Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.
River Traffic
The great rivers roll on their way to the sea.
And young men and boys ride on flat-bottomed boats
That carry great cargoes of lumber and wheat
To farms and the markets in blistering heat
In America’s South where the boats sell their loads.
The crews leave their houses in states like Kentucky.
They shepherd their wares through the rapids and floods
Of powerful rivers that splash, cut, and seethe
With dangerous snags, many made of drowned trees,
That the boatmen must watch for to protect their goods.
Their hope: to make money to carry back home
Once their barges slide into the huge Mississippi
From other great rivers, such as the Ohio.
It joins in the Father of Waters that flows
Without stopping, eternal and free,
And carries the boatmen on slivers of foam.
These slide to its surface from eddies beneath
The broad brown body of water and suspended loam
Carried light in its mass, never to roam
Past the banks that have grown over long centuries
The boatmen are cautious, aware of its power.
They steer themselves well as the towns slide away,
Making some sigh and long for the white, standing towers.
They mark each community and ring out the hour
In some but in others have nothing to say.
When the river is calm it is soft as a bower.
But when it is angry – swollen with danger –
Then sometimes the minutes can turn into hours.
The men on its surface are scared of its power.
They know that the river is always a stranger.
But people need commerce, and the river's a free
Way to move our goods from place to place.
No one says, "Stop! Wait and see
Who owns this broad highway. Is it you or me?"
The river just laughs as it flows past your face.
The long winding roads that all lead to the sea
Sing their songs of far places, of forests and plains,
Of mountains that swell beneath jackets of trees,
Of icy sharp ridges and snow-covered peaks,
And water, sweet water, from life-giving rains.
1. Which pair of words from the poem have slant rhyme, end sounds that are similar but not identical? (1 point)
loam - roam
boat - loads
away - say
danger - stranger
2. Which phrase in the poem is an example of repetition of consonant sounds? (1 point)
The crews leave their houses
The boatmen are cautious
But people need commerce
The broad brown body of water
3. Who is riding on the rivers in this poem? (1 point)
soldiers
New York harbormen
young men and boys
old men in New Orleans
4. The pattern of beats in the line The boatmen are cautious, aware of its power is called (1 point)
rhythm.
rhyme.
assonance.
alliteration.
5. What figurative language in the poem describes the appearance of the mountains? (1 point)
long winding roads
jackets of trees
forests and plains
icy sharp ridges
6. In the poem, the river is MOST LIKELY a symbol for (1 point)
human greed.
caution.
fear of the unknown.
the power of nature.
7. The speaker says, The river just laughs as it flows past your face. What is MOST LIKELY the deeper meaning of that line? (1 point)
People need to trade goods and make money.
The river is more powerful than people or boats.
All roads lead to the river.
People should not pollute the river.
8. In what way can any one of us connect to the ideas of "River Traffic"?
(1 point)
We have all floated down big rivers.
We all know where the Mississippi and Ohio rivers flow.
We are all alive and moving through our lives without a pause.
We all would like to sell products in other parts of the country.
9. What is MOST LIKELY the meaning of the sixth stanza of the poem? (1 point)
The bargemen wish there were no towns along the river's banks.
The bargemen understand that the river is unpredictable.
The river is usually calm, so the bargemen are not afraid of it.
Guiding a barge down a river requires a great deal of concentration.
10. In which stanza is the free, unmanageable nature of the river most clearly shown? (1 point)
1
3
4
7
11. The subject of a sentence tells (1 point)
what something does, is, or has.
who or what the sentence is about.
when the action takes place.
what kind of sentence it is.
12. Choose the verb that agrees with the subject, "Janie and her mother ______ every Saturday." (1 point)
meets
exercises
run
runs
13. Choose the correct verb for the following sentence. "Neither David nor Joe ____ signing up for the new club." (1 point)
am
is
was
are
Complete 14–16 with a line/lines from the poem.
Main Idea: The big rivers in the center of the United States have a constant power that is greater than the human uses for the rivers.
14. Provide a supporting detail for the main idea listed above.
(2 points)
15. Provide a second supporting detail for the main idea.
(2 points)
16. Provide a third supporting detail for the main idea.
(2 points)
17. In the poem, the river is powerful and unpredictable. It sometimes makes the lives of people difficult, yet they continue to struggle against it in order to earn a living. Think about a time in your life when you struggled to overcome an obstacle. Describe the obstacle, what you did to overcome it, and what motivated you to keep trying. (2 points)
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