Carlo writes:

Hi Maria. I got a question. On the GED Test I had a couple of questions that I didn’t understand. Could you help me with these questions. I will type the poem and questions. Thanks.

Okay! Let’s go through the GED reading questions. Here’s the poem Carlo is asking about:

What Are the Fish At The Aquarium?

At the Aquarium

SERENE the silver fishes glide,
Stern-lipped, and pale, and wonder-eyed!
As through the aged deeps of ocean,
They glide with wan and wavy motion.
They have no pathway where they go,
They flow like water to and fro,
They watch with never-winking eyes,
They watch with staring, cold surprise,
The level people in the air,
The people peering, peering there:
Who wander also to and fro,
And know not why or where they go,
Yet have a wonder in their eyes,
Sometimes a pale and cold surprise.

Max Eastman. At The Aquarium, 1883: MODERN AMERICAN POETRY Louis Untermeyer, ed. 1919

That’s the poem. The important part, of course, is the questions… There are two questions to answer, and here’s the first one:

What feelings does the speaker attribute to the fish by calling them “wonder-eyed” (line 2)?

(1) fear of the crowds
(2) sadness at the plight
(3) interest in their surroundings
(4) anxiety about their fact service
(5) happiness with each other’s company

This one is a vocabulary question. What does “wonder-eyed” mean? It’s important to look at the context of the poem… it’s overall meaning. If you know what “wonder” is…. a feeling of amazement, kind of, like that things are WONDERful… then that will help eliminate some answers at least… “fear” isn’t wonderful, or “sadness,” or “anxiety.” That leaves two answers… “interest” or “happiness.”

So, what’s the poem say about the fishes? What’s the context? It’s at an aquarium. Can you kind of picture what an aquarium looks like? Like, the Monterey Bay Aquarium… that’s a big one. There are different ones, especially by the coast, and you go there to look at all the sea creatures, kind of like  a zoo, for fishes, sharks, octopuses… If you’ve seen one on TV or can connect it to your life, then you can picture the fish in your mind, and that can help. Well, what I’m getting out of this poem is that it’s got two parts. The first part is about the fishes swimming in the aquarium. They swim around, and they watch the people. The second part is about the people… how they look to the fishes, watching them. So, which feeling seems to fit most with what the poem’s about? Interest in their surroundings (what’s going on around them), or happiness with each other’s company? Since the poem talks about the fish watching people, but doesn’t really talk about what the fishes think about each other, I’ll have to say (3) interest in their surroundings. The fish are interested in the people that walk around outside the tank.

Here’s the next question:

Why do people appear “level… in the air” (line 9) to the fish?

(1) lying down on the beach
(2) waving frantically at the fish
(3) walking away from the water
(4) swimming around the ocean
(5) standing outside the fish tanks

Here’s where it helps to try to picture what’s happening. Say you’re a fish. You’re in, like, a big tank, looking out at the people. What do they look like? They’re not lying down on the beach, or swimming around the ocean. They might wave or walk away, but that doesn’t seem to go with what the poem’s saying. “Level” seems to mean that they’re not really moving. Think about what it says the people are doing: “peering, peering.” That means, they’re looking at the fish. So, if they’re looking at the fish, they must be standing outside the fish tanks. I’d go with (5) standing outside the fish tanks. It just makes the most sense!

I know the language of a poem can make it seem kind of difficult. Trying to picture it really helps, for me! Good luck on your GED, and let me know if you have any other GED questions.

For more information about the GED and GED test preparation, visit the GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.

So, here’s an example practice question about tone:

Fragment of a poem by Sappho:

Raise up the roof-tree—
a wedding song!
High up, carpenters—
a wedding song!
The bridegroom is coming,
the equal of Ares,
much bigger than a big man.

Which word best describes this poem’s tone?

