ELA/Literacy Released Item 2018 Grade 11 Literary Analysis Task
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ELA/Literacy Released Item 2018 Grade 11 Literary Analysis Task Analyze feelings conveyed through imagery J2100 © 2019 CCSSO, LLC English Language Arts/Literacy Today, you will review works by two American writers of the early twentieth century. You will read a passage from a short story by Willa Sibert Cather and listen to an audio recording of a poem by Amy Lowell. As you review the works, consider how the writers use imagery to convey themes about separation and the emotions that a place can evoke so you can compose a written response. Read the passage from “The Namesake” (1907). Then answer the questions. from “The Namesake” by Willa Sibert Cather 1 SEVEN of us, students, sat one evening in Hartwell’s studio on the Boulevard St. Michel. We were all fellow-countrymen; one from New Hampshire, one from Colorado, another from Nevada, several from the farmlands of the Middle West, and I myself from California. Lyon Hartwell, though born abroad, was simply, as every one knew, “from America.” He seemed, almost more than any other one living man, to mean all of it—from ocean to ocean. When he was in Paris, his studio was always open to the seven of us who were there that evening, and we intruded upon his leisure as often as we thought permissible. 2 Although we were within the terms of the easiest of all intimacies, and although the great sculptor, even when he was more than usually silent, was at all times the most gravely cordial of hosts, yet, on that long remembered evening, as the sunlight died on the burnished brown of the horse-chestnuts below the windows, a perceptible dullness yawned through our conversation. 3 We were, indeed, somewhat low in spirit, for one of our number, Charley Bentley, was leaving us indefinitely, in response to an imperative summons from home. To-morrow his studio, just across the hall from Hartwell’s, was to pass into other hands, and Bentley’s luggage was even now piled in discouraged resignation before his door. The various bales and boxes seemed literally to weigh upon us as we sat in his neighbor’s hospitable rooms, drearily putting in the time until he should leave us to catch the ten o’clock express for Dieppe. GO ON ► © 2019 CCSSO, LLC English Language Arts/Literacy 4 The day we had got through very comfortably, for Bentley made it the occasion of a somewhat pretentious luncheon at Maxim’s. There had been twelve of us at table, and the two young Poles were so thirsty, the Gascon so fabulously entertaining, that it was near upon five o’clock when we put down our liqueur glasses for the last time, and the red, perspiring waiter, having pocketed the reward of his arduous and protracted services, bowed us affably to the door, flourishing his napkin and brushing back the streaks of wet, black hair from his rosy forehead. Our guests having betaken themselves belated to their respective engagements, the rest of us returned with Bentley—only to be confronted by the depressing array before his door. A glance about his denuded rooms had sufficed to chill the glow of the afternoon, and we fled across the hall in a body and begged Lyon Hartwell to take us in. 5 Bentley had said very little about it, but we all knew what it meant to him to be called home. Each of us knew what it would mean to himself, and each had felt something of that quickened sense of opportunity which comes at seeing another man in any way counted out of the race. Never had the game seemed so enchanting, the chance to play it such a piece of unmerited, unbelievable good fortune. 6 It must have been, I think, about the middle of October, for I remember that the sycamores were almost bare in the Luxembourg Gardens that morning, and the terraces about the queens of France were strewn with crackling brown leaves. The fat red roses, out the summer long on the stand of the old flower woman at the corner, had given place to dahlias and purple asters. First glimpses of autumn toilettes flashed from the carriages; wonderful little bonnets nodded at one along the Champs-Elysées; and in the Quarter an occasional feather boa, red or black or white, brushed one’s coat sleeve in the gay twilight of the early evening. The crisp, sunny autumn air was all day full of the stir of people and carriages and of the cheer of salutations; greetings of the students, returned brown and bearded from their holiday, gossip of people come back from Trouville, from St. Valery, from Dieppe, from all over Brittany and the Norman coast. Everywhere was the joyousness of return, the taking up again of life and work and play. GO ON ► © 2019 CCSSO, LLC English Language Arts/Literacy 7 I had felt ever since early morning that this was the saddest of all possible seasons for saying good-bye to that old, old city of youth, and to that little corner of it on the south shore which since the Dark Ages themselves—yes, and before—has been so peculiarly the land of the young. 