Card 0 of 20
1 Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
2 Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
3 Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
4 And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
5 Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
6 And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
7 And every fair from fair sometime declines,
8 By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
9 But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
10 Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
11 Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
12 When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st;
13 So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
14 So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
To what does "this" (line 14) refer?
"this" in line 14 refers to the poem: the "eternal lines," mentioned earlier in line 12.
Compare your answer with the correct one above
1 If but some vengeful god would call to me
2 From up the sky, and laugh: "Thou suffering thing,
3 Know that thy sorrow is my ecstasy,
4 That thy love's loss is my hate's profiting!"
5 Then would I bear it, clench myself, and die,
6 Steeled by the sense of ire unmerited;
7 Half-eased in that a Powerfuller than I
8 Had willed and meted me the tears I shed.
9 But not so. How arrives it joy lies slain,
10 And why unblooms the best hope ever sown?
11 —Crass Casualty obstructs the sun and rain,
12 And dicing Time for gladness casts a moan. . . .
13 These purblind Doomsters had as readily strown
14 Blisses about my pilgrimage as pain.
(1898)
In line 7, the speaker mentions "a Powerfuler than I" (line 7). To whom is this referring?
In line 7, the speaker is referring to a god when he mentions "a Powerfuler than I." The first two stanzas emphasize that the speaker would "bear it" (line 5) to know if "some vengeful god" (line 1) "had willed and meted me the tears I shed" (line 8). If a god has "willed and meted" the speaker's tears, then that god is "Powerfuller" (line 7).
(Passage adapted from "Hap" by Thomas Hardy)
Compare your answer with the correct one above
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.
In context, the use of the underlined and bolded phrase “have called” in the last stanza serves which of the following purposes?
The key word in this construction is “called”, by saying that he or she has merely “called” his or her life his or her own the speaker is suggesting that this is not, in fact, the case. This rigidly defined sense of self is overridden by the poem's focus on the abstract aspects of death, and the “liquid universe.”
The use of “called” calls into question only the speaker’s accuracy in having “called this life \[his or her\] own”, not his or her reliability as a speaker in the poem overall; it does not suggest that he or she is already dead, nor does it call into question Death’s power to end his or her life.
Compare your answer with the correct one above
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.
In context, the use of the bolded and underlined word "trembled" serves what purpose?
In this context, the word "trembled" was chosen to illustrate the unease and sadness that captivity has engendered in the speaker with a physical manifestation of that mental state. The earlier reference to the speaker's sitting "forlorn and sad" in captivity ties directly with the statement that he "tremble\[s\] at th' approaching morn."
There is no indication given that the speaker is physically afraid of his captor (indeed, his petition is quite candid to this captor). The poem consists of the speaker petitioning for his release, so it stands to reason that this release has not yet been agreed to. The speaker does not seem morally or theologically confused, but is rather presenting a fairly cohesive moral viewpoint. While the speaker's physical circumstances in captivity are said to be uncomfortable, in this case the "trembl\[ing\] is attributed to mental states, rather than physical coldness or discomfort.
Compare your answer with the correct one above
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 underlined excerpt is framed as a conditional for what rhetorical purpose?
The highlighted excerpt is framed as a conditional (accomplished through the use of "if" at the beginning of the stanza) in order to relate the addressee's personal sense of freedom ("thy breast with freedom glowed") and justice ("spurn'd a tyrant's chain") to the conditions he is imposing ("thy strong oppressive force") on the speaker by "detain\[ing\]" him.
The excerpt is concerned with the speaker's sense of justice, not his physical circumstances. The use of "if" actually hints that the addressee has, in fact, felt the glow of freedom in his breast and has "spurn'd a tyrant's chain." If the addressee had never been concerned with these issues, the entreaty would bear no rhetorical weight. Human prisoners are not mentioned. Throughout the poem, the speaker is "petitioning" for justice and ethical consideration, not imposing ultimatums on his addressee.
Compare your answer with the correct one above
Adapted from Life and Remains of John Clare "The Northamptonshire Peasant Poet" by John Clare (1872, ed. J. L. Cherry)
I am! Yet what I am who cares, or knows?
My friends forsake me, like a memory lost.
I am the self-consumer of my woes,
They rise and vanish, an oblivious host,
Shadows of life, whose very soul is lost.
And yet I am—I live—though I am toss'd
Into the nothingness of scorn and noise.
Into the living sea of waking dream,
Where there is neither sense of life, nor joys,
But the huge shipwreck of my own esteem
And all that's dear. Even those I loved the best
Are strange—nay, they are stranger than the rest.
I long for scenes where man has never trod—
For scenes where woman never smiled or wept—
There to abide with my Creator, God,
And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept,
Full of high thoughts, unborn. So let me lie,
The grass below; above, the vaulted sky.
What is the effect of the enjambment of the underlined text?
