Overview

Lesson Procedure

55-70 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction15-20 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15 minutes
5. Closure5-10 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Think of a movie, book or show set in a real time in the past, such as the Titanic, the American Revolution or ancient Rome. Name one thing in it you think really happened, one thing you think was made up, and how you could find out which is which."

   Collect answers in two columns: "Probably real" and "Probably made up." Then ask how students would check. Answers such as "look it up in a history book" or "read what people who were there wrote" lead to today's work. RL.7.9 asks students to set a work of fiction beside a historical account (a nonfiction report of what happened, based on records and witnesses) of the same period, and to compare and contrast them. The goal is not to catch the author in a mistake. It is to understand how authors of fiction use history, and where and why they change it.

2. Direct Instruction15-20 minutes

   Terms to know:

   • Fiction: a story or poem the author imagined, even when it uses real people and places. Historical fiction is fiction set in a real time in the past.
   • Portrayal: the picture an author gives of something: a time (a period, such as the Civil War), a place (a town, a battlefield) or a character (a person, real or invented).
   • Historical account: nonfiction that reports what happened in the past, based on evidence such as letters, records and witnesses. A good account tells its readers where its information comes from.
   • Period: the stretch of time a work is about.
   • Use history: keep real facts, such as dates, places, events and real people. Alter history: change facts, add invented events or people, or leave out parts of what happened.
   • Purpose: why an author writes: to inform, to entertain, to honor someone, or to persuade readers to feel or believe something.

   Introduce the texts. In the American Civil War (1861-1865), the Northern states (the Union) fought the Southern states that had left the country to form the Confederacy. In September 1862, the Confederate general Robert E. Lee led his army north into Maryland, a slave state that had stayed in the Union. One of his generals was Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. Their troops spent several days in and around the town of Frederick, Maryland. John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892), a Northern poet who had worked for years to end slavery, heard a story from that week and turned it into the poem "Barbara Frietchie," published in 1863, while the war was still going on. G. F. R. Henderson (1854-1903), a British army officer, wrote a history of Jackson's life and battles, published in 1898. Henderson's margin note dates the arrival in Frederick to September 7, 1862.

   Words to know: spires (the pointed tops of church towers), famished (starving), horde (a large, wild crowd), rebel (here, a Confederate soldier), fourscore years and ten (four times twenty plus ten: ninety years old), slouched hat (a soft hat with a drooping brim), rent (tore), yon (that), bier (the stand for a coffin), delectable (delightful), in lieu of (instead of), vermin (lice and fleas), haversacks (shoulder bags), exemplary (as good as can be), pillage and depredations (stealing and damage), requisitions (things an army takes for its use), cordiality (warm friendliness), gratuitously (for free), charger (a war horse), girth (the strap that holds a saddle on), inaccessibility (being hard to reach). Read the poem aloud first, then Henderson's account.

   1Up from the meadows rich with corn
   Clear in the cool September morn,

   The clustered spires of Frederick stand
   Green-walled by the hills of Maryland.

   5Round about them orchards sweep,
   Apple and peach tree fruited deep,

   Fair as the garden of the Lord
   To the eyes of the famished rebel horde,

   On that pleasant morn of the early fall
   10When Lee marched over the mountain-wall,--

   Over the mountains winding down,
   Horse and foot, into Frederick town.

   Forty flags with their silver stars,
   Forty flags with their crimson bars,

   15Flapped in the morning wind; the sun
   Of noon looked down, and saw not one.

   Up rose old Barbara Frietchie then,
   Bowed with her fourscore years and ten;

   Bravest of all in Frederick town,
   20She took up the flag the men hauled down;

   In her attic window the staff she set,
   To show that one heart was loyal yet.

   Up the street came the rebel tread,
   Stonewall Jackson riding ahead.

   25Under his slouched hat left and right
   He glanced; the old flag met his sight.

   "Halt!"--the dust-brown ranks stood fast.
   "Fire!"--out blazed the rifle-blast.

   It shivered the window, pane and sash;
   30It rent the banner with seam and gash.

   Quick, as it fell, from the broken staff
   Dame Barbara snatched the silken scarf;

   She leaned far out on the window-sill,
   And shook it forth with a royal will.

   35"Shoot, if you must, this old gray head,
   But spare your country's flag," she said.

