Passage Bird Talk
Bird Talk
by Carl Sandburg
And now when the branches were beginning to be heavy,
It was the time when they once had said, “This is the
beginning of summer.”
The shrilling of the frogs was not so shrill as in the
first weeks after the broken winter;
The birds took their hops and zigzags a little more
anxious; a home is a home; worms are worms.
The yellow spreads of the dandelions and buttercups
reached across the green pastures.
Tee whee and tee whee came on the breezes, and the grackles
chuzzled their syllables.
And it was the leaves with a strong soft wind over them
that talked most of all and said more than any others
though speaking the fewest words.
It was the green leaves trickling out the gaunt nowhere
of winter, out on the gray hungry branches—
It was the leaves on the branches, beginning to be heavy,
who said as they said one time before, “This is the be-
ginning of summer.”
We shall never blame the birds who come
where the river and the road make the Grand Crossing
and talk there, sitting in circles talking bird talk.
If they ask in their circles as to who is here
and as to who is not here and who used to be here,
Or if instead of counting up last year as against
this year, they count up this year as against next
year, and have their bird chatter about who is here
this year who won’t be here next year,
We shall never blame the birds.
If I have put your face among leaf faces, child,
Or if I have put your voice among bird voices,
Blame me no more than the bluejays.
“Bird Talk” by Carl Sandburg—Public domain.
Question
Read lines 12–14 from the poem.
And it was the leaves with a strong soft wind over them
that talked most of all and said more than any others
though speaking the fewest words.
What does the phrase “talked most of all” in line 13 convey?
- AIt establishes that the speaker thinks the sound of wind in the leaves is the best indication that the season is changing.
- BIt introduces the idea that the sound of the wind in the leaves remains constant throughout the seasons.
- CIt suggests that the speaker is overwhelmed by the sounds of nature that emerge as the season changes.
- DIt emphasizes that the sounds of nature enable the speaker to appreciate each season of the year.
Show the answer
Correct answer: A
This question asks for what a phrase reveals about the speaker’s perspective on the change in seasons.
A. CORRECT. The first stanza of the poem establishes the way different parts of the natural world, including both plants and animals, respond to the change in season. These lines reflect the way the wind in the leaves is the best indication of the seasonal change because it is the wind in the leaves that “talked most of all and said more than any others / though speaking the fewest words” (lines 13–14).
B. Incorrect. Although the sound of the wind is the most obvious sign of the seasonal change per the speaker, it is in response to the “ ‘beginning of summer’ ” (line 3) that the wind speaks through the leaves. The poem does not reveal that this figurative speech occurs throughout the seasons, only that it occurs during the transition to summer.
C. Incorrect. While the language used by the speaker indicates a deep appreciation for the natural phenomenon being witnessed, the language used does not indicate a feeling of being overwhelmed but rather a feeling of awareness.
D. Incorrect. Using the personification of the wind “speaking” (line 14) indicates an appreciation by the speaker for the power and volume of the wind’s voice, but only one instance of the wind’s speech, that which occurs at the “ ‘beginning of summer’ ” (line 3), is chronicled by the speaker in the poem.
Question analysis
Students interpret the personification in lines 12–14 of “Bird Talk,” where the leaves under a strong soft wind “talked most of all,” and decide what that phrase conveys. Because the leaves also speak “the fewest words,” the line seems to contradict itself, and its meaning depends on how it fits Sandburg’s first stanza about the start of summer.
- Grade level
- Grade 7 reading and task
- Compared with grade 7
- At grade 7 Explaining what a figurative phrase conveys about a speaker’s view is standard grade 7 work. The three lines are printed with the question, though the phrase still has to be read against the rest of the first stanza.
- Estimated difficulty
- Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
- Thinking it demands
- Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly understand
- What makes it hard
- Figurative or literary language moderate
- Reading between the lines moderate
- Evidence
- Answered from one paragraph or stanza
- Reading level
- Passage: 296 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 6, 119 words.
