Poetry Analysis Test - Missed Questions

At the End

_{by Ed Meek}

He was so old his bones seemed to swim in his skin.

And when I took his hand to feel his pulse

I felt myself drawn in. It was as faint

as the steps of a child

padding across the floor in slippers,

and yet he was smiling.

I could almost hear a river

running beneath his breath.

The water clear and cold and deep.

He was ready and willing to wade on in.

What is the theme of "At the End?"

• Facing death is like crossing a raging river.

• The elderly are fragile and must be treated gently.

• There is no reason to fear death.

• Old age is as simple as childhood.

When You Are Old

^{BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS}

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

The rhyme scheme is

• ABCD ABCD ABCD

• AABB CCDD EEFF

• ABBA CDDC EFFE

• ABAB CDCD EFEF

At the End

_{by Ed Meek}

He was so old his bones seemed to swim in his skin.

And when I took his hand to feel his pulse

I felt myself drawn in. It was as faint

as the steps of a child

padding across the floor in slippers,

and yet he was smiling.

I could almost hear a river

running beneath his breath.

The water clear and cold and deep.

He was ready and willing to wade on in.

The repetition in the line "the water clear and cold and deep" is an example of

• simile

• metaphor

• personification

• alliteration

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

What comparison does Frost make to fire?

• Is it like death, because it ends everything.

• It is like hate, because it is raging and destructive.

• It is like the world, because it is everywhere.

• It is like desire, because it’s a consuming element.

What does the metaphor in lines 3 and 4 mean?

• Without dreams or goals, you cannot move forward with your life.

• Dreams usually fly and without them, you are stuck on land.

• Dead dreams are broken birds.

• When dreams die, so does your future.

Song

All suddenly the wind comes soft,

And Spring is here again;

And the hawthorn quickens with buds of green,

And my heart with buds of pain.

My heart all Winter lay so numb

The earth is dead and frore,

That I never thought the Spring would come,

Or my heart wake any more.

But Winter's broken and earth has woken,

And the small birds cry again;

And the hawthorn hedge puts forth its buds,

And my heart puts forth its pain.

What can be inferred from line 5?

• The speaker's heart is cheerful.

• The speaker's heart is afraid.

• The speaker's heart is paralyzed.

• The speaker's heart is extremely warm.