Humpty Dumpty Slipped from the Core (Courtesy of Suburban Mother Goose)

Below is an excerpt from one of two poems, referencing Greek mythology on a high-school PARCC Common-Core rest (parcconline.org/computer-based-samples).

Ovid's poem (and the subsequent one found on the test by Anne Sexton) captivate some audiences, but I doubt the selections will do much for my largely foreign-born students.  (I'm sure they'd find the use of the word "regnant" repugnant!).  If enjoyment of this poem is a measure of college and career readiness in the twenty-first century, I wonder how many will crack their heads instead of their books!

But Daedalus abhorred the Isle of Crete--
and his long exile on that sea-girt shore,
increased the love of his own native place.
"Though Minos blocks escape by sea and land."
He said, "The unconfined skies remain
though Minos may be lord of all the world
his sceptre is not regnant of the air,
and by that untried way is our escape."
This said, he turned his mind to arts unknown
and nature unrevealed. He fashioned quills
and feathers in due order -- deftly formed
from small to large, as any rustic pipe

Humpty Dumpty slipped from the Core,

Humpty Dumpty fell to the floor

All Bill Gates' big dough and all Bill Bates' bread

Couldn't unscramble Humpty Dumpty's head.