- Students, last 30 days
- Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)
Why it is hard
The phrase ranks the leaves above the shrilling frogs and chattering birds as voices of the season, but it never says what they are best at, so students must supply the idea of a sign. The tempting wrong readings take the speaker’s pleasure in nature and stretch it to every season, or hear “talked most of all” as noise. The quiet words around the phrase, “strong soft wind” and “fewest words,” point to a calm sound that tells the most.
Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question
The leaves are personified, and the line seems to contradict itself: they “talked most of all and said more than any others / though speaking the fewest words.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Reading between the lines moderate Working it out
Students must turn “said more than any others” into a judgment, that the leaves are the surest sign of summer, which lines 17–19 confirm when the leaves themselves announce “the beginning of summer.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Strategy: Restate lines 12–14 in plain words, especially the contrast between saying more and speaking fewer words, then test each choice against the whole first stanza.
Traps
- Too broad or too strong: A choice overstates, generalizes, or uses absolute words the text does not support.
- Wrong tone or attitude: Misjudges the tone, attitude or point of view, such as reading admiration as criticism, or taking a character's or subject's feelings for the author's.
- Twists what the text says: Uses the text's topic and ideas but changes what it says: who did it, how much, when, or why.
The wrong answers, classified
B Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Stretches “as they said one time before” into a sound heard all year, though the leaves have only just come out of “the gaunt nowhere / of winter.”
C Wrong tone or attitude (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Hears “talked most of all” as a din that swamps the speaker, though the “strong soft wind” and “fewest words” describe a quiet sound noted calmly, with no sign of strain.
D Too broad or too strong (King et al., 2004)
Rightly senses the speaker’s pleasure in nature’s voices but widens it to “each season of the year,” though the poem watches only the turn to summer and singles out the leaves.
Working it out, step by step
Figure out what the question asks
This asks what a phrase conveys, or gets across. The phrase is “talked most of all” in line 13. Leaves can’t really talk. Giving a thing human actions, like talking, is called personification. You need to work out what the speaker means by saying the leaves talked the most.
Read lines 12–14
Lines 12–14 say “And it was the leaves with a strong soft wind over them / that talked most of all and said more than any others / though speaking the fewest words.” The others are the frogs and birds from earlier lines. The leaves “said more than any others,” yet they used “the fewest words.” So the quiet rustle of the leaves tells you more than all the frog and bird calls.
Find what the leaves say
The stanza ends with the leaves speaking. Lines 17–19 say it was “the leaves on the branches, beginning to be heavy,” who said “This is the beginning of summer.” So the leaves’ message is that the season has changed. The new leaves, rustling in the wind, are the clearest sign that summer has come.
Check each choice
- A fits. The leaves say the most about the season, so they are the best sign that it is changing.
- B does not fit. The leaves have just come out of “the gaunt nowhere / of winter.” Gaunt means thin and bare. The leaves do not rustle the same way all year.
- C does not fit. A “strong soft wind” and “the fewest words” describe a quiet sound. Nothing shows the speaker is overwhelmed, or swamped.
- D does not fit. The poem watches only one change, the start of summer, not each season.
Watch out: D is tempting because the speaker clearly enjoys nature’s sounds. But it stretches that to “each season of the year,” which the poem never covers.
Choose the answer
“Talked most of all” shows that the leaves tell the most about the change of season. So the answer is A, “It establishes that the speaker thinks the sound of wind in the leaves is the best indication that the season is changing.”
Why this answer and not the closest wrong one
D is the closest wrong choice. The speaker does seem to enjoy the sounds of nature. But the poem covers just one change, the turn to summer. And the phrase does more than show enjoyment. It ranks the leaves above the frogs and birds. They say the most about the change, so they are the best sign of it.
More questions like this
The original DOE question
The passage “Bird Talk” as printed (page 32)
