Read the poem below and complete the instruction that follows.  “in my mother’s house”by gloria g. murrayevery wallstood at attentioneven the air knewwhen to hold its breaththe polished floorslooked updefying heel marksthe plastic slipcoverscrinkled in discomfortin my mother’s housethe window shadesflappedagainst the glareof the worldthe laughtercrawled like roachesback into the crackseven the humans sat—cardboard cut-outsaround the formicakitchen tableand with silver knivessliced and swallowedtheir wordssource: murray, gloria g. “in my mother’s house.”  poet lore  99.1 (2005).  poetry foundation. web. 18 july 2011.  identify the subject and mood of the poem. discuss how the poet’s use of figurative language, imagery, and symbolism contribute to the reader’s understanding.

Write a summary about what you have learned about interpreting literature and presenting it to an audience.

Which best identifies the figurative language used in this passage? cannon to right of them, cannon to left of them, cannon in front of them volley’d and thunder’d; storm’d at with shot and shell, boldly they rode and well, into the jaws of death, into the mouth of hell rode the six hundred.

Read the excerpt from the poem "growing up italian" by maria mazziotti gillan and answer the question that follows. when i was a little girl, i thought everyone was italian, and that was good. we visted our aunts and uncles, and they visted us. the italian language smooth and sweet in my mouth. in kindergarten, english words fell on me, thick and sharp as hail. i grew silent, the italian word balanced on the edge of my tongue and the english word, lost during the first moment of every question. source: gillan, maria mazziotti. "growing up italian." poetrymagazine.com. poetry magazine, n.d. web. 30 mar. 2011. what is the tone of this poem? what does the tone reveal about the speaker of the poem and the conflict she faces? based on this excerpt, what can you predict about the theme of the poem?