We can say that the sentence that spans from the end of the first stanza to the start of the second stanza allows the author to keep the same idea while adhering to the form of six-line stanzas. We can also say that it emphasizes both the nothingness of the first line of the stanza and the action of being “tossed into the nothingness.” We can also say it causes confusion for the reader, as it is attempting to draw the reader into the confusion portrayed in the first two stanzas; therefore, we can say all of these answers are correct.
Compare your answer with the correct one above
Passage adapted from Edna St. Vincent Millay's "Spring" (1921).
To what purpose, April, do you return again?
Beauty is not enough.
You can no longer quiet me with the redness
Of leaves opening stickily.
I know what I know. 5
The sun is hot on my neck as I observe
The spikes of the crocus.
The smell of the earth is good.
It is apparent that there is no death.
But what does that signify? 10
Not only under the ground are the brains of men
Eaten by maggots.
Life in itself
Is nothing,
An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs. 15
It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,
April
Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.
The word "You" in line 3 refers to __________.
The "you" in line 3 refers to the month of April. The first line of the poem establishes April as the "you" that will be spoken to throughout the poem. The key clue for this question is the direct reference to "April" in line 1.
One can infer that the April that is being addressed is the month of April and not a person because of the title of the poem, "Spring," and the description of April returning each year.
Compare your answer with the correct one above
Passage adapted from Edna St. Vincent Millay's "Spring" (1921).
To what purpose, April, do you return again?
Beauty is not enough.
You can no longer quiet me with the redness
Of leaves opening stickily.
I know what I know. 5
The sun is hot on my neck as I observe
The spikes of the crocus.
The smell of the earth is good.
It is apparent that there is no death.
But what does that signify? 10
Not only under the ground are the brains of men
Eaten by maggots.
Life in itself
Is nothing,
An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs. 15
It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,
April
Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.
The final three lines are primarily developed through __________.
These lines are developed primarily through personification because the month of April (a time of the year, something not human) is being described with human attributes, such as the ability to run and throw flowers.
An "anecdote" is a short, amusing story told for the purpose of demonstrating a point or for entertainment. An "idiom" is an expression that is not interpreted literally but has a commonly accepted meaning that is different from what the individual words in the phrase would imply. A "simile" is a figure of speech that makes a compares two different things using the words "like" or "as." "Consonance" is _the use of the same consonant sound throughout a sentence or phras_e.
Compare your answer with the correct one above
1 They are not long, the weeping and the laughter,
2 Love and desire and hate:
3 I think they have no portion in us after
4 We pass the gate.
5 They are not long, the days of wine and roses:
6 Out of a misty dream
7 Our path emerges for a while, then closes
8 Within a dream.
(1896)
What is the subject of the verb "closes" (line 7)?
The subject of a verb is the thing that performs the action of the verb. For example: In the sentence, "The dog barks," "dog" is the subject of the verb "barks."
In line 7, "path" is the thing that performs the action of the verb "closes," so it is the subject of that verb. In the same line, "path" is also the subject of the verb "emerges."
Passage adapted from "They are not long" by Ernest Dowson (1896)
Compare your answer with the correct one above
In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it. (5)
I said, “Is it good, friend?”
“It is bitter—bitter,” he answered;
“But I like it
“Because it is bitter,
“And because it is my heart.” (10)
(1895)
What type of sentence is the first sentence in this passage (lines 1-5)?
A periodic sentence is one in which the main clause and important idea comes at the end, which is the case here. Telegraphic sentence refers to any concise sentence (usually five or fewer words in length) that omits unnecessary words and parts of speech. Parataxis or paratactic sentences are ones in which short, simple clauses are placed beside each other without subordination (e.g. “I am late; I overslept”). Interrogatory sentences are simply questions.
Passage adapted from Stephen Crane’s “In the Desert” (1895)
Compare your answer with the correct one above
In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it. (5)
I said, “Is it good, friend?”
“It is bitter—bitter,” he answered;
“But I like it
“Because it is bitter,
“And because it is my heart.” (10)
(1895)
What is this passage’s meter?
The lines do not have a set number of syllables nor any pattern of stressed and unstressed beats, so we can deduce that this is free verse. Blank verse is lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter, and sprung rhythm is a pattern designed to mimic the cadences of natural spoken speech. Pathos and bathos are both rhetorical strategies, not types of poetic meter.
Passage adapted from Stephen Crane’s “In the Desert” (1895)
Compare your answer with the correct one above
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard; (5)
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea; (10)
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
(1886)
In the majority of this passage’s lines, what is the poetic meter?
A few of these lines are indeed written in iambic tetrameter. However, most are in iambic trimeter – a pattern of three pairs of syllables. These syllables alternate in an unstressed-stressed rhythm, as with all iambs.
