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Adapted from “Solitary Death, make me thine own” in Underneath the Bough: A Book of Verses by Michael Field (pseudonym of Katherine Bradley and Edith Cooper) (1893)
Solitary Death, make me thine own,
And let us wander the bare fields together;
Yea, thou and I alone
Roving in unembittered unison forever.
I will not harry thy treasure-graves,
I do not ask thy still hands a lover;
My heart within me craves
To travel till we twain Time’s wilderness discover.
To sojourn with thee my soul was bred,
And I, the courtly sights of life refusing,
To the wide shadows fled,
And mused upon thee often as I fell a-musing.
Escaped from chaos, thy mother Night,
In her maiden breast a burthen that awed her,
By cavern waters white
Drew thee her first-born, her unfathered off-spring toward her.
On dewey plats, near twilight dingle,
She oft, to still thee from men’s sobs and curses
In thine ears a-tingle,
Pours her cool charms, her weird, reviving chaunt rehearses.
Though mortals menace thee or elude,
And from thy confines break in swift transgression.
Thou for thyself art sued
Of me, I claim thy cloudy purlieus my possession.
To a long freshwater, where the sea
Stirs the silver flux of the reeds and willows,
Come thou, and beckon me
To lie in the lull of the sand-sequestered billows:
Then take the life I have called my own
And to the liquid universe deliver;
Loosening my spirit’s zone,
Wrap round me as thy limbs the wind, the light, the river.
Which of the following is NOT a reasonable inference to take from the poem of the speaker’s opinion?
The specific figuring of Death as “un-fathered” makes it unreasonable to infer that the speaker specifically places great value on paternal bonds. The description of Death’s birth and relationship to “mother Night” makes such an inference reasonable about maternal bonds. The entire poem functions as an earnest intellectual consideration of death, the importance of non-transactional relationships are emphasized in the first two stanzas, and the notion that individual human lives are insignificant in the face of larger concepts is presented in the first line of the last stanza.
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Adapted from Coriolanus by William Shakespeare (III.iii.152-167)
You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate
As reek o' the rotten fens, whose loves I prize
As the dead carcasses of unburied men
That do corrupt my air, I banish you;
And here remain with your uncertainty!
Let every feeble rumor shake your hearts!
Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes,
Fan you into despair! Have the power still
To banish your defenders; till at length
Your ignorance, which finds not till it feels,
Making not reservations of yourselves,
Still your own foes, deliver you as most
Abated captives to some nation
That won you without blows! Despising,
For you, the city, thus I turn my back:
There is a world elsewhere.
The speaker's tone could best be described as __________.
The best description of the speaker's tone is "angry and disgruntled." His cursing and aggressive insulting of the listeners show his anger. His resentment of his banishment reveals him to be specifically disgruntled with what has been done to him.
He is in no way complimentary, he does not express disbelief or sadness at the banishment, only anger, and his tone is more aggressive than it is alarmed.
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Adapted from Coriolanus by William Shakespeare (III.iii.152-167)
You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate
As reek o' the rotten fens, whose loves I prize
As the dead carcasses of unburied men
That do corrupt my air, I banish you;
And here remain with your uncertainty!
Let every feeble rumor shake your hearts!
Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes,
Fan you into despair! Have the power still
To banish your defenders; till at length
Your ignorance, which finds not till it feels,
Making not reservations of yourselves,
Still your own foes, deliver you as most
Abated captives to some nation
That won you without blows! Despising,
For you, the city, thus I turn my back:
There is a world elsewhere.
What is the speaker's primary purpose in making this speech?
The main purpose of the speech is to announce is his departure, and to curse those who banished him. His "banishing" of the listeners is a metaphorical banishment to uncertainty and a lack of safety after he leaves, evidenced by his statement "I banish you;/ And here remain with your uncertainty."
"Have the power still/ to banish your defenders" reveals explicitly that the speaker is the one being banished, and "For you, the city, thus I turn my back: There is a world elsewhere" announces his intention to leave.
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Adapted from Walt Whitman's "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" in Leaves of Grass (1855)
1
Flood-tide below me! I see you face to face!
Clouds of the west—sun there half an hour high—I see you also face to face.