   A shade of sadness, a blush of shame,
   Over the face of the leader came;

   The nobler nature within him stirred
   40To life at that woman's deed and word:

   "Who touches a hair of yon gray head
   Dies like a dog; march on!" he said.

   All day long through Frederick street
   Sounded the tread of marching feet;

   45All day long that free flag tost
   Over the heads of the rebel host.

   Ever its torn folds rose and fell
   On the loyal winds that loved it well;

   And through the hill-gaps sunset light
   50Shone over it a warm good night.

   Barbara Frietchie's work is o'er.
   And the Rebel rides on his raids no more.

   Honor to her! and let a tear
   Fall, for her sake, on Stonewall's bier.

   55Over Barbara Frietchie's grave,
   Flag of freedom and Union wave!

   Peace and order and beauty draw
   Round thy symbol of light and law;

   And ever the stars above look down
   60On thy stars below in Frederick town.

   1The next day Frederick was occupied by Jackson, who was once more in advance; [...] But although the army had entered Maryland without the slightest difficulty, the troops were not received with the enthusiasm they had anticipated. The women, indeed, emulating their Virginia sisters, gave a warm welcome to the heroes of so many victories. But the men, whether terrorised by the stern rule of the Federal Government, or mistrusting the power of the Confederates to secure them from further punishment, showed little disposition to join the ranks. It is possible that the appearance of the Southern soldiery was not without effect. Lee’s troops, after five months’ hard marching and hard fighting, were no delectable objects. With torn and brimless hats, strands of rope for belts, and raw-hide moccasins of their own manufacture in lieu of boots; covered with vermin, and carrying their whole kit in Federal haversacks, the ragged scarecrows who swarmed through the streets of Frederick presented a pitiful contrast to the trim battalions which had hitherto held the Potomac. Their conduct indeed was exemplary. They had been warned that pillage and depredations would be severely dealt with, and all requisitions, even of fence-rails, were paid for on the spot. [...] it was soon evident that the western counties of Maryland had small sympathy with the South.

   2There were certainly exceptions to the general absence of cordiality. The troops fared well during their sojourn in Frederick. Supplies were plentiful; food and clothing were gratuitously distributed, and Jackson was presented with a fine but unbroken charger. [...] When Jackson first mounted her a band struck up close by, and as she reared the girth broke, throwing her rider to the ground. Fortunately, though stunned and severely bruised, the general was only temporarily disabled, and, if he appeared but little in public during his stay in Frederick, his inaccessibility was not due to broken bones. “Lee, Longstreet, and Jackson, and for a time Jeb Stuart,” writes a staff officer, “had their headquarters near one another in Best’s Grove. Hither in crowds came the good people of Frederick, especially the ladies, as to a fair. General Jackson, still suffering from his hurt, kept to his tent, busying himself with maps and official papers, and declined to see visitors. Once, however, when he had been called to General Lee’s tent, two young girls waylaid him, paralysed him with smiles and questions, and then jumped into their carriage and drove off rapidly, leaving him there, cap in hand, bowing, blushing, speechless. But once safe in his tent, he was seen no more that day.”

   • Using history: the time and place

     Which parts of the poem's setting does Henderson's account support?

     Result: Both put Lee's army in Frederick, Maryland, in September 1862. The poem names "the cool September morn" (line 2), the "clustered spires of Frederick" (line 3) and the day "When Lee marched over the mountain-wall" (line 10). Henderson reports that "the army had entered Maryland" and that "Frederick was occupied by Jackson, who was once more in advance" (paragraph 1), which fits the poem's "Stonewall Jackson riding ahead" (line 24) at the front of the march. Whittier uses real history as the frame: a real town, a real army and a real general. Readers who know the history recognize the setting at once.

   • Altering history: a real character

     Compare the poem's Stonewall Jackson with the Jackson in Henderson's account.

     Result: In the poem, Jackson is out in the street in front of everyone: he rides at the head of the troops, glances "left and right" (line 25), orders the troops to halt, and then, ashamed, protects the old woman: "Who touches a hair of yon gray head / Dies like a dog" (lines 41-42). In Henderson's account, Jackson had been thrown from a new horse and was "stunned and severely bruised"; he "appeared but little in public during his stay in Frederick" (paragraph 2). The staff officer Henderson quotes says Jackson "kept to his tent" and "declined to see visitors," and that two girls left him "bowing, blushing, speechless." Whittier keeps Jackson's real name and fame, but gives him a public scene that the account does not report, and a stern, then noble, character quite unlike the shy, injured man in Henderson's pages.

