Function of Specific Words: Poetry Practice Test

Read the poem below and answer the question that follows.

Title: “Commuter Psalm”

At 6:12 the platform breathes exhaust.

A man in a suit scrolls through weather

as if rain were negotiable.

The tracks shine with last night’s spilled light.

When the train arrives, it does not arrive—

it shoves its metal shoulder into the crowd.

We step back, then forward, rehearsing faith.

Inside, the windows show us doubled,

faces layered like thin, tired maps.

Somewhere under the city, water listens.

What is the function of the word shoves in “it shoves its metal shoulder into the crowd”?

Read the poem and answer the question.

Title: “Seed Packet”

April arrives with its thin green promises.

I tear the packet; a peppered spill of seeds

slides into my palm—so small their chances is

almost a joke the dirt agrees to read.

I kneel; the garden bed is cold and plain.

A crow observes, black punctuation, still.

I cover them and whisper anyway, again,

as if that word could teach the world to will.

In context, the word anyway most functions to​