Crowds of men and women attired in the usual costumes, how curious you are to me!
On the ferry-boats the hundreds and hundreds that cross, returning home, are more curious to me than you suppose,
And you that shall cross from shore to shore years hence are more to me, and more in my meditations, than you might suppose.
2
The impalpable sustenance of me from all things at all hours of the day,
The simple, compact, well-join’d scheme, myself disintegrated, every one disintegrated yet part of the scheme,
The similitudes of the past and those of the future,
The glories strung like beads on my smallest sights and hearings, on the walk in the street and the passage over the river,
The current rushing so swiftly and swimming with me far away,
The others that are to follow me, the ties between me and them,
The certainty of others, the life, love, sight, hearing of others.
Others will enter the gates of the ferry and cross from shore to shore,
Others will watch the run of the flood-tide,
Others will see the shipping of Manhattan north and west, and the heights of Brooklyn to the south and east,
Others will see the islands large and small;
Fifty years hence, others will see them as they cross, the sun half an hour high,
A hundred years hence, or ever so many hundred years hence, others will see them,
Will enjoy the sunset, the pouring-in of the flood-tide, the falling-back to the sea of the ebb-tide.
3
It avails not, time nor place—distance avails not,
I am with you, you men and women of a generation, or ever so many generations hence,
Just as you feel when you look on the river and sky, so I felt,
Just as any of you is one of a living crowd, I was one of a crowd,
Just as you are refresh’d by the gladness of the river and the bright flow, I was refresh’d,
Just as you stand and lean on the rail, yet hurry with the swift current, I stood yet was hurried,
Just as you look on the numberless masts of ships and the thick-stemm’d pipes of steamboats, I look’d.
I too many and many a time cross’d the river of old,
Watched the Twelfth-month sea-gulls, saw them high in the air floating with motionless wings, oscillating their bodies,
Saw how the glistening yellow lit up parts of their bodies and left the rest in strong shadow,
Saw the slow-wheeling circles and the gradual edging toward the south,
Saw the reflection of the summer sky in the water,
Had my eyes dazzled by the shimmering track of beams . . .
Which of the following do we NOT know about the speaker's immediate setting?
Although the speaker refers to "the reflection of the summer sky in the water" he does so reflectively and immediately after noting "the Twelfth-month \[i.e. December\] sea-gulls . . . edging toward the south," suggesting winter. In fact, the only definite information we get about the speaker's immediate setting is in the first stanza, but most of the information provided is more permanent and can be safely extended to his present setting.
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Adapted from Coriolanus by William Shakespeare (III.iii.152-167)
You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate
As reek o' the rotten fens, whose loves I prize
As the dead carcasses of unburied men
That do corrupt my air, I banish you;
And here remain with your uncertainty!
Let every feeble rumor shake your hearts!
Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes,
Fan you into despair! Have the power still
To banish your defenders; till at length
Your ignorance, which finds not till it feels,
Making not reservations of yourselves,
Still your own foes, deliver you as most
Abated captives to some nation
That won you without blows! Despising,
For you, the city, thus I turn my back:
There is a world elsewhere.
What does the passage imply about the speaker's relationship to his addressees?
The speaker has in the past been charged with protecting the city; this is implied by his references to them being vulnerable in his absence. He has also fallen out of favor; this is made clear by the fact that he has been banished.
The speaker's power is obviously not equal to his addressees' because they have the power to banish him. He does not seem concerned about their welfare since his is cursing them and wishing them ill. His implication that they will be vulnerable without him implies that he has been helping the city rather than being its avowed enemy. His vitriol in addressing his listeners implies that their relationship has not been particularly positive.
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Adapted from Coriolanus by William Shakespeare (III.iii.152-167)
You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate
As reek o' the rotten fens, whose loves I prize
As the dead carcasses of unburied men
That do corrupt my air, I banish you;
And here remain with your uncertainty!
Let every feeble rumor shake your hearts!
Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes,
Fan you into despair! Have the power still
To banish your defenders; till at length
Your ignorance, which finds not till it feels,
Making not reservations of yourselves,
Still your own foes, deliver you as most
Abated captives to some nation
That won you without blows! Despising,
For you, the city, thus I turn my back:
There is a world elsewhere.