8 I can recall our very postures as we lounged about Hartwell’s rooms that evening, with Bentley making occasional hurried trips to his desolated workrooms across the hall—as if haunted by a feeling of having forgotten something—or stopping to poke nervously at his perroquets, which he had bequeathed to Hartwell, gilt cage and all. Our host himself sat on the couch, his big, bronze-like shoulders backed up against the window, his shaggy head, beaked nose, and long chin cut clean against the gray light. Glossary Definition perroquets = the French word for parrots From “The Namesake” by Willa Cather—Public Domain GO ON ► © 2019 CCSSO, LLC English Language Arts/Literacy Listen to the audio recording of the poem “In a Garden.” Then answer the questions. In a Garden by Amy Lowell read by Alan Davis Drake IN A GARDEN by Amy Lowell—Public Domain GO ON ► © 2019 CCSSO, LLC Anchor Set A1 – A10 No Annotations Included © 2019 CCSSO, LLC A1a Score Point 4 Willa Sirbert Cather's melancholy short story "The Namesake" and Amy Lowell's romantic poem "In a Garden" both use vivid imagery to convey strong feelings.Imagery is important because it connects the reader to the scene with details they can relate and imagine.Both of the authors emotions are conveyed in their work with their detailed descriptions. "The Namesake" is a melancholy story about an artist packing up from his art studio to return home. His fellow artists are quite depressed as they spend their last day with him. Cather begins with details of where all the seven students are from "We were all fellow- countrymen; New Hampshire, one from Colorado, another from Nevada, several from the farmlands of the Middle West, and I myself from California" (Cather 1).These details help the reader understand the connection the students have to each other and the strong bond they have due to the fact that they are all from different places away from home. Before studying at "Hartwell's studio on the Boulevard St. Michel"(Cather 1) , another detail added to add authenticity to the story, these men had never known each other but they did have things in common that bonded them strongly together. Firstly they were all countrymen, secondly they were all away from home, thirdly they all loved art, and finally they were all on this adventure together. The author was aware that as a reader; one will not feel this connection that they did to each other so she puts the audience in the scene along with her characters. Cather uses detailed description " The crisp, sunny autumn air was all day full of the stir of people and carriages and the cheer of salvations; greetings of the students, returned brown and bearded from their holiday, gossip of people come back from Trouville, from St. Valery, from Dieppe, from all over Britany and the Norman coast. Everywhere was the joyousness of return, the taking up again of life and work and play"(Cather 6) to harshly contrast the depressed ambiance of the students at the studio. With her vivid details of joy and light heartedness going on around her characters the author is able to convey the drastic emotional difference of the characters themselves. The description of Bentley on his last day "Bentley making occasional hurried trips to his desolated workrooms across the hall-as if haunted by a feeling of having forgotten something-or stopping to poke nervously at his perroquets"(Cather 8) showed the readers instead of telling them that he was anxious for his next journey in life. Readers feel as if they are right there in the moment experiencing the same feeling and surroundings due to Cather's excellent use of imagery. In contrast to "The Namesake" feelings of romance and longing are being conveyed in Lowell's poem "In a Garden" . Lowell's details give the reader a sense of peace. With an abundance of details such as "With it's gurgling and running/ With its leaping, and deep cool murmur"(Lowell) and " High in the arc of night/ And the scent of lilacs was heavy with stillness"(Lowell) show that the atmosphere is very serene and not chaotic. The narrator would not be able to observe and personify " Iris dabble their feet and rustle to a passing wind"(Lowell) without time to take in his whereabouts.