   • Altering history: a group of people

     The poem calls Lee's soldiers "the famished rebel horde" (line 8). Compare and contrast this portrayal with Henderson's.

     Result: Alike: both show worn-out soldiers. The poem's "dust-brown ranks" (line 27) match Henderson's "ragged scarecrows" with "torn and brimless hats" and "strands of rope for belts" (paragraph 1). Different: the poem makes them a starving, dangerous "horde" that fires on a woman's window. Henderson says "Their conduct indeed was exemplary," that "all requisitions, even of fence-rails, were paid for on the spot" (paragraph 1), and that "Supplies were plentiful" (paragraph 2). By making the soldiers wilder, the poem makes Barbara Frietchie's courage greater.

   • Why alter history? The author's purpose

     Why might Whittier have told the story this way, and how is Henderson's purpose different?

     Result: Whittier wrote in 1863, in the middle of the war, as a Northern poet who opposed slavery. His last lines, "Over Barbara Frietchie's grave, / Flag of freedom and Union wave!" (lines 55-56), show his purpose: to honor loyalty to the Union flag and to move readers. A story with a brave old woman, a famous enemy general and a flag shot through makes that point sharply. Henderson wrote a history decades later to explain Jackson's campaigns, and he names his source ("writes a staff officer"). Henderson has a point of view too: he admired Jackson. But a history is judged by its evidence, and a poem by what it helps readers feel and understand.

   Four questions for fiction and history. Model the moves in Diagram 2 for every detail: What did the author keep from history? What did the author change? What did the author add or leave out? Why: what purpose do the changes serve? Give two sentence frames: "Both the poem and the account show ___ (line __; paragraph __)." and "The poem changes ___ to ___, probably because the author wanted readers to ___."

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Pairs compare the two texts detail by detail and fill in Diagram 1 with the class. Ask each question before reading the teacher note.

   1. The town. How does each text portray the people of Frederick? Teacher note: in the poem, forty Union flags are pulled down before noon, and Barbara Frietchie raises hers "To show that one heart was loyal yet" (line 22), as if the whole town had given up. Henderson agrees that the army was "not received with the enthusiasm they had anticipated" and that the men "showed little disposition to join the ranks" (paragraph 1). But he also says "The women, indeed," gave "a warm welcome," and that "the good people of Frederick, especially the ladies," came to the camp "as to a fair" (paragraph 2). Both show a town that was not eager to join the South; the poem makes one loyal woman stand alone, and the history shows a town that was divided.
   2. What the history includes and the poem leaves out. Ask students to find two facts in Henderson's account that are not in the poem. Teacher note: possible answers are Jackson's fall from the "fine but unbroken charger" and his bruises, the paying for "fence-rails," and the crowds visiting "Best's Grove." Ask why Whittier would leave them out: a bruised general resting in his tent cannot ride under a window and look up at a flag.
   3. What Whittier said later. Share this with the class: in a note printed with the poem in his collected works, Whittier wrote that he had followed the story as trustworthy sources told it to him, but that it was probably wrong in some details. He added that the real Barbara Frietchie was a loyal Union woman who waved her flag to cheer the Union troops who came after Jackson's, and that another woman in the town may have waved a flag at the Confederates, so that two incidents may have been blended. Ask: if some details are wrong, what is the poem still good for? Teacher note: accept answers that treat it as a portrayal of courage and loyalty during the war, and that say readers should turn to a historical account to learn what happened.

   Each pair then writes three sentences: one that names something the poem and the account share, one that names something the poem changes or adds, and one that explains why Whittier might have made that change. Each sentence gives a line number from the poem or a paragraph number from the account.

4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Students now work on their own with a novel and a history of the same moment, from a different time and place. Joan of Arc (about 1412-1431) was a French peasant girl who said that voices from God told her to help Charles, the Dauphin (the title of the heir to the French throne), drive the English armies out of France. Early in 1429 she traveled to the castle of Chinon to meet him. Mark Twain (1835-1910) wrote a novel about her, published in 1896. It is told by an invented old man, the Sieur Louis de Conte, who says he was her childhood friend and her page (a young servant to a noble). Twain pretends to be only the book's translator. Andrew Lang (1844-1912), a Scottish writer who studied the records of Joan's trial, wrote a short history of her life for young readers in 1906. Read the translator's note, then Twain's chapter, then Lang's account.

