Questions: Poems, Plays, and Prose

Question 1

Which feature tells you that a text is a play?

• A. It is written in paragraphs with a narrator
• B. It has a cast of characters, each speaker's name before their lines, and stage directions
• C. It has short lines grouped into stanzas
• D. It has a table of contents and an index

Answer: (B)

Plays are written to be performed, so they show who is speaking and give directions for actions. Paragraphs with a narrator are prose, and stanzas belong to poems.

Question 2

Every poem must rhyme.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: False

Many poems have no rhymes at all. A poem is written in lines and often in stanzas, and it pays special attention to the sound and rhythm of words.

Question 3

In a play, what are stage directions?

• A. Lines the narrator reads to the audience
• B. Instructions about actions, feelings or the setting that are not spoken aloud
• C. The title of the play
• D. The names of the people who wrote the play

Answer: (B)

Stage directions are often printed in italics or in parentheses, such as '(She slams the door.)'. They help actors and readers picture what is happening.

Question 4

Imagine a story about a dog who gets lost in the rain. Describe one way it would look different as a poem and one way it would look different as a play.

Model answer: As a poem, it would be written in short lines and stanzas with rhythm, and maybe rhyme. As a play, it would have a cast list, character names before each line of talk, and stage directions like '(Thunder crashes.)'.

The same story can be told in different forms. Each form uses its own structure, so readers look for different clues in each one.