Poem Quiz

Which of the following best describes the structure of the poem as a whole?

• Three increasingly ominous representations of a process, followed by an optimistic assertion.

• An extended comparison, in which two concepts are eventually shown to be at odds.

• Four contrasting views of an emotion, with no final resolution.

• A dispassionate analysis of an event, devoid of personal reference until the final image.

• Three different conceits about the power of an idea, followed by a generalization about its ultimate fragility.

The first twelve lines of the poem primarily focus on the

• fragility of beauty

• painfulness of death

• saving power of poetry

• relentlessness of time

• courage to resist fate

The action of the waves in lines 1-4 is best described as

• an inexorable procession

• a remorseless competition

• a reassuring monotony

• a mysterious transformation

• a confused jumble

The subject of lines 1-4 is best described as the

• predictability of the tides

• power of natural forces

• necessity of toil

• memories of our youth fading

• minutes of our lives elapsing

In line 5, "Nativity" refers primarily to the

• youth of the speaker

• birth of Jesus

• rising of the Sun

• speaker's original home

• earliest stage of life

In line 6, the word "Crawls" serves primarily to

• suggest both the timidity of infants and the feebleness of the aged

• allude to the gradual process by which some individuals arrive at greatness

• evoke both a baby's movements and the idea that in youth the years pass slowly

• exaggerate the difficulties of the long journey from immaturity to maturity

• foreshadow the speaker's long apprenticeship followed by worldly triumph

The image of "Crooked eclipses" (line 7) is most closely linked to which other image in the poem?

• "the pebbled shore" (line 1)

• "sequent toil" (line 4)

• "the main of light" (line 5)

• "beauty's brow" (line 10)

• "nature's truth" (line 11)

In context, the phrase "transfix the flourish" (line 9) is best understood to mean

• preserve the growth

• raise the hopes

• satisfy the desires

• thwart the ambition

• diminish the vitality

The verbs in lines 9-12---"transfix," "delves," "Feeds on," and "mow"--serve to dramatize

• the speaker's control over his fate

• the speaker's heightened sensitivity

• the speaker's despair that his art will not endure

• time's absolute control over human life

• time's inability to destroy art

Line 12, "And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow," is best paraphrased as

• nature both exalts and mocks human beings

• everything exists only to be destroyed

• human accomplishments cannot last

• external beauty is fleeting but internal beauty persists

• labor is the only meaningful act of human existence