Select Relevant/Sufficient Evidence: Poetry Practice Test

Read the poem excerpt below.

In “Silt,” the speaker describes returning to a river town after years away:

1 I came back when the river had learned new names,

2 when storefronts wore plywood like winter coats.

3 My mother’s porch still tilted toward the water,

4 its steps soft as bread left out too long.

5 I watched the current carry a refrigerator door,

6 white as a sermon, downstream without a hymn.

7 The neighbors spoke of “progress” with their mouths full of dust,

8 and I nodded, tasting pennies on my tongue.

Which choice provides the most relevant and sufficient evidence for the claim that the speaker views the town’s “progress” as hollow and corrosive rather than hopeful?

Read the poem excerpt below.

In “Museum Audio Guide,” the speaker listens to a recorded narration while standing before a portrait of an unknown woman.

Poem excerpt:

1 The voice in my ear says circa and attributed,

2 as if the painter were a rumor.

3 The woman’s hands fold a letter into thirds,

4 careful as prayer, careless as habit.

5 The guide lists pigments: umber, lead, a blue

6 shipped across oceans in barrels of bone.

7 But it cannot name what she is waiting for—

8 the way her mouth refuses to finish a thought.

9 I pause the track. In the sudden silence

10 she almost speaks, and I almost listen.

Which choice provides the best evidence for the claim that the poem contrasts institutional certainty with the speaker’s recognition of irreducible human ambiguity?