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READ THE POEM and answer the questions below the poem Learning…
READ THE POEM and answer the questions below the poem
Learning to Read by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911)
1 Very soon the Yankee teachers
2 Came down and set up school;
3 But, oh! how the Rebs did hate it,
4 It was agin’ their rule.
5 Our masters always tried to hide
6 Book learning from our eyes;
7 Knowledge didn’t agree with slavery ‘
8 Twould make us all too wise.
9 But some of us would try to steal
10 A little from the book.
11 And put the words together,
12 And learn by hook or crook.
13 I remember Uncle Caldwell,
14 Who took pot liquor fat
15 And greased the pages of his book,
16 And hid it in his hat.
17 And had his master ever seen
18 The leaves upon his head,
19 He’d have thought them greasy papers,
20 But nothing to be read.
21 And there was Mr. Turner’s Ben,
22 Who heard the children spell,
23 And picked the words right up by heart,
24 And learned to read ’em well.
25 Well, the Northern folks kept sending
26 The Yankee teachers down;
27 And they stood right up and helped us,
28 Though Rebs did sneer and frown.
29 And I longed to read my Bible,
30 For precious words it said;
31 But when I begun to learn it,
32 Folks just shook their heads,
33 And said there is no use trying,
34 Oh! Chloe, you’re too late;
35 But as I was rising sixty,
36 I had no time to wait.
37 So I got a pair of glasses,
38 And straight to work I went,
39 And never stopped till I could read
40 The hymns and Testament.
41 Then I got a little cabin
42 A place to call my own
43 And I felt independent
44 As the queen upon her throne.
Instructions
Read the question carefully and select the best answer.
1. Which of the following inferences is best supported by the opening stanza of the poem?
1 Very soon the Yankee teachers
2 Came down and set up school;
3 But, oh! how the Rebs did hate it,
4 It was agin’ their rule.
Answer choices for the above question
A. The speaker is a Yankee teacher.
B. Setting up schools is the main focus of the Yankees.
C. Education of formerly enslaved people faces strong local opposition.
D. The schools are being set up during a time of war.
2.- Which of the following lines best describes the kinds of actions that enslaved people would take in order to educate themselves?
Answer choices for the above question
A. “Our masters always tried to hide/Book learning from our eyes;”
B. “Well, the Northern folks kept sending/The Yankee teachers down;”
C. “And I longed to read my Bible,/For precious words it said;”
D. “And greased the pages of his book,/And hid it in his hat.”
3.- Which of the following best explains why people don’t believe the speaker can learn to read?
Answer choices for the above question
A. She was formerly enslaved.
B. She is a woman.
C. She is too old.
D. Her eyesight is too poor.
4.- Which line from the poem best supports your answer to Question 3?
Answer choices for the above question
A. “Knowledge didn’t agree with slavery”
B. “I had no time to wait.”
C. “Folks just shook their heads,”
D. “Oh! Chloe, you’re too late;”
5.- Instructions
Order these events chronologically as they take place in the poem:
– Uncle Caldwell greases the book pages with fat.
– Ben learns to read after listening to children spell words.
– The speaker gets a pair of glasses and learns to read the Bible.
– The speaker gets a cabin of her own.
6.- According to the poem, why do the masters not want enslaved people to learn to read? Refer to one or more details from the text to support your answer.
7.- What does Uncle Caldwell hide from his master? Why does he do this? Answer using specific evidence from the text.
8.- Use context to determine the meaning of the word sneer as it used in “Learning to Read.” Write your definition of sneer here and state the clue(s) from the text you used to determine your answer. Then, use a dictionary and the surrounding context of the poem to check your inferred meaning.
9.- Answer the following three questions. Each question must be answered in its’ own paragraph. Cite evidence from the text to support your responses.
9.1 .- Explain how the structure of the poem impacts it’s meaning.
9.2- Explain how the rhyme and rhythm impact the meaning of the poem.
9.3.-Explain how the imagery impacts the meaning of the poem.
