Compare the moods created in "Leaving the Library" and "The Traveler." In your response, use details and examples from both poems that support your answer. Write your answer on your answer document.

Annotation: The reader answers the question "they both have an dark moods" and supports that idea by citing a series of "dark words" and "screams wail down my chimney" from "The Travler." For "Leaving the Library" the reader cites an additional series of "dark words" and "sleet pushing hard on my back" concluding that is why "I think they have the same dark mood." To improve this response that is based on diction, the reader should define the general word dark, offer an explanation or draw a conclusion about how the selected words are dark and how they contribute to creation of the moods of both poems. For example, the "dark words" cited like ravenous, savage, and screams could be signs of emotional, uncontrolled behaviors. So to this reader the dark mood of the poem is probably one of danger.

Annotation: The reader answers "both of these poems show a sad mood" and uses text "the darkening day," "the geese fly overhead," and "the sleet is pushing at his back" from "Leaving the Library" to support that idea. To show the sad mood in "The Traveler" the reader cites text "wind is starving and gnawing at his house and screams at his chimney and tears at his house." In addition the reader cites the wearing of "a winter jacket tomorrow" from "Leaving the Library" and the building of a fire in "The Traveler" which reflect an alteration or change in the moods of both poems. To improve this response the reader should draw a conclusion about why these phrases are sad and how they contribute to a sad feeling in both poems and how the closing lines in both poems point to a lifting of the mood of sadness.

Annotation: The reader answers "the mood in the two poems is anxious." In "The Traveler" the mood is anxious because "the North Wind is anxious to get into the person's house" and the wind is described as "ravenous and savage" "wild" and has the ability to "gnaws, groans, screams, wails, and tears" at the speaker's house. In "Leaving the Library" the speaker wants to get home for dinner but "the wind is stinging and the geese are flying overhead— it starts to hail" and the speaker "is anxious to get there out of the cold." To improve this response, the reader should define how the anxiety of the wind in "The Traveler" and the anxiety of the speaker in "Leaving the Library" create the anxious mood of both poems. For example, if the North Wind is ravenous rather than hungry and is gnawing rather than chewing, that shows the wind really wants something badly which is the basis of being anxious about something.

Annotation: The reader answers that "the feeling of both poems is kind of scared" and continues with minimal text support that in "The Traveler" it "sounds like the writer is scared of the wind" and concludes in "Leaving the Library" it "seems like they are running away from something." To improve this response, the reader needs to draw more text support for a valid judgment that the mood in both poems is "scared." Next, the reader should draw a conclusion about how the text support shows that the mood is "scared." For example, in "Leaving the Library" there are "deserted streets" which means that no one is there so the speaker of the poem feels alone and frightened with "stinging winds" and geese "squawking like a rusty door."

Annotation: The reader responds that "both moods are cold." Next the reader cites from "Leaving the Library" "a winter coat tomorrow" and from "The Traveler" "North wind, and until frozen nails pop." The reader concludes "these lines have a very cold feeling to them by describing how cold it is out side." To improve this response, the reader needs to adjust the response by thinking about when someone is physically cold how that person might feel emotionally. Once that conclusion has been drawn the reader can return to the poems, find text support for that feeling, and then draw a conclusion about how the text shows that feeling.

Score 3

The response demonstrates an understanding of the complexities of the text.

• Addresses the demands of the question
• Effectively uses text-relevant¹ information to clarify or extend understanding

Score 2

The response demonstrates a general understanding of the text.

• Partially addresses the demands of the question
• Uses text-relevant¹ information to show understanding

Score 1

The response demonstrates a minimal understanding of the text.

• Minimally addresses the demands of the question
• Uses minimal information to show some understanding of the text in relation to the question

Score 0

The response is completely incorrect, irrelevant to the question, or missing.²

Note 1:

Text-relevant: This information may or may not be an exact copy (quote) of the text but is clearly related to the text and often shows an analysis and/or interpretation of important ideas. Students may incorporate information to show connections to relevant prior experience as appropriate.

Note 2:

An exact copy (quote) or paraphrase of the question that provides no new relevant information will receive a score of "0".

Rubric Document Date: June 2003