Question

It was in an empty lot
Ringed by elms and fir and honeysuckle.
Bill Corson was pitching in his buckskin jacket,
Chuck Keller, fat even as a boy, was on first,
His t-shirt riding up over his gut,
Ron O'Neill, Jim, Dennis, were talking it up
In the field, a blue sky above them
Tipped with cirrus.

And there I was,
Just off the plane and plopped in the middle
Of Williamsport, Pa. and a neighborhood game,
Unnatural and without any moves,
My notions of baseball and America
Growing fuzzier each time I whiffed.

—"How I Learned English,"
Gregory Djanikian

How does the author’s use of first-person point of view make the poem interesting for the reader? Select the best answer.

It highlights the fact that the author is serious.
It allows the reader to experience the characters’ thoughts and actions firsthand.
It helps the narrator show the thoughts of all of the characters.
It shows that the author is an experienced baseball player.
A B C or D

Answer 1

B

The first-person voice puts the reader inside the narrator’s immediate impressions and feelings (e.g., being "just off the plane," awkwardness at whiffing), making the scene more vivid and personal.