   Words to know: peculiarity (an unusual feature), under oath (sworn to be true in court), Process of Rehabilitation (a later trial that cleared Joan's name), unimpeachable (cannot be doubted), particulars (details), halberds (long spears with an ax blade), flambeaux (flaming torches), canopied (covered with a cloth roof), sceptered (holding a scepter, a king's staff), the Count (the Count of Vendome, a lord who led Joan in), obeisance (a deep bow), De Metz (Jean de Metz, a knight who had brought Joan to court), err (make a mistake), bewilderment (confusion), melodious (musical), liege (lord), impostor (someone pretending to be what they are not).

   1The details of the life of Joan of Arc form a biography which is unique among the world’s biographies in one respect: It is the only story of a human life which comes to us under oath, the only one which comes to us from the witness-stand. The official records of the Great Trial of 1431, and of the Process of Rehabilitation of a quarter of a century later, are still preserved in the National Archives of France, and they furnish with remarkable fullness the facts of her life. The history of no other life of that remote time is known with either the certainty or the comprehensiveness that attaches to hers.

   2The Sieur Louis de Conte is faithful to her official history in his Personal Recollections, and thus far his trustworthiness is unimpeachable; but his mass of added particulars must depend for credit upon his word alone.

   1When we entered the great audience-hall, there it all was just as I have already painted it. Here were ranks of guards in shining armor and with polished halberds; two sides of the hall were like flower-gardens for variety of color and the magnificence of the costumes; light streamed upon these masses of color from two hundred and fifty flambeaux. There was a wide free space down the middle of the hall, and at the end of it was a throne royally canopied, and upon it sat a crowned and sceptered figure nobly clothed and blazing with jewels.

   [...]

   2Joan walked two yards behind the Count, we three walked two yards behind Joan. Our solemn march ended when we were as yet some eight or ten steps from the throne. The Count made a deep obeisance, pronounced Joan’s name, then bowed again and moved to his place among a group of officials near the throne. I was devouring the crowned personage with all my eyes, and my heart almost stood still with awe.

   [...]

   3She made no obeisance, nor even any slight inclination of her head, but stood looking toward the throne in silence. That was all there was to see at present.

   4I glanced up at De Metz, and was shocked at the paleness of his face. I whispered and said:

   5“What is it, man, what is it?”

   6His answering whisper was so weak I could hardly catch it:

   7“They have taken advantage of the hint in her letter to play a trick upon her! She will err, and they will laugh at her. That is not the King that sits there.”

   8Then I glanced at Joan. She was still gazing steadfastly toward the throne, and I had the curious fancy that even her shoulders and the back of her head expressed bewilderment. Now she turned her head slowly, and her eye wandered along the lines of standing courtiers till it fell upon a young man who was very quietly dressed; then her face lighted joyously, and she ran and threw herself at his feet, and clasped his knees, exclaiming in that soft melodious voice which was her birthright and was now charged with deep and tender feeling:

   9“God of his grace give you long life, O dear and gentle Dauphin!”

   [...]

   10Meantime the young person in the plain clothes was saying to Joan:

   11“Ah, you mistake, my child, I am not the King. There he is,” and he pointed to the throne.

   [...]

   12Joan did not stir from her knees, but still lifted her happy face toward the King, and said:

   13“No, gracious liege, you are he, and none other.”

   1WHEN Joan reached Chinon, she was lodged with a lady who was very kind, and she waited to see the Dauphin. His advisers were not sure that he ought to see the Maid at all; but probably he was curious, and at last she was brought to the castle, and led up the stairs to a great hall, where were many men in splendid dresses. The castle is in ruins now, and the hall has no roof over it, but you can still go in and see the walls, and empty windows, and the great fireplace. A man plainly dressed was in the crowd of magnificent courtiers in silk and gold embroidery. Joan went straight up, and kneeling on one knee, said, “Fair Sir, you are the Dauphin to whom I am come.” But the man pointed to a knight, very richly dressed, and said, “That is the King.”

