Function of Character Change: Poetry Practice Test

Read the following poem and answer the question that follows.

"On Hold"

A recorded voice thanks me for my patience.

It says my call is important, a lie in soft music.

I watch the minutes stack like dirty cups.

My problem is small, but it is mine.

The melody loops, a hallway with no doors.

I press zero, star, pound—prayers to machinery.

Then the line clicks.

A real breath enters.

“Hello?” someone says, and the word

is ordinary as water, astonishing.

I forget my script.

I become a person again.

What is the function of the shift at Then the line clicks / A real breath enters?

Read the following poem carefully.

"Draft"

I write your name in the margin

of a letter I will not send,

then cross it out

so the page looks busy

with purpose.

The pen leaves little bruises

where it hesitates.

I begin again:

Dear—

and stop.

The blank after the word

is a room I cannot furnish.

You would laugh at this,

you would say I'm making weather out of dust.

I hear it so clearly

I almost turn around

to answer.

The shift in the bolded lines primarily functions to