Mr. Zamora's Site
A Bird came down the Walk-
Emily Dickinson
A Bird came down the Walk-
He did not know I saw-
He bit an Angleworm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw,
5 And then he drank a Dew
From a convenient Grass-
And then hopped sidewise to the Wall
To let a Beetle pass-
He glanced with rapid eyes
10 That hurried all around-
They looked like frightened Beads, I thought-
He stirred his Velvet Head
Like one in danger, Cautious, I
offered him a Crumb
15 And he unrolled his feathers
And rowed him softer home-
Than Oars divide the Ocean,
Too silver for a seam-
Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon
20 Leap, splashless as they swim.
from A Song of Joys
Walt Whitman
O to make the most jubilant song!
Full of music-full of manhood, womanhood, infancy!
Full of common employments-full of grain and trees.
O for the voices of animals-O for the swiftness and
5 balance of fishes!
O for the dropping of raindrops in a song!
O for the sunshine and motion of waves in a song!
O the joy of my spirit-it is uncaged-it darts like
lightning!
10 It is not enough to have this globe or a certain time,
I will have thousands of globes and all time.
O the engineer's joys! to go with a locomotive!
To hear the hiss of steam, the merry shriek, the
steam-whistle, the laughing locomotive!
15 To push with resistless way and speed off in the distance.
O the gleesome saunter over fields and hillsides!
The leaves and flowers of the commonest weeds, the moist
fresh stillness of the woods,
The exquisite smell of the earth at daybreak, and all
20 through the forenoon.
Comprehension
Answer the following questions about “A Bird came down the Walk—”.
____ 1. Dickinson most likely uses irregular capitalization in line 1 to stress the
|A. |focus of the poem |
|B. |astonishment of the speaker |
|C. |hunger of the bird |
|D. |size of the beetle |
____ 2. The dash in line 8 forces you to
|A. |hear the repetition in the line |
|B. |notice the personification |
|C. |look at the word “Beetle” |
|D. |pause while reading |
____ 3. The simile in line 11 emphasizes the
|A. |texture of the bird’s feathers |
|B. |movement of the bird’s eyes |
|C. |motion of the bird’s wings |
|D. |beauty of the bird’s flight |
____ 4. The slant rhyme of Crumb and home in lines 14 and 16 draws attention to the
|A. |beauty of the bird’s feathers |
|B. |speaker’s intimidating nature |
|C. |appearance of the crumb |
|D. |bird’s reaction to the speaker |
Answer the following questions about the excerpt from “A Song of Joys.”
____ 5. Whitman shows a celebration of many different aspects of life by
|A. |repeating the phrase “Full of” in lines 2–3 |
|B. |including the dash in line 4 |
|C. |giving the description of a train in line 11 |
|D. |describing the weeds in line 14 |
____ 6. Which poetic device does Whitman use in lines 4–6 to express a love of nature?
|A. |irregular capitalization |
|B. |similes |
|C. |parallelism |
|D. |slant rhyme |
____ 7. The most likely purpose of the cataloging in line 11 is to
|A. |change the poem’s appearance |
|B. |create rhythm in the poem |
|C. |stress the happiness of the engineer |
|D. |show the speaker’s desire to travel |
____ 8. Whitman creates a natural flow of language through the use of
|A. |slant rhyme |
|B. |many similes |
|C. |uniform stanzas |
|D. |free verse |
Comprehension
Answer these questions about both selections.
____ 9. Dickinson uses a curious tone to respond to life experiences, and Whitman uses
|A. |a mocking tone |
|B. |a humorous tone |
|C. |a depressed tone |
|D. |an excited tone |
____ 10. Dickinson’s tone in lines 1–8 of “A Bird came down a Walk—” and Whitman’s tone in lines 13–15 of “A Song of Joys” suggest that the authors share an appreciation for
|A. |hidden observation |
|B. |aspects of nature |
|C. |beauty of sunrises |
|D. |boisterous exclamations |
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