Develop Claims With Evidence: Poetry Practice Test

Read the poem and the student’s claim.

Poem:

The library book I borrowed smells like pepper.

Someone underlined a sentence about mercy

so hard the paper bruised.

I return it late, paying my fine

with coins warmed by my pocket.

Claim: The poem highlights intimacy between strangers through traces left on shared objects.

Which option best supports the claim with evidence?

Read the poem and the student’s claim.

Poem:

At the wake, the casserole table shines.

Aluminum pans, bright as shields.

We eat in whispers, chewing carefully,

as if noise might wake the dead.

Someone laughs too hard—

a crack in the hymn.

Claim: The poem uses communal food to reveal discomfort with grief.

Which option best supports the claim with evidence?