The Setting
Two stanzas before anybody moves.
↳ Distance, effort, an audience and finality — all before the gun.
📚 Chapter Learning Kit
Nine Gold Medals · Class 9 English · Kaveri
English 3 topics 100 leveled MCQs 63 flashcards 4 games Free
Shared by a Veda teacher · Generated with Veda AI · Oct 2026
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💡 Concept
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💡 Concept
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💡 Summary
The whole idea, one bite at a time
Veda Bites are swipeable micro-lessons — each one teaches exactly one idea. Here's a taste from this kit; the app has the full deck.
Pricing What They Give Up
Why the poem bothers.
Everything the eight runners will surrender is put on the page before the race starts.
↳ The cost is made visible first, then spent in four lines.
Resolved, and Poised
Nine, at the back of the line.
The race is the hundred-yard dash, and the blocks are lined up for those who would use them.
↳ Two words that make the start line feel held.
Alliteration
Used sparingly, and never by accident.
↳ The sound thickens exactly where the poem slows down.
What the Poem Hears
Three noises, and nothing else.
↳ Which is part of why that moment reads as it does.
What the Poem Sees
Four pictures, in sequence.
↳ Every one is something a spectator in the stands could have seen.
📖 Smart notes
What you'll study, topic by topic
1
The Poem, Stanza by Stanza
Eight stanzas: two of preparation, three of a race and a fall, and three of what eight runners did about it. This topic works through the gist of each, the words the poem needs, and why a hundred-yard dash that becomes a…
- The poem is by David Roth, and the race is a hundred-yard dash at the Special Olympics.
- Stanza 1 establishes that athletes have come from all over the country after many weeks and months of training.
- Stanza 2 puts a crowd round an old field, with the final event of the day approaching and excitement high.
~27 min · full explanation, examples & memory tricks in the app
2
How the Poem Works
The sound and sight the poem is built from, a tone that moves three times, the mood it leaves behind, and the two Critical Reflection extracts answered in full — with the question of what the poem would have been had it…
- Alliteration appears in stumbled and staggered, and in dreams, dashed and dirt.
- Visual imagery includes the blocks lined up, the runners charging ahead, nine athletes walking hand in hand, and nine beaming faces.
- Auditory imagery includes the pistol exploding, the cry of frustration and anguish, and the standing ovation.
~27 min · full explanation, examples & memory tricks in the app
3
The Language and Skills Work of This Poem
Words that habitually travel together, five adjectives swapped for better ones, a radio talk about a coach of special athletes, three words for three kinds of feeling, slogans and a poster — and the difference between th…
- A collocation is the habitual company words keep, fixed by usage rather than by rule; the poem supplies the phrase for a crowd that rises to…
- Two more from the poem are gold medals and beaming faces.
- In the adjective exercise, littlest becomes youngest, smiling becomes positive, huge becomes loud, terrible becomes significant and gaudy be…
~29 min · full explanation, examples & memory tricks in the app
❓ Leveled MCQ practice
Try the smart MCQs from this kit
100 questions laddered from warm-up to topper-level, each with an explanation. A taste:
A reader skips the opening two stanzas and begins at the starting line. Which effect of the poem do they lose?
Advanced
A The name of the event being run
B The sense of what the eight runners are giving up when they stop
C The identity of the athlete who falls
D The location of the banner above the field
Show answer & explanation
The sense of what the eight runners are giving up when they stop
Distance travelled, months of training, a crowd, and the last event of the day.
Which four things do the opening stanzas establish?
Advanced
A The weather, the date, the prize money, and the officials
B The rules, the distances, the lanes, and the timing method
C The town, the season, the sponsors, and the schedule
D Distance travelled, effort invested, an audience watching, and finality
Show answer & explanation
Distance travelled, effort invested, an audience watching, and finality
All of it before the gun fires, which is the point.
What race is being run, and where does it stand in the day's programme?
Intermediate
A The hundred-yard dash, the first event of the day
B The hundred-yard dash, the final event of the day
C A relay, run at the close of the games
D A middle-distance race, held before the medals
Show answer & explanation
The hundred-yard dash, the final event of the day
Excitement was high to begin.
How many athletes are at the starting line, and how does the poem describe them?
Intermediate
A Eight, nervous, and crouched in the blocks
B Ten, cheerful, and chatting before the start
C Nine, resolved, and poised for the sound of the gun
D Nine, unprepared, and late to the line
Show answer & explanation
Nine, resolved, and poised for the sound of the gun
The blocks are lined up for those who would use them.
🃏 Flashcards
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63 flashcards in this kit — the app reviews them with spaced repetition so the right card returns on the right day.
🎮 Learning games
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Word Match
True False
Fill Blank
Word Scramble
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