative language in which things that are not human are
portrayed as if they are human. Explain how the speaker in “Retort” uses
personification to express two contrasting viewpoints.
    

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 FIRST READ EXTENSION QUESTIONS
Retort / from The People, Yes

2
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RL.8.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course
of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective
summary of the text.

3. (a) Provide an objective summary.

Summarize the two contrasting viewpoints that the white man and the Native
American express in the lines from The People, Yes.
    

(b) Analyze the development of a theme.

What theme about human knowledge do the contrasting viewpoints of the white
man and the Native American help express? What do the ethnic identities of the
two speakers—one a white man, the other a Native American—suggest about the
knowledge brought to the Americas by the white man? How does this relate to the
theme?
    

Poetic Structures

DIRECTIONS: Complete the following activity as either a written response or a group

discussion.
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RL.8.5 Compare and contrast the structure of two or more texts and analyze how the differing
structure of each text contributes to its meaning and style.

4. Compare and contrast the poetic structures used in “Retort” and the lines from
The People, Yes. Explain how the different structures of the two poems contribute
to their different styles.

Use these guidelines in your writing or discussion. 

 Determine if each poem has a pattern of rhyme.
 Determine if each poem has a certain meter, or pattern of stressed and
unstressed syllables.
 Recall common sound devices in poems. These include alliteration (repetition
of consonant sounds at the beginnings of syllables), consonance (repetition of
consonant sounds at the ends of syllables with different vowel sounds), and
assonance (repetition of vowel sounds in stressed syllables that end with
different consonant sounds). Then, identify examples of sound devices in each
poem.
 Identify the style of each poem and explain how the structure of the poem
contributes to its style. Consider if the style is formal or casual and how the
structure supports that style.

© Pearson Education, Inc., or its affiliates. All Rights Reserved.

 FIRST READ EXTENSION QUESTIONS
Retort / from The People, Yes

© Pearson Education, Inc., or its affiliates. All Rights Reserved.

 FIRST READ EXTENSION QUESTIONS
Retort / from The People, Yes

TIP FOR WRITTEN RESPONSE

To avoid errors that will distract your readers, check your writing and correct any spelling
and punctuation errors that you find.
TIP FOR DISCUSSION
Listen closely and politely to what each participant says.

    

Theme

DIRECTIONS: Complete the following question to compare “The Retort” with the lines
from The People, Yes.
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RL. 8.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the
course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an
objective summary of the text.

5. Compare the development of a shared theme.

Both the poem “Retort” and the lines from The People, Yes concern human
understanding. Identify a theme, or central message, about human understanding
that is shared by both poems. Explain how that theme is developed over the
course of each poem. Then, identify one way in which the development of the
theme is different in the two poems.
    

© Pearson Education, Inc., or its affiliates. All Rights Reserved.