Think you’ve got your head wrapped around A Poem for My Librarian, Mrs. Long? Put your knowledge to
the test. Good luck — the Stickman is counting on you!
Q. "And Mrs. Long opened that wardrobe/ But no lions or witches scared me." What does the wardrobe stand for in this context?
A passage into another part of life, coming-of-age
Fantasy books
The supply closet in the library
Sometimes a wardrobe is just a wardrobe
Q. In the last line of this poem, Giovanni mentions "Spring." What might she be talking about?
She's being positive about her future and the changes to come
It's winter in Knoxville and she's thinking about a warmer season
She's referring back to Leaves of Grass
She's thinking about vacation with her family
Q. Check out Giovanni's description of the library: "And up the hill on vine street/ (The main black corridor) sat our carnegie library/ Mrs. Long always glad to see you/ The stereoscope always ready to show you faraway/ Places to dream about." What qualities are implied in these lines?
Andrew Carnegie invested money in it and it had great resources
It's a place of community that offered great learning opportunities
The library was kind of hard to get to, but Mrs. L was not very busy
The library really only had Mrs. Long going for it
Q. The terms "hardcover" and "paperback" are examples of which figure of speech?
Metonymy
Hyperbole
Onomatopoeia
Synecdoche
Q. Nikki Giovanni writes this poem (and her others) in what metrical form?
Iambic pentameter
Blank verse
Free verse
Dactylic hexameter