1)  straightforward

2)  celebratory

3)  frustrated

4)  exhausted

5)  nagging

So, since the tone is the mood of the whole thing, you need to look at the whole idea… The poem is about a wedding, and it repeats “a wedding song!” twice. It praises the groom for being a big man. It tells the carpenters to raise the roof, but it’s not nagging. It’s doesn’t seem exhausted or frustrated. It’s celebratory! It’s a poem for a wedding, a celebration.

The other answer choice it gives is “straightforward.” You’ll sometimes see words like “straightforward” or “informational” to describe tone. Usually, these words mean that the writing is like an encyclopedia. It doesn’t have emotion. It just gives the facts. Well, that doesn’t apply here! The best answer is 2, celebratory.

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.

The Silken Tent
by Robert Frost

She is as in a field a silken tent
At midday when the sunny summer breeze
Has dried the dew and all its ropes relent,
So that in guys it gently sways at ease,
And its supporting central cedar pole,
That is its pinnacle to heavenward
And signifies the sureness of the soul,
Seems to owe naught to any single cord,
But strictly held by none, is loosely bound
By countless silken ties of love and thought
To everything on earth the compass round,
And only by one’s going slightly taut
In the capriciousness of summer air
Is of the slightest bondage made aware.

Here’s the GED Practice Question:

In the last line of the poem, the word “bondage” refers to:

1) being captured and held

2) having ties to the world

3) being held on bond

4) being a slave

5) being a servant

Maybe on the GED test, you’ll read this question and say, “bondage? That means, like, being tied up… maybe ‘captured and held’ sounds right,” and you’ll pick that answer because you’ve only got so much time to take the test and you’re in a hurry to pass your GED! But the question’s not always about what the word means in general. Sometimes on the GED, they want to know what the word means in a specific story or poem. If you see a question like this on the GED test, it can be confusing because a lot of the answers sound right. So, what do you do?

The idea is, you need to look at the reading… what’s the poet really saying? A lot of the GED reading test goes back to that… what’s the writer really saying? What’s the message? The poem compares a woman to a tent, like I talked about a couple weeks ago. The part about “bondage” talks about how the silk ties that tie the tent to the ground sometimes pull tight in the wind, and that’s the only time she feels “bondage.”

That’s metaphor… she is like a tent. So what’s the “bondage” that she feels? Is she a slave or a servant? Bondage can mean that… the GED questions sometimes are confusing like that, giving you answers that could be right. But she probably doesn’t feel like a slave or servant. She’s also not captured or held on bond. The poem doesn’t say anything about those.

What about having ties to the world? The poem talks about her soul being the center pole, pointing up to heaven. What are the ropes tying the tent down? Could they tie her to the world, while her soul points up to heaven? That makes sense… more sense than her being a servant. Do you see how pointing to heaven and being tied to the earth are similar types of things the writer is talking about? There’s nothing like being a slave or those other answers anywhere in the poem.

I say answer 2 is the best answer. On the GED, if you just read the question, the other answers seem more like meanings of “bondage.” But when you’re taking the GED test, you’ve got to think of how the question relates to the poem or reading… that’s the point. Hope this helps! Good luck on your GED studying!

To find out more about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at passGED.com.

The Silken Tent
by Robert Frost

She is as in a field a silken tent
At midday when the sunny summer breeze
Has dried the dew and all its ropes relent,
So that in guys it gently sways at ease,
And its supporting central cedar pole,
That is its pinnacle to heavenward
And signifies the sureness of the soul,
Seems to owe naught to any single cord,
But strictly held by none, is loosely bound
By countless silken ties of love and thought
To everything on earth the compass round,
And only by one’s going slightly taut
In the capriciousness of summer air
Is of the slightest bondage made aware.

GED Practice Question:

In the last line of the poem, the word “bondage” refers to:

1) being captured and held

2) having ties to the world

3) being held on bond

4) being a slave

5) being a servant

On the GED test, there will be questions not just about what a word means, but how it’s used, so be sure to look at how the word has meaning in the poem. What do you think?

