Question

read the poem. there are several questions about this poem.
american sonnet
we do not speak like petrarch or wear a hat like spenser
and it is not fourteen lines
like furrows in a small, carefully plowed field
but the picture postcard, a poem on vacation,
that forces us to sing our songs in little rooms
or pour our sentiments into measuring cups.
we write on the back of a waterfall or lake,
adding to the view a caption as conventional
as an elizabethan womans heliocentric eyes.
we locate an adjective for the weather.
we announce that we are having a wonderful time.
we express the wish that you were here
and hide the wish that we were where you are,
walking back from the mailbox, your head lowered
as you read and turn the thin message in your hands.
a slice of this place, a length of white beach,
a plaza or carved spires of a cathedral
will pierce the familiar place where you remain,
which statement best expresses a central idea of the poem?

1. a postcard is as conventionally structured as a sonnet, but it has little meaning.
2. a postcard is more limited than a sonnet, but it creates an inspiring feeling of freedom.
3. a postcard offers a form of self - expression like a sonnet, and it provides a comforting sense of order.
4. a postcard breaks with traditional poetic forms such as the sonnet, and it shows that change is inevitable.

part b
which excerpt from the poem best develops the correct central idea from part a?

1. \fourteen lines\ (line 2)
2. \wonderful time\ (line 11)
3. \thin message\ (line 15)

Explanation:

• Part A:
• The poem contrasts the postcard (a modern form of expression) with traditional poetic forms like the sonnet. It shows that the postcard, though different (not having the strict structure of a sonnet with its fourteen lines etc.), still offers a form of self - expression. Option 3 is correct as it captures the idea that the postcard, like a sonnet, is a form of self - expression and also provides a sense of order (in its own way, as we write on it in a somewhat structured manner). Option 1 is wrong because the postcard does have meaning. Option 2 is incorrect as the poem doesn't emphasize the postcard creating a feeling of freedom more than a sonnet. Option 4 is wrong as the poem is not mainly about change being inevitable.
• Part B:
• The phrase “thin message” in line 15 shows that the postcard (the “thin message”) is a form of communication (self - expression). It helps develop the central idea that the postcard is a form of self - expression like a sonnet. “Fourteen lines” in line 2 is about the traditional sonnet structure, not the postcard's role as a form of self - expression. “Wonderful time” in line 11 is just a content element of the postcard message, not directly related to the central idea of the postcard as a form of self - expression like a sonnet.

Answer:

• Part A: 3. A postcard offers a form of self - expression like a sonnet, and it provides a comforting sense of order.
• Part B: 3. “thin message” (Line 15)