Which of the following most accurately conveys the meaning of the underlined section, "Despising, / For you, the city, thus I turn my back: / There is a world elsewhere"?
The speaker, partially out of his hatred for his listeners and partially in acquiescence to their request, has decided to leave the city, and is no longer loyal to its citizens or government. In the underlined passage, the speaker is emphasizing both that he is deciding to leave of his own accord, and has also been banished by his "despise\[d\]" listeners (in his opinion, foolishly). His decision to "turn his back" is both literal and metaphorical, as he is physically leaving the city and discarding his loyalty to his "despised" banishers.
In the indicated excerpt, he does not express any shame about his actions, nor does he reference a direct, literal betrayal; the earlier description of foreign invaders was hypothetical. While he references "corrupt" air and smells earlier in the passage, it is hardly his main grievance. His "despising" is outwardly directed towards his listeners, and he is hardly apologetic.
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Adapted from Coriolanus by William Shakespeare (III.iii.152-167)
You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate
As reek o' the rotten fens, whose loves I prize
As the dead carcasses of unburied men
That do corrupt my air, I banish you;
And here remain with your uncertainty!
Let every feeble rumor shake your hearts!
Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes,
Fan you into despair! Have the power still
To banish your defenders; till at length
Your ignorance, which finds not till it feels,
Making not reservations of yourselves,
Still your own foes, deliver you as most
Abated captives to some nation
That won you without blows! Despising,
For you, the city, thus I turn my back:
There is a world elsewhere.
According to the speaker, what is his main motivation for leaving the city?
The speaker frames his desire to leave as primarily derived from his hatred of the people who banished him.
The key phrase in the question is "According to the speaker." While his being banished could possibly be the biggest factor in his leaving, in his speech the speaker frames his decision to leave as his accepting the banishment, and himself banishing the people left in the city to uncertainty and fear in his absence. This implies that his own motivation was more important than the externally imposed banishment.
He refers often to a hypothetical foreign invasion after he leaves, but does not express fear about it. He does not mention meeting new people, nor going abroad to help prisoners of war; rather, he claims that after he leaves the listeners will become prisoners.
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Adapted from Act 1, Scene 1, ln. 78-119 of The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe (1604) in Vol. XIX, Part 2 of The Harvard Classics (1909-1914)
FAUSTUS**:** How am I glutted with conceit of this!
Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please,
Resolve me of all ambiguities,
Perform what desperate enterprise I will?
I’ll have them fly to India for gold,
Ransack the ocean for orient pearl,
And search all corners of the new-found world
For pleasant fruits and princely delicates;
I’ll have them read me strange philosophy
And tell the secrets of all foreign kings;
I’ll have them wall all Germany with brass,
And make swift Rhine circle fair Wittenberg;
I’ll have them fill the public schools with silk,
Wherewith the students shall be bravely clad;
I’ll levy soldiers with the coin they bring,
And chase the Prince of Parma from our land,
And reign sole king of all the provinces;
Yea, stranger engines for the brunt of war
Than was the fiery keel at Antwerp’s bridge,
I’ll make my servile spirits to invent.
\[Enter VALDES and CORNELIUS\]
Come, German Valdes and Cornelius,
And make me blest with your sage conference.
Valdes, sweet Valdes, and Cornelius,
Know that your words have won me at the last
To practice magic and concealed arts:
Yet not your words only, but mine own fantasy
That will receive no object, for my head
But ruminates on necromantic skill.
Philosophy is odious and obscure,
Both law and physic are for petty wits;
Divinity is basest of the three,
Unpleasant, harsh, contemptible, and vile:
’Tis magic, magic, that hath ravish’d me.
Then, gentle friends, aid me in this attempt;
And I that have with concise syllogisms
Gravell’d the pastors of the German church,
And made the flowering pride of Wittenberg
Swarm to my problems, as the infernal spirits
On sweet Musaeigus, when he came to hell,
Will be as cunning as Agrippa was,
Whose shadows made all Europe honor him.
