Function of Setting: Poetry Practice Test

Read the following poem, in which a speaker attends a summer funeral:

We park along the cemetery’s gravel lane,

where heat shimmers off marble like held breath.

Cicadas saw at the air; the chapel tent

billows, then collapses, a tired lung.

At the open plot, red clay stains the shovel’s mouth;

plastic lilies sweat in their green sleeves.

Beyond the headstones, a cornfield stands at attention,

each leaf a thin blade catching the sun.

When the hymn begins, the sky does not soften—

only the shade of a cedar moves, inch by inch,

across my shoes, as if time could be measured

by what it refuses to cool.

Which choice best describes how the setting functions in the poem?

Read the following poem, in which a speaker visits a coastal town in the off-season:

In February, the boardwalk is a spine

without music; arcade gates are chained shut.

Salt wind scrapes paint from closed kiosks

and carries sand into every apology.

On the beach, seaweed knots itself around bottles;

gulls patrol like bored officials.

Far out, the pier ends in fog,

and the ocean keeps practicing the same sentence

until it forgets what it meant to say.

I drink coffee in a diner with three booths open,

watching condensation erase my thumbprint

from the glass.

Which choice best describes the function of the setting in the poem?