Two Claims About a Fog Poem
Ms. Alvarez's class is writing a paragraph about the following six-line poem, which students have not seen before: "The fog arrives like a patient cat, / testing the fence line, patient, gray. / It swallows the bridge cables one by one, / then curls on the harbor and will not leave. / By noon the sun, a stern nurse, / pulls the wet blanket away." Two students offer claims. Claim A: "The poem shows that fog is dangerous and aggressive." Claim B: "The poem presents fog as slow, heavy, and difficult to remove." The assignment asks students to choose the claim better supported by the poem, explain how two precise details develop the speaker's attitude toward the fog, and then write one sentence explaining why the other claim is weaker. Ms. Alvarez reminds the class that a strong response must use the poem's words and must distinguish tone from plot summary.
1. Which claim is better supported by the poem? Explain using two precise details and the speaker's attitude toward the fog.
Read the worked answer
Claim B is better supported. The poem does not present the fog as attacking; it presents it as slow and possessive. The simile "like a patient cat" and the repeated "patient" suggest waiting and deliberation, not aggression. "It swallows the bridge cables one by one" makes the fog gradual and methodical; "curls on the harbor and will not leave" gives it weight and persistence, like an animal settling in. Even "swallows" is less violent than it first seems because it happens "one by one." The speaker's attitude is observant and slightly wry, not alarmed. Claim A seizes on "swallows" and "stern nurse," but "stern" describes the sun, not the fog, and the sun is the one that removes the fog. Claim A misreads the poem's main agent.
2. Write one sentence explaining why Claim A is weaker. Use evidence from the poem and avoid simply saying it is wrong.
Read the worked answer
Claim A is weaker because it turns a poem about slow accumulation into a poem about attack: the fog "tests" the fence line and "curls" on the harbor, and the only "stern" figure is the sun that pulls the blanket away, so the poem's conflict is between lingering fog and a nurse-like sun rather than between dangerous fog and a victim. The word "swallows" can suggest aggression in isolation, but the phrase "one by one" and the cat simile make the action gradual. A strong response must account for the sun's role, which Claim A ignores.
3. How does the metaphor of the sun as a "stern nurse" change the tone at the end? Explain in two or three sentences.
Read the worked answer
The "stern nurse" metaphor shifts the tone from lingering gray to brisk authority. A nurse is caring but firm, and "stern" suggests the sun is not cruel but efficient; it "pulls the wet blanket away" as if cleaning up after the fog. The blanket image also makes the fog feel heavy and damp rather than monstrous. The ending is therefore not a battle but a routine removal, which supports Claim B's emphasis on heaviness and difficulty rather than danger. If the sun were described as a warrior, the tone would be more dramatic; "nurse" keeps it controlled.