What is main difference in content between the first half of the passage, before the arrival of Valdes and Cornelius, and the second, after their arrival?
Before Valdes and Cornelius' arrival, Faustus fantasizes about the earthly pleasures he will gain from his occult powers; after their arrival, he justifies his fascination with the occult in intellectual terms. The first section of the speech is focused almost exclusively on "pleasant fruits and princely delicates," and other luxuries like "silk." It is only after the arrival of Valdes and Cornelius that Faustus begins to discuss his dissatisfaction with conventional academics in favor of the "concealed arts."
It is difficult to characterize Faustus' tone as "begging" at any point. While he fantasizes about traveling, he never makes a plan and thus does not reverse it and decide to stay in Wittenberg.
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1 Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
5 From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
9 The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
13 The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
(1595)
Whom is the speaker addressing in this passage?
The last two lines make it clear that the speaker is addressing his audience: "The which if you with patient ears attend, / What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend" (lines 13-14). "You" refers to the people listening--listening with "patient ears" (line 13). Furthermore, line 12 makes it clear that the plot summary of lines 1-11 comes in the context of a play that is about to be performed; the mention of a "stage" is a key to knowing it is a play, in addition to "two-hours' traffic," since that is about how long plays tend to be (line 12). Thanks to these contextual clues, it is possible to determine that the speaker is indeed addressing the audience of the play.
Passage adapted from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (1595).
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HENRY V: And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he today that sheds his blood with me (5)
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks (10)
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
(1600)
According to the passage, what will happen on “Crispin Crispian” (line 1, e.g. St. Crispin’s Day)?
Lines 2-3 give us the answer to this question. “From this day to the ending of the world, / But we in it shall be remember'd” means that on the annual celebration of St. Crispin’s Day the soldiers will be remembered. The implication, of course, is that they will be remembered in a positive light for their heroism.
Passage adapted from William Shakespeare’s Henry V (1600)
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PROSPERO:
Prospero is most likely speaking to _________________.
Prospero the magician tells us right away who he’s addressing: “Ye elves… demi-puppets…” of various types associated with different places in nature. They seem to be supernatural spirits who have been giving Prospero help with his magic (line 8-9.) We can be pretty sure they’re incorporeal, because they can run over sand without leaving footprints (lines 2-3.) We hear that some of them (at least) “rejoice/ To hear the solemn curfew”: that is, they’re happy when night falls because then they can come out and play their tricks.
Though Prospero mentions raising the dead, he is not speaking to them here. Nor is he addressing the audience directly (as he does in the epilogue to the play.) There is no mention of birds or animals in this speech. Prospero is not talking to his daughter.
Passage adapted from William Shakespeare's The Tempest (1611)
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Then, I confess,
Here on my knee, before high heaven and you
That before you, and next unto high heaven,
I love your son.
My friends were poor, but honest; so's my love:
Be not offended, for it hurts not him
That he is lov'd of me: I follow him not
By any token of presumptuous suit;
Nor would I have him till I do deserve him;
Yet never know how that desert should be.
I know I love in vain, strive against hope;
Yet, in this captious and intenible sieve
I still pour in the waters of my love,
And lack not to lose still. Thus, Indian-like,
Religious in mine error, I adore
The sun, that looks upon his worshipper,
But knows of him no more. My dearest madam,
Let not your hate encounter with my love
For loving where you do: but, if yourself,
Whose aged honour cites a virtuous youth,
Did ever in so true a flame of liking
Wish chastely and love dearly, that your Dian
Was both herself and Love; O! then, give pity
To her, whose state is such that cannot choose
But lend and give where she is sure to lose;
That seeks not to find that her search implies,
But, riddle-like, lives sweetly where she dies.
(1605)
In the given passage, who is the speaker most likely addressing?
Without any background knowledge of the play All's Well That Ends Well, we can still infer that the speaker is addressing the mother of the man who she loves. The lines that help us to infer this include "I love your son," which lead us to know that the speaker is addressing either both or one of his parents, and we can then note that the speaker later calls the addressee "my dearest madam" which lets us know that the speaker is addressing a female parent, which would be the mother of the man who she loves.
