Collection 6: The Universe as Primal Scream

Overhearing the savage screams of children in a neighboring apartment, the narrator in Tracy Smith's poem explores the cataclysm invoked by the sound.

Make sure to check out these lists for texts in Grade 11's Collection 6: Winter Dreams, poems of the Harlem Renaissance, poems by Robert Frost, The Crucible, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, The Coming Merging of Mind and Machine, Reality Check, The Ends of the World as We Know Them, The Universe as Primal Scream
15 words 32 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. primal
    having existed from the beginning
  2. shrill
    having or emitting a high-pitched and sharp tone or tones
  3. occasionally
    now and then or here and there
  4. merely
    and nothing more
  5. decibel
    a unit of sound intensity
  6. Elijah
    a Hebrew prophet in the Old Testament who opposed the worship of idols; he was persecuted for rebuking Ahab and Jezebel (king and queen of Israel); he was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire (circa 9th century BC)
  7. molten
    reduced to liquid form by heating
  8. inherit
    receive from a predecessor
  9. roil
    be agitated
  10. furnace
    an enclosed chamber in which heat is produced for a building
  11. grief
    intense sorrow caused by loss of a loved one
  12. mean
    of no value or worth
  13. racket
    a loud and disturbing noise
  14. hiccough
    (usually plural) the state of having reflex spasms of the diaphragm accompanied by a rapid closure of the glottis producing an audible sound; sometimes a symptom of indigestion
  15. insist
    beg persistently and urgently
Created on Fri Jul 18 22:53:02 EDT 2014 (updated Wed Jul 30 16:05:21 EDT 2014)

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