Name: ______________________ Class: _________________ Date: _________ ID: A

Cloudy Day

Multiple Choice
Identify the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.

Comprehension
Read each of the following questions. Then choose the letter of the best answer.

____ 1. What is the speaker doing in the poem?

A waiting in his cell
B sitting in the yard outside
C dreaming of his life before prison
D being driven to the prison
____ 2. The words “wall,” “iron frames,” and “fence” in lines 1–12 emphasize the
A fierce wind buffeting the speaker.
B speaker’s trait of ignoring what is around him.
C unyielding limits of his present life.
D extent of the speaker’s depression over his situation.
____ 3. The connotation of huddled in "we sad huddled in our prison jackets" (line 7) is
A uncomfortable.
B cozy.
C relaxed.
D close.
____ 4. Which one of the following does the poet use to convey meaning in "the tower like a cornstalk" (line
16) and "The wind plays it like a flute" (line 18)?
A metaphor
B irony
C end rhyme
D simile
____ 5. As revealed by lines 30–35, the speaker views his experience of being in jail as
A surreal.
B shocking.
C beneficial.
D predestined.
____ 6. What is one reason the poet chose a first-person speaker?
A to evoke anger from readers
B to emphasize the paradox that even in prison, one can think freely
C to make the speaker representative of all prisoners
D to distance the speaker of the poem from his own experience
____ 7. The ellipsis in line 35, "while I stare disbelieving. . . .," suggests that the
A poet loses his train of thought.
B poet wants readers to supply their own endings.
C speaker is often overcome by grief.
D speaker thinks about how things could have been.

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Name: ______________________ ID: A

____ 8. Which phrase from the poem suggests a feeling of hopefulness?

A “clouds cover the sun”
B “the third day of spring”
C “it is such a dream, a dream”
D “the earth shakes and trembles”
____ 9. What is the speaker’s tone in the last stanza of the poem?
A bitter
B giddy
C apprehensive
D proud
____ 10. You can conclude that the poet wrote this poem to
A describe the prison’s harsh conditions.
B express remorse for his crime.
C complain about the biased criminal justice system.
D reflect on the changes that can result from imprisonment.

Short Answer

Written Response
Answer the following questions based on your knowledge of the poem.

11. Explain the symbolism of the wind in the poem, identifying lines that support your interpretation.

12. Lines 9–12 and 20–23 refer to the presence of the guards. What ideas about prison life are
conveyed by these references?

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Cloudy Day
Answer Section

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. ANS: B PTS: 8
2. ANS: C PTS: 8
3. ANS: A PTS: 8
4. ANS: D PTS: 8
5. ANS: A PTS: 8
6. ANS: B PTS: 8
7. ANS: D PTS: 8
8. ANS: B PTS: 8
9. ANS: D PTS: 8
10. ANS: D PTS: 8

SHORT ANSWER

11. ANS:
Students may present these interpretations of the wind:
A. It represents the harsh reality of prison life. It is a “wall of wind” that “crashes against” and
carries the prisoners’ words “over the fence” to the “vigilant guard.”
B. It may also symbolize freedom. Unlike the prisoners, the wind is free to go wherever it chooses,
“swinging past the broken glass” and “over the fence,” making its escape from the confines of the
prison yard. It also inspires the speaker to turn to his thoughts, which are also free and cannot be
chained, even though his body might be.
C. The wind may represent power. It makes the prisoner think he can “grasp the tower like a
cornstalk and snap it.”
D. Finally, it might be seen in the poem as the spirit of renewal, a harbinger of the change of
seasons, bringing spring with it, and the change within the speaker.

PTS: 10
12. ANS:
Both of these references convey the idea that there is no privacy in a prison setting. Conversations
are overheard by constantly “vigilant guards.” Guards in the tower listen “intently to the sounds” as
they scan the periphery. The poet may be suggesting that the only privacy is to be found within
one’s mind.

PTS: 10