Question

The Song of the Shirt
by Thomas Hood

With fingers weary and worn,
With eyelids heavy and red,
A woman sat in unwomanly rags,
Plying her needle and thread—

Stitch! stitch! stitch!
In poverty, hunger, and dirt,
And still with a voice of dolorous pitch,—
Would that its tone could reach the Rich!—

She sang the “Song of the Shirt.”



"The Song of the Shirt" from The Poetical Works of Thomas Hood by Thomas Hood

A Book
by Emily Elizabeth Dickinson

He ate and drank the precious words,
His spirit grew robust;
He knew no more that he was poor,
Nor that his frame was dust.

He danced along the dingy days,
And this bequest of wings
Was but a book. What liberty
A loosened spirit brings!



"A Book by Emily Elizabeth Dickinson"
Use the poems to answer the question. Select Passage 1 and Passage 2.

How do the speakers in these two poems differ?

(1 point)
Responses

The speaker in “Song of the Shirt” views is a poor woman, but the speaker in “A Book” is a poor man.
The speaker in “Song of the Shirt” views is a poor woman, but the speaker in “A Book” is a poor man.

The speaker in “Song of the Shirt” sees work as cruel, but the speaker in “A Book” sees work as good and proper.
The speaker in “Song of the Shirt” sees work as cruel, but the speaker in “A Book” sees work as good and proper.

The speaker in “Song of the Shirt” is poor, but the speaker in “A Book” is rich.
The speaker in “Song of the Shirt” is poor, but the speaker in “A Book” is rich.

The speaker in “Song of the Shirt” views poverty as terrible, but the speaker in “A Book” views it as something that can be escaped.

Answer 1

The speaker in “Song of the Shirt” views poverty as terrible, but the speaker in “A Book” views it as something that can be escaped.