   2“No, fair Sir,” said Joan; “it is to you that I am sent.”

   3The Dauphin, for the man was the Dauphin, was surprised at this, for she had never seen him before. He allowed Jean to come to the castle and talk to him, but he was not sure that she was not an impostor, or a silly girl.

   4One day, however, she took him aside, into a corner where nobody could hear what they were talking about. When their conversation was ended, the Dauphin looked very grave, and Jeanne looked very glad. She had told him something that made him believe in her.

   5What had Joan told to the King? It was known at the time that she had told him something that amazed him, for it is mentioned in a letter written a few weeks later by Alan Chartier, a famous poet. But nobody knew the secret: Joan would never let any one know. When she was a prisoner among the English, the French-priests and lawyers tried to make her speak, but she would not. It was her King’s secret.

   On the handout, students fill in a four-column chart (Detail, In Twain, In Lang, Kept, changed or added?) with at least six details. Then they write two sentences: one that names something both authors include, and one that explains why Twain might have added a detail Lang does not report. The quiz uses these three texts, so do not discuss answers until students have finished the chart.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket: (1) Name one fact Whittier kept from history and one detail he changed or added. (2) In one sentence, explain why reading a historical account can change how you read a poem or story about the same time.

   Teacher note on language and content: the texts are kept exactly as published. Whittier calls the Confederate soldiers "rebel" and "the Rebel," the word Northerners used during the war; Henderson, writing later, calls them "Southern soldiery" and "ragged scarecrows." Neither text uses a slur. The Civil War was fought over slavery and the Union; this lesson compares how two writers portray one week of it, and it does not ask students to take the side of either army. The Joan of Arc texts mention her trial, and the homework texts describe a cavalry charge in which many soldiers and horses were killed; neither describes wounds in detail. Russell's word "Muscovite" is an old word for Russian. Tennyson's "six hundred" is a round number: about 670 men rode in the charge, and more than a third of them were killed, wounded or taken prisoner.

   Teacher note on the history of the Chinon meeting: Joan's meeting with the Dauphin at Chinon early in 1429 is well recorded. The story that the court tried to fool her with a false king is less certain: at her trial Joan said only that her voice helped her know him among many others, and the fuller story comes from chronicles and from witnesses who spoke about 25 years later. Many historians treat that part as a legend that grew in the telling.

   For homework: students read a poem and a historical account of the same battle, printed below. In the Crimean War (1853-1856), Britain and France fought Russia on the Crimean peninsula, on the Black Sea. At the Battle of Balaklava, on October 25, 1854, the British Light Brigade, soldiers on horseback armed with swords and lances, charged a line of Russian cannons after an order that was misunderstood. Many of them were killed or wounded. William Howard Russell (1820-1907) watched the battle and reported it for The Times of London, later turning his reports into a book. Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892), the Poet Laureate (the official poet of Britain), wrote his poem weeks after the battle, from the news reports.

   Words to know: league (an old measure of distance, about three miles), dismay'd (filled with alarm), blunder'd (made a bad mistake), volley'd (fired all at once), sabres (curved swords), battery (a group of cannons, and the soldiers who fire them), Cossack (a Russian horse soldier), sunder'd (split apart), Lord Lucan (the commander of all the British cavalry), Lord Cardigan (the commander of the Light Brigade, "the noble Earl"), Captain Nolan (the officer who carried the order), odds (the chances against them), infantry (foot soldiers), cavalry (soldiers on horseback), squadrons in column (groups of horsemen waiting behind to help), continental armies (the armies of Europe), ere (before), flank (side), chaff (husks blown away from grain).

   1Half a league, half a league,
   Half a league onward,
   All in the valley of Death
   Rode the six hundred.
   5"Forward, the Light Brigade!
   Charge for the guns," he said:
   Into the valley of Death
   Rode the six hundred.

   "Forward, the Light Brigade!"
   10Was there a man dismay'd?
   Not tho' the soldier knew
   Some one had blunder'd:
   Theirs not to make reply,
   Theirs not to reason why,
   15Theirs but to do and die:
   Into the valley of Death
   Rode the six hundred.