Passage adapted from William Shakespeare's All's Well that Ends Well (1605)
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1 Devouring time, blunt thou the lion's paws,
2 And Make the earth devour her own sweet brood;
3 Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger's jaws,
4 And burn the long-lived phoenix in her blood;
5 Make glad and sorry seasons as thou fleet'st
6 And do whate'er thou wilt, swift-footed time,
7 To the wide world and all her fading sweets;
8 But I forbid thee one most heinous crime,
9 O carve not with thy hours my love's fair brow,
10 Nor draw no lines there with thine antique pen.
11 Him in thy course untainted do allow,
12 For yet beauty's pattern to succeeding men.
13 Yet do thy worst, old time; despite thy wrong,
14 My love shall in my verse ever live young.
(1609)
To whom is the poet speaking?
The poet is speaking to time. The poem begins with the apostrophe "Devouring time," (line 1). In line 6, the poet says, "And do whate'er thou wilt, swift-footed time." The poet also ends by telling time to "do thy worst, old time" (line 13).
(Passage adapted from "Sonnet 19" by William Shakespeare)
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Passage adapted from Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand (1897)
Translated by Gladys Thomas and Mary F. Guillemard (in public domain)
\[Cyrano speaks to Roxane.\]
CYRANO:
The time of day in the scene is _____________.
Lines 12-13 tell us that it’s night:
"Feel'st thou my soul, here, through the darkness mounting?
Too fair the night . . ."
We know that Cyrano cannot see Roxane because he talks about "feeling" her trembling (rather than seeing her):
"I feel,--an if you will it,
Or will it not,--your hand's beloved trembling
Thrill through the branches . . ."
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A Late Walk
1 When I go up through the mowing field,
2 The headless aftermath,
3 Smooth-laid like thatch with the heavy dew,
4 Half closes the garden path.
5 And when I come to the garden ground,
6 The whir of sober birds
7 Up from the tangle of withered weeds
8 Is sadder than any words
9 A tree beside the wall stands bare,
10 But a leaf that lingered brown,
11 Disturbed, I doubt not, by my thought,
12 Comes softly rattling down.
13 I end not far from my going forth
14 By picking the faded blue
15 Of the last remaining aster flower
16 To carry again to you.
The speaker in the poem is very probably addressing .
The speaker in the poem is very probably addressing a loved one as he picks "again" for him or her, in the last stanza, the last remaining aster flower.
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1 How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
2 I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
3 My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
4 For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
5 I love thee to the level of everyday's
6 Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
7 I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
8 I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
9 I love thee with the passion put to use
10 In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
11 I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
12 With my lost saints – I love thee with the breath,
13 Smiles, tears, of all my life! – and, if God choose,
14 I shall but love thee better after death.
For whom is this poem likely intended?
This poem is very likely intended for the speaker's lover as evidenced by the first line "How do I love thee?" and subsequent lines. Note the number of lines that begin with "I love thee." God, the lost saints, and the speaker's soul are used only to articulate the speaker's love for another.
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1 Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;
2 My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy.
3 Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
4 Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
5 Oh, could I lose all father now! For why
6 Will man lament the state he should envy?
7 To have so soon 'scaped world's and flesh's rage,
8 And if no other misery, yet age!
9 Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, "Here doth lie
10 Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry,
11 For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such
12 As what he loves may never like too much."
Who is the speaker of this poem?
The speaker of this poem is the grieving father and poet, Ben Jonson. "Here doth lie / Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry," (Lines 9–10)
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Thou ill-form’d offspring of my feeble brain,
Who after birth didst by my side remain,
Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true,
Who thee abroad, expos’d to public view,
Made thee in rags, halting to th’ press to trudge,
Where errors were not lessened (all may judge).
At thy return my blushing was not small,
My rambling brat (in print) should mother call,
I cast thee by as one unfit for light,
Thy visage was so irksome in my sight;
Yet being mine own, at length affection would
Thy blemishes amend, if so I could:
I wash’d thy face, but more defects I saw,
And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.
I stretched thy joints to make thee even feet,
Yet still thou run’st more hobling then is meet;
In better dress to trim thee was my mind,
But nought save home-spun cloth, i’ th’ house I find.
