Lab Activity 54: Inferences in Creative Expression

Chapter 11: Inferences
Lab Activity 54: Inferences in Creative Expression

Objective To use details to make accurate inferences for interpreting literature.

Step 2: Read these lines from a poem by Walt Whitman (1819–1892), and then answer the questions that follow the excerpt. You may need to consult a dictionary, or you can go to Dictionary.com.

Have you reckon'd a thousand acres much? have you reckon'd
the earth much?
Have you practis'd so long to learn to read?
Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems?

Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin
of all poems,
You shall possess the good of the earth and sun—(there are millions
of suns left;)
You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look
through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the specters in books;
You shall not look through my eyes either, nor takes things from me:
You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self.

—From "Song of Myself," ll. 22–29, Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. New York: W.W. Norton, 1973.

6. What definitions of reckon'd (reckoned) can be applied to line 1?

a. ignored and reached

b. calculated and pondered

c. plowed and wandered

d. sowed and planted

7. Lines 2 and 3 imply that

a. learning to read well and to understand poetry can take time and practice, but the results are gratifying.

b. learning to read well and to understand poetry can come easily to most people.

c. the speaker is a coach blaming his players for not trying hard enough.

d. the speaker is a farmer expecting his workers to try harder.

8. By "there are millions of suns left," the poet implies there are

a. many days left.

b. many suns out in the universe to consider.

c. many things to learn still.

d. all of the listed meanings.

9. In the phrase "nor feed on the spectres of books," the word spectres is the British spelling of specters, which means

a. examinations.

b. ghosts or objects of dread.

c. generals and guides.

d. writers.

10. From this excerpt of the poem, the reader can infer that it is important

a. to develop the skills to think for yourself rather than rely on others to tell you how to think.

b. to trust your teachers to give you the answers.

c. to enjoy nature before it is destroyed by humans.

d. to recognize the power of nature and its ability to destroy what humans have made.