   Cannon to right of them,
   Cannon to left of them,
   20Cannon in front of them
   Volley'd and thunder'd;
   Storm'd at with shot and shell,
   Boldly they rode and well,
   Into the jaws of Death,
   25Into the mouth of Hell
   Rode the six hundred,

   Flash'd all their sabres bare,
   Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
   Sabring the gunners there,
   30Charging an army, while
   All the world wonder'd:
   Plung'd in the battery-smoke
   Right thro' the line they broke;
   Cossack and Russian
   35Reel'd from the sabre-stroke
   Shatter'd and sunder'd.
   Then they rode back, but not,--
   Not the six hundred.

   Cannon to right of them,
   40Cannon to left of them,
   Cannon behind them
   Volley'd and thunder'd;
   Storm'd at with shot and shell,
   While horse and hero fell,
   45They that had fought so well
   Came thro' the jaws of Death,
   Back from the mouth of Hell,
   All that was left of them,
   Left of six hundred.

   50When can their glory fade?
   O the wild charge they made!
   All the world wonder'd.
   Honor the charge they made!
   Honor the Light Brigade,
   55Noble six hundred!

   1When Lord Lucan received the order from Captain Nolan, and had read it, he asked, we are told, "Where are we to advance to?" Captain Nolan pointed with his finger in the direction of the Russians, and according to the statements made after his death, said "There are the enemy, and there are the guns," or words to that effect.

   [...]

   2Lord Lucan gave the order to Lord Cardigan to advance upon the guns, conceiving that his orders compelled him to do so. The noble Earl saw the fearful odds against him. [...] The only support our light cavalry had was the heavy cavalry at a great distance behind them, the infantry and guns being far in the rear. There were no squadrons in column. There was a plain to charge over, before the enemy's guns could be reached, of a mile and a half in length.

   3At ten minutes past eleven our Light Cavalry Brigade advanced. The whole Brigade scarcely made one effective regiment, according to the numbers of continental armies; and yet it was more than we could spare. They swept proudly past, glittering in the morning sun in all the pride and splendour of war. They advanced in two lines, quickened their pace as they closed towards the enemy. At the distance of 1,200 yards the whole line of the enemy belched forth, from thirty iron mouths, a flood of smoke and flame. The flight was marked by instant gaps in our ranks, by dead men and horses, by steeds flying wounded or riderless across the plain. In diminished ranks, with a halo of steel above their heads, and with a cheer which was many a noble fellow's death-cry, they flew into the smoke of the batteries; but ere they were lost from view the plain was strewed with their bodies.

   4Through the clouds of smoke we could see their sabres flashing as they rode between the guns, cutting down the gunners as they stood. We saw them riding through, returning, after breaking through a column of Russians, and scattering them like chaff, when the flank fire of the batteries on the hill swept them down. [...] At thirty-five minutes past eleven not a British soldier, except the dead and dying, was left in front of these Muscovite guns. [...]

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In RL.7.9, what is a historical account?

   AA nonfiction report of past events, based on records and witnesses BA story that is set in the past and has some made-up characters in it CA poem written in honor of a hero who lived long ago in another land DA list of the dates of famous battles, given without any explanation

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which event appears in both Twain's chapter and Lang's account?

   AA knight grows pale and whispers that the man on the throne is not the King BJoan tells the Dauphin a secret in a quiet corner where no one can hear CJoan picks out a plainly dressed man among richly dressed courtiers DThe courtiers laugh at Joan after she bows to the wrong man by mistake

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   How does Twain change the trick that Lang describes?

   ALang's Dauphin sits on the throne himself, and Twain's hides behind a curtain BLang's decoy is a knight; Twain's is a crowned figure on a throne CLang says the Dauphin tricked Joan twice, and Twain cuts the trick down to once DLang has the courtiers trick Joan, and Twain has Joan trick the courtiers instead

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Twain's narrator says, "I was devouring the crowned personage with all my eyes, and my heart almost stood still with awe." Why does Twain tell the scene through this narrator?

   ATo prove that the scene comes word for word from the records of Joan's trial BTo show that the narrator knew about the trick before anyone else in the hall CTo show that Lang copied his account from the narrator's memoir many years later DTo let readers see the moment as an eyewitness who feels its awe and suspense

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Lang writes that the Dauphin's advisers were unsure, "but probably he was curious" (Lang, paragraph 1). What does the word probably show about Lang's account?

