Function of Conflict: Poetry Practice Test

Read the following poem, then answer the question that follows.

Title: “Unsent Postcard”

I buy a postcard with a lighthouse,

white tower against stubborn sea.

In the gift shop, the clerk asks,

“Sending it to someone special?”

I say yes, because the word special

fits like a sweater I outgrew.

At the café, I write your address

from memory, no phone.

Then I stare at the blank message space.

I want to reach you

but I don’t want to reopen the weather

we finally stopped standing in.

So I slip the postcard in my book,

a thin, bright almost.

What is the primary function of the tension between “I want to reach you” and “I don’t want to reopen the weather”?

Read the following poem, then answer the question that follows.

Title: “Crosswalk”

The crosswalk sign blinks DON’T WALK

with its orange, scolding hand.

No cars come.

The street lies open,

a strip of harmless asphalt.

A child beside me grips her mother’s sleeve,

waiting for permission.

My own legs twitch.

I could step out now.

I could model patience.

My impatience argues there is no danger

while my conscience insists rules matter anyway,

and the light changes slowly,

as if teaching me how to be seen.

What is the primary function of the tension between “My impatience argues there is no danger” and “my conscience insists rules matter anyway”?