"Parsley" Rita Dove

The first half of the poem is written from the perspective of the...

• General

• Haitians

• General's Mother

• Children

Details the horrific actions of real-life dictator of the Dominican-Republic...

• Rafael Trujillo

• Rita Dove

• Fidel Castro

• El General

What is being personified in this stanza?

we lie down screaming as rain punches through

and we come up green. We cannot speak an R—

out of the swamp, the cane appears

• The Haitians

• The swamp

• The Cane Fields

• The Rain

What does the following passage mainly suggest about the general (lines 5–6)?

" he is all the world / there is "

• The general’s authority has few, if any, limitations.

• The general is struggling with the death of his mother.

• The general is a kind, benevolent leader.

• The general’s subjects do not take him seriously.

The following passage from “Parsley” is written in the tense, from a point of view (lines 7–9).

"we lie down screaming as rain punches through

and we come up green. We cannot speak an R—

out of the swamp, the cane appears"

• present; third-person

• past; third-person

• present; first-person

• past; second-person

Which of the following selections best summarizes a key element of the poem?

• A blight has devastated the year’s cane sugar crop.

• The parrot is a figment of the general’s imagination.

• The general’s mother took her own life mainly out of shame for what her son had done.

• The general will execute anyone who does not pronounce a word in a certain way.

Which lines from the text most strongly supports our knowledge that the General will execute anyone who cannot pronounce a word in a certain way?

• “I never thought it would sing / the soldier said, and died.”

• “He orders pastries / brought up for the bird; they arrive / dusted with sugar on a lace bed.”

• “He will / order many, this time, to be killed / for a single, beautiful word.”

• “Out of the swamp the cane appears / to haunt us, and we cut it down.”

Which person(s) are doing the following action?

"coy as a widow, practicing / spring."

• the parrot

• the laborers

• the general

• the general's mother

Which person(s) are doing the following action?

"The cane appears / in our dreams, lashed by wind and streaming."

• the laborers

• the parrot

• the general

• the general's mother

Which person(s) are doing the following action?

"could roll an R like a queen."

• the laborers

• the parrot

• the general

• the general's mother