Poems About Nature -- Close Reader Grade 7

"Problems with Hurricanes" by Victor Hernandez Cruz

What is a campesino?

• the name of a hurricane

• a storm chaser

• a bird

• a farmer

"Problems with Hurricanes" by Victor Hernandez Cruz

In the first stanza,, what does the speaker explain is the problem with hurricanes?

• noise

• water

• strong wind blowing

• fruit flying

"Problems with Hurricanes" by Victor Hernandez Cruz

Which inference can BEST be made about the speaker's feelings in the poem?

• the speaker respects nature and the power of storms

• the speaker is extremely fearful of storms

• the speaker remains concerned about his crops because of storms

• the speaker loves storms and prays for them often

"Problems with Hurricanes" by Victor Hernandez Cruz

Which detail from the poem supports how the speaker respects nature and the power of storms?

• With hurricanes, it's not the wind or the noise of the water.

• The campesino takes off his hat -- as a sign of respect toward the fury of wind.

• Death by drowning has honor.

• How would your family feel if they had to tell the generations that you got killed by....

"Problems with Hurricanes" by Victor Hernandez Cruz

Which of the following poetic devices is used in the end of the poem?

• rhyme

• meter

• repetition

• metaphor

"Prayer to the Pacific" by Leslie Silko

The line breaks in the poem visually create _______________.

• a fish' tail

• a sea turtle's shell

• waves/the tide moving in and out

• coral

"Prayer to the Pacific" by Leslie Silko

Which of the following and personified in the poem?

• I return to you turquoise the red coral you sent us/sister spirit of Earth

• Four round stones in my pocket I carry back to the ocean

• Great sea turtles waded slowly out/from the gray sundown sea

• Wet Earth on my feel/swallowing raindrops/clear from China

"Prayer to the Pacific" by Leslie Silko

Read the following dictionary entry for immemorial: extending back beyond memory or record: ancient

How does the definition from the above entry assist in explaining what the speaker means in lines 25-29?

• The speaker has loved the ocean for a very long time.

• The speaker knows that for as long as anyone can remember, the ocean has filled the rain clouds.

• The speaker knows many ancient people.

• The speaker understands many things are beyond his memory.

"Tornado at Talladega" by Gwendolyn Brooks

In stanza one, what is the poet most likely referring to with the line, "What came through to do some landscaping?"

• a tornado

• people who came in to repair land and houses after a tornado

• gardeners who did landscaping before a tornado

• a bird

"Tornado at Talladega" by Gwendolyn Brooks

Which of the following words best describes the tone that is created from the word choice and personification in stanza two?

Certain trees

stick across the road.

They are unimportant now.

They cannot sass anymore.

Not a one of these, the bewildered,

can announce anymore, "How fine I am!" ire

Here, roots, ire, origins exposed,

across this twig-strewn, leaf-strewn road they lie

mute, and ashamed, and through.

• sad

• festive

• harsh

• informal