To find out more about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at passGED.com.

The Silken Tent
by Robert Frost

She is as in a field a silken tent
At midday when the sunny summer breeze
Has dried the dew and all its ropes relent,
So that in guys it gently sways at ease,
And its supporting central cedar pole,
That is its pinnacle to heavenward
And signifies the sureness of the soul,
Seems to owe naught to any single cord,
But strictly held by none, is loosely bound
By countless silken ties of love and thought
To everything on earth the compass round,
And only by one’s going slightly taut
In the capriciousness of summer air
Is of the slightest bondage made aware.

On the GED you’ve got to read carefully, and especially for poems. So I’m going to try to take this apart, one line at a time, like I would for the GED test.

The Silken Tent
by Robert Frost

First the name. What’s he mean, a silken tent? What about it? A tent made of silk? At the beginning, see, I just ask myself questions, so I can try to figure out things later on.

She is as in a field a silken tent

The first line talks about the silken tent. It’s said a little funny, but he’s saying a woman is like a silk tent in a field. That’s what we talked about before… saying one thing is another thing. If you use “like” or “as,” it’s called a simile… like “similar.”

At midday when the sunny summer breeze
Has dried the dew and all its ropes relent,

Now he’s describing the tent, like a picture. It helps to picture it in your head… that’s something to remember while taking the GED test. I picture a tent in the middle of a field, and it’s the middle of the day, sunny, with a breeze. All the morning dew is dried. The ropes “relent”? What does that mean? They give up? Soften? Maybe they’re slack, not tight, you know.

So that in guys it gently sways at ease,

Okay, I had to look up this one: “guys” It means, ropes that hold a tent or something. So I guess they are slack, like I thought. On the GED, I’d probably just skip this word. Anyway, back to my picture: So, we’ve got this silk tent, softly swaying in the breeze. Pretty.

And its supporting central cedar pole,
That is its pinnacle to heavenward

Now, he’s talking about the pole in the center. It points up to heaven. (Pinnacle? Well, what would go to heavenward? It must mean the end, the top, si? That’s a vocabulary word I could guess on the GED.)

And signifies the sureness of the soul,

Now I’m getting it. I’ve got to take the picture of the tent and think back about it meaning a person. Making connections, that’s important for the GED. She’s got a good soul, right… “sureness of the soul.” So, she’s got a center that is tall, points to heaven, so she’s good at heart. But outside is more soft and gentle, like the silk and the ropes, maybe.

Seems to owe naught to any single cord,
But strictly held by none, is loosely bound
By countless silken ties of love and thought
To everything on earth the compass round,

Okay… The center of the woman’s soul, the post… deep stuff for the GED… it stands on its own, without help… but the outward softness, “silken ties” are love that binds her to everything around. So maybe she is in tune with nature or something, her love goes out to the whole world.

And only by one’s going slightly taut
In the capriciousness of summer air
Is of the slightest bondage made aware.

So, she’s not really bound by her ties or her love for anyone outside her, except when there’s a problem or something, maybe. A big thing for me on the GED is vocabulary. “Taut” is a new one… but I can picture what happens to a rope in the wind… they’re loose, right, so the wind comes and pulls it tight…taut. I could get that on the GED test. “Capriciousness”… I don’t know that one. “Capriciousness of summer air…” Not stable, I guess? I don’t know that I’d know for sure what it was during the GED, without a dictionary. Let me look that up… it seems to mean whimsical or something. I don’t think it stops me from understanding, though.

If you were reading this on the GED, you’d need to figure out what the main idea is. He’s making a picture, to show what this woman is like. She’s got a solid, independent soul looking up to heaven. She loves the things around her in the world, but she’s not too tightly bound to them. That sums it up, right? On the GED, I guess I could figure out the main meaning… even though this is a hard one!

To find out more about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at passGED.com.