   ALang wanted readers to dislike the Dauphin for being curious about a peasant girl BLang is making up the scene, the way Twain's narrator makes up his own memories CLang did not know whether Joan ever really traveled to the castle of Chinon at all DLang takes care not to claim more than the evidence shows

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   De Metz grows pale and whispers, "She will err, and they will laugh at her." What does this moment, which is not in Lang's account, add to the scene?

   AIt explains to readers why the Dauphin later came to believe in Joan BIt proves that De Metz planned the trick together with the courtiers CIt builds suspense, so readers fear for Joan just before she chooses DIt shows that Joan heard the whisper and learned the trick from it

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which statement accurately compares what Joan says and does in the two versions?

   AIn both she bows to the throne first, then turns and speaks to the Dauphin BIn both she kneels and calls him the Dauphin, but her exact words differ CIn both she says exactly the same words, "Fair Sir, you are the Dauphin" DIn both she stands in silence and lets the Count speak for her to the Dauphin

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   How does the Dauphin first answer Joan in both versions?

   AHe welcomes her warmly and at once admits that he is the Dauphin BHe calls for his guards and orders them to take her out of the hall CHe asks her to tell him the secret prayer he made when he was alone DHe says he is not the King and points to someone else in the hall

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to the translator's note, which parts of the novel should a reader trust least as history?

   AThe main events of Joan's life that are also found in the official trial records BThe extra details that only the narrator reports, such as what he felt and heard CThe dates and places that Joan's friends and enemies swore to at her trial DThe names of the kings and the castles that appear on real maps of France

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which detail appears in Twain's version but not in Lang's account?

    AA crowd of courtiers dressed in rich and splendid clothes BA young man in plain clothes standing among the courtiers CA great hall lit by two hundred and fifty flaming torches DJoan going down on her knees in front of the young man

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Lang writes, "The castle is in ruins now, and the hall has no roof over it." What does this sentence show about how his account differs from Twain's chapter?

    ALang is telling the story from inside the hall, as one of the courtiers BLang writes from his own time, centuries later, pointing to what remains CLang wants readers to know that Twain placed the scene in the wrong castle DLang is warning readers that the whole meeting is only a local legend

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Why might Twain have made the hall so grand, with armor, torches and a jeweled throne?

    ATo make Joan's choice of a quietly dressed young man stand out all the more BBecause the translator's note lists them as facts sworn to at Joan's trial CTo show that the courtiers were poor and had to borrow their jewels and armor DBecause Lang's account describes every one of these things in the same way

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    What does Lang say about the secret Joan told the Dauphin in private?

    AIt amazed him, as people knew then, but Joan never told what it was BA poet wrote down her exact words and printed them in a famous poem that year CPriests and lawyers learned the secret from her during her trial by the English DThe Dauphin announced the secret to the whole court the very next morning

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A novel set in the 1850s has an invented girl meet a real inventor at a real world's fair on the right date. What is the author doing with history?

    AAltering history completely, since every character is really invented BWriting a historical account, since the fair and the date are both real CUsing a real time, place and person, and adding an invented character DMaking a mistake, since real people should never appear in any fiction

15. Question 15 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Why does RL.7.9 ask students to read a historical account alongside historical fiction?

    ATo prove that every work of historical fiction is untrue and should not be read BTo see what the author kept, changed or added, and to think about why CTo find out which of the two authors was the better writer of the two DTo memorize the dates of events so that they can be tested on them later

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    In 3-4 sentences, compare and contrast the moment when Joan finds the Dauphin in Twain's chapter and in Lang's account. Give one likeness, one difference, and what the difference shows about how Twain used history.

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17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Choose one detail Twain adds that Lang does not report (the jeweled figure on the throne, the torches, or De Metz's whisper). In 2-3 sentences, explain what the detail does for the reader, with a quotation.

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18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    The translator's note says de Conte "is faithful to her official history" but that his "added particulars must depend for credit upon his word alone." In 2-3 sentences, explain what this means, with one example of each from Twain's chapter.

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19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Is Twain's chapter less true than Lang's account? In 3-4 sentences, argue your answer with evidence from both texts.

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20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    In 2-3 sentences, explain why RL.7.9 asks students to compare fiction with history "as a means of understanding how authors of fiction use or alter history," instead of only checking the fiction for mistakes.

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These standards connect to RL.7.9: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.