In this array ’mongst vulgars mayst thou roam.
In critics' hands, beware thou dost not come;
And take thy way where yet thou art not known,
If for thy father askt, say, thou hadst none:
And for thy mother, she alas is poor,
Which caus’d her thus to send thee out of door.
All of the following emotions can be attributed to the speaker EXCEPT __________.
While Bradstreet at turns expresses embarassment and self-deprecation about her poetry, and finally accepts that her poems are now out in the world whether she wants them to be or not, she does not give evidence of any particular pride in this.
Passage adapted from "The Author to Her Book" by Anne Bradstreet (1678)
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Adapted from "The Mouse’s Petition" in Poems by Anna Letitia Barbauld (1773)
Found in the trap where he had been confined all night by Dr. Priestley, for the sake of making experiments with different kinds of air
“To spare the humbled, and to tame in war the proud.” - Virgil
OH! hear a pensive captive's prayer,
For liberty that sighs;
And never let thine heart be shut
Against the prisoner's cries.
For here forlorn and sad I sit,
Within the wiry grate;
And tremble at th' approaching morn,
Which brings impending fate.
If e'er thy breast with freedom glow'd,
And spurn'd a tyrant's chain,
Let not thy strong oppressive force
A free-born mouse detain.
Oh! do not stain with guiltless blood
Thy hospitable hearth;
Nor triumph that thy wiles betray'd
A prize so little worth.
The scatter'd gleanings of a feast
My scanty meals supply;
But if thine unrelenting heart
That slender boon deny,
The cheerful light, the vital air,
Are blessings widely given;
Let nature's commoners enjoy
The common gifts of heaven.
The well-taught philosophic mind
To all compassion gives;
Casts round the world an equal eye,
And feels for all that lives.
If mind, as ancient sages taught,
A never dying flame,
Still shifts thro' matter's varying forms,
In every form the same,
Beware, lest in the worm you crush
A brother's soul you find;
And tremble lest thy luckless hand
Dislodge a kindred mind.
Or, if this transient gleam of day
Be all of life we share,
Let pity plead within thy breast,
That little all to spare.
So may thy hospitable board
With health and peace be crown'd;
And every charm of heartfelt ease
Beneath thy roof be found.
So when unseen destruction lurks,
Which men like mice may share,
May some kind angel clear thy path,
And break the hidden snare.
The speaker of this poem is __________.
The speaker of this poem is a mouse. The “petition” the mouse is making to his captor, a scientist, consists of asserting his own ethical relevance relative to all creatures, and voicing his desire for “freedom.” Since the speaker is not a prisoner, patient, or scientist. The speaker is specifically figured as the object of an experiment, rather than as a house pet.
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Adapted from "Old Man Traveling" by William Wordsworth in Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1798 ed.)
The little hedge-row birds,
That peck along the road, regard him not.
He travels on, and in his face, his step,
His gait, is one expression; every limb,
His look and bending figure, all bespeak
A man who does not move with pain, but moves
With thought—He is insensibly subdued
To settled quiet: he is one by whom
All effort seems forgotten, one to whom
Long patience has such mild composure given,
That patience now doth seem a thing, of which
He hath no need. He is by nature led
To peace so perfect, that the young behold
With envy, what the old man hardly feels.
—I asked him whither he was bound, and what
The object of his journey; he replied
"Sir! I am going many miles to take
"A last leave of my son, a mariner,
"Who from a sea-fight has been brought to Falmouth,
And there is dying in an hospital."
Based on the poem, which of the following words best describes the narrator?
We can eliminate “stoic,” as the only character who shows any form of stoicism, or lack of emotion, is the man, whereas the narrator shows envy, at least. The narrator cannot accurately be called "nonsensical," either, as the poem makes sense and nothing in its content suggests that the narrator somehow does not make sense. The narrator is not "cynical," either, as he or she views the man in a positive light when he or she knows nothing about him. We are left with “idealistic” and “fanciful” as potential answer choices, which are very similar. “Fanciful” generally means coming from the imagination or unrealistic, whereas “idealistic” would be describing the action of the speaker in putting the man on a pedestal, which he clearly is doing.
Compare your answer with the correct one above