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142 Unit 2 ■ Analyzing Comparisons and Representations

There’s a poem in Boston’s Copley Square
SUGGESTED RESPONSES 3 Ther e’ s a poem in Boston’ s Cople y Squar e Guided Questions
TO GUIDED QUESTIONS where protest chants 3. What values are
where protest chants
tear through the air
tear through the air suggested by the
3. These locations are known as sites of protest like sheets of rain, comparisons to
like sheets of rain,
(Copley Square, Charlottesville, California), various locations in
notable environmental landmarks (Lake 15 where love of the many America?
Michigan, Florida, East Texas), and a city swallows hatred of the few. 4. How does this
with personal significance for the author (Los There’s a poem in Charlottesville simile create a
Angeles). 4 5 where tiki torches string a ring of flame message about
where tiki torches string a ring of flame
Copyright (c) 2023 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Uncorrected proofs were used with this sample chapter.
4. The comparison of protest chants to sheets tight round the wrist of night protest?
tight round the wrist of night
of rain denotes the exceptional strength of a 20 where men so white they gleam blue— 5. What is the
where men so white they gleam blue —
simile and how
group made up of individuals. Moreover, rain seem like statues does it connect
seem like statues
commonly represents transformation because where men heap that long wax burning to a message
it is necessary for growth and acts as a ever higher about the human
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Strictly for use with its products. Not for redistribution.
cleansing agent. where Heather Heyer experience?
5. The simile is “men so white they gleam blue– 25 blooms forever in a meadow of resistance.
seem like statues.” Gorman is likely describing
There’s a poem in the great sleeping giant
white nationalists (a claim supported by the 6 There’s a poem in the great sleeping giant 6. Explain the
comparison of
of Lake Michigan, defiantly raising
references to Charlottesville and Heather of Lake Michigan, defiantly raising Lake Michigan
its big blue head to Milwaukee and Chicago—
Heyer). Comparing them to statues may its big blue head to Milwaukee and Chicago — to a sleeping
indicate that hatred dehumanizes people a poem begun long ago, blazed into frozen soil, giant. How does
into otherworldly, rigid, immobile versions 30 strutting upward and aglow. this comparison
contribute to an
of themselves. Notably, in reference to fire There’s a poem in Florida, in East Texas understanding of
(mentioned several lines prior), blue colors are where streets swell into a nexus the poem?
hotter than red, yellow, or white. Therefore, the of rivers, cows afloat like mottled buoys in the brown,
color may indicate intensity.
where courage is now so common
6. A sleeping giant can refer to an individual 35 that 23-year-old Jesus Contreras rescues people from floodwaters.
or force that has not yet realized or used
There’s a poem in Los Angeles
the full extent of its influence or power. This 7 There’s a poem in Los Angeles 7. How does the
comparison could refer to the environmental yawning wide as the Pacific tide poet create an
yawning wide as the Pacific tide
association within
toll of fracking on the Great Lakes, as well as where a single mother swelters this metaphor?
where a single mother swelters
to the untapped potential of reusable energy. in a windowless classroom, teaching
in a windowless classroom, teaching
black and brown students in Watts
7. Gorman transfers the magnitude, power, and 40 black and brown students in Watts
awe typically associated with the ocean to a to spell out their thoughts
mundane classroom of everyday learning. so her daughter might write
8. Gorman compares hope and resiliency to the this poem for you.
image of a “stubborn / ship gripping a dock” There’s a lyric in California
which connects to other water comparisons 45 where thousands of students march for blocks,
made throughout the poem.
undocumented and unafraid;
where my friend Rosa finds the power to blossom
in deadlock, her spirit the bedrock of her community.
She knows hope is like a stubborn
8 She knows hope is like a stubborn 8. How does this
50 ship gripping a dock, simile compare a
ship gripping a dock,
a truth: that you can’t stop a dreamer
a truth: that you can’t stop a dreamer concrete object
with ideas about the
or knock down a dream. human experience?
or knock down a dream.
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142 Unit 2 Analyzing Comparisons and Representations

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