35 pages 1 hour read

Emily Dickinson

If you were coming in the fall

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1890

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Reading Comprehension Questions

1. What best describes the speaker’s main concern in “If you were coming in the Fall”?

A) They are worried they might be dying.

B) They want to travel away from their home.

C) They want to be reunited with someone they love.

D) They are bored and want time to speed up.

2. What does the speaker talk about in every stanza?

A) A unit of time

B) An animal

C) A body part

D) A country

3. What punctuation mark does the poet use in an unusual way throughout the poem?

A) Period

B) Dash

C) Comma

D) Semicolon

4. In the context of the last stanza, what does the word goads most likely mean?

A) Provokes

B) Kills

C) Buzzes

D) Laughs

5. Based on your knowledge of poetic terms, what type of poem is this?

A) Sonnet

B) Haiku

C) Free verse

D) Lyrical ballad