Page 37 - SpringBoard_CloseReading_Workshop_Grade7_Flipbook

Close Reading of poetry (continued)
prodigious: enormous, tremendous, massive
supercilious: behaving or looking as if one thinks one is superior to others pare: to skim the edges
Boanerges: a loud orator or preacher
omnipotent: having unlimited power
First Reading: First Impressions
Read the following poem silently. Your focus for this first reading is on understanding the meaning of the poem. As you read, practice diffusing by looking up definitions and finding synonyms for unfamiliar words. Definitions and synonyms for underlined words appear in the margins; use these to help your understanding.
Railway Train
by Emily Dickinson
I like to see it lap the miles, And lick the valleys up,
And stop to feed itself at tanks; And then, prodigious, step
5 Around a pile of mountains, And, supercilious, peer
In shanties by the sides of roads; And then a quarry pare
To fit its sides, and crawl between, 10 Complaining all the while
In horrid, hooting stanza; Then chase itself down hill
And neigh like Boanerges;
Then, punctual as a star,
15 Stop—docile and omnipotent—
At its own stable door.
Second Reading: vocabulary in Context
Now that you have read the poem silently, listen and follow along as your teacher reads the poem aloud. As you read along with your teacher, circle words and/or phrases (other than the underlined words) that you do not know or that you feel are important to the meaning of the poem. Diffuse these words/phrases for comprehension.
36 SpringBoard® English Language Arts Grade 7
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