Question

Read the excerpt from the poem "On the Bus with Rosa Parks."

Rosa
How she sat there,
the time right inside a place
so wrong it was ready.

That trim name with
its dream of a bench
to rest on. Her sensible coat.

How does the narration in this excerpt affect the storytelling?

It shows Rosa Parks’s view of herself.
It explains Rosa Parks’s motivation for staying seated.
It shows the poet’s perspective of Rosa Parks.
It provides a portrait of Rosa Parks with a lot of descriptive detail.

Answer 1

It shows the poet’s perspective of Rosa Parks.

The lines are narrated from an outside voice describing Rosa—her name, coat, and posture—so the poem presents the poet/narrator’s view rather than Rosa’s own thoughts or a direct explanation of motivation.