Passage adapted from Emily Dickinson’s “Hope is the Thing With Feathers” (1886)
Compare your answer with the correct one above
1 Yes, long as children feel affright
2 In darkness, men shall fear a God;
3 And long as daisies yield delight
4 Shall see His footprints in the sod.
5 Is't ignorance? This ignorant state
6 Science doth but elucidate --
7 Deepen, enlarge. But though 'twere made
8 Demonstrable that God is not --
9 What then? It would not change this lot:
10 The ghost would haunt, nor could be laid.
11 Yea, ape and angel, strife and old debate --
12 The harps of heaven and the dreary gongs of hell;
13 Science the feud can only aggravate --
14 No umpire she betwixt the chimes and knell:
15 The running battle of the star and clod
16 Shall run for ever -- if there be no God.
(1876)
What is the subject of the verb "enlarge" (line 7)?
The subject of a verb is the thing which performs the action of that verb. For instance, in the sentence, "The dog barks," the "dog" is the subject of the verb "barks" because the dog is the thing which does the barking.
In lines 5-7, the poem reads: "This ignorant state / Science doth but elucidate-- / Deepen, enlarge..." In other words, science elucidates, deepens, and enlarges "this ignorant state." Science is the thing performing the action of all three of those verbs, "enlarge" included, and therefore "science" (line 6) is the subject of the verb "enlarge."
Passage excerpted from the epic poem Clarel by Herman Melville (1876).
Compare your answer with the correct one above
1 Yes, long as children feel affright
2 In darkness, men shall fear a God;
3 And long as daisies yield delight
4 Shall see His footprints in the sod.
5 Is't ignorance? This ignorant state
6 Science doth but elucidate --
7 Deepen, enlarge. But though 'twere made
8 Demonstrable that God is not --
9 What then? It would not change this lot:
10 The ghost would haunt, nor could be laid.
11 Yea, ape and angel, strife and old debate --
12 The harps of heaven and the dreary gongs of hell;
13 Science the feud can only aggravate --
14 No umpire she betwixt the chimes and knell:
15 The running battle of the star and clod
16 Shall run for ever -- if there be no God.
(1876)
What is the direct object of the verb "aggravate" (line 13)?
The direct object of a verb is the thing that receives the action of that verb. For instance, in the sentence, "The cat eats the food," the "food" is the direct object of the verb "eats" because it is the thing being eaten.
That said, in line 13, "Science the feud can only aggravate," the "feud" is the thing being aggravated. Therefore, "the feud" is the direct object of the verb "aggravate" in this line.
Passage excerpted from the epic poem Clarel by Herman Melville (1876).
Compare your answer with the correct one above
1 Red Rose, proud Rose, sad Rose of all my days!
2 Come near me, while I sing the ancient ways:
3 Cuchulain battling with the bitter tide;
4 The Druid, grey, wood-nurtured, quiet-eyed,
5 Who cast round Fergus dreams, and ruin untold;
6 And thine own sadness, whereof stars, grown old
7 In dancing silver-sandalled on the sea,
8 Sing in their high and lonely melody.
9 Come near, that no more blinded by man's fate,
10 I find under the boughs of love and hate,
11 In all poor foolish things that live a day,
12 Eternal beauty wandering on her way.
13 Come near, come near, come near—Ah, leave me still
14 A little space for the rose-breath to fill!
15 Lest I no more hear common things that crave;
16 The weak worm hiding down in its small cave,
17 The field-mouse running by me in the grass,
18 And heavy mortal hopes that toil and pass;
19 But seek alone to hear the strange things said
20 By God to the bright hearts of those long dead,
21 And learn to chaunt a tongue men do not know.
22 Come near; I would, before my time to go,
23 Sing of old Eire and the ancient ways:
24 Red Rose, proud Rose, sad Rose of all my days.
(1893)
What is the direct object of the verb "find" in line 10?
The direct object of a verb is the thing which receives the action of that verb. For instance, in the sentence, "The cat ate the fish," the "fish" is the direct object of the verb "ate" because the fish is the thing being eaten.
In the case of the verb "find" in line 10 of this poem, the thing being found is the "beauty" in line 12. "Beauty" is therefore the direct object of this verb.
Passage adapted from "To the Rose Upon the Rood of Time" by William Butler Yeats (1893)
Compare your answer with the correct one above
1 Red Rose, proud Rose, sad Rose of all my days!
2 Come near me, while I sing the ancient ways:
3 Cuchulain battling with the bitter tide;
4 The Druid, grey, wood-nurtured, quiet-eyed,
5 Who cast round Fergus dreams, and ruin untold;
6 And thine own sadness, whereof stars, grown old
7 In dancing silver-sandalled on the sea,
8 Sing in their high and lonely melody.
9 Come near, that no more blinded by man's fate,
10 I find under the boughs of love and hate,
11 In all poor foolish things that live a day,
12 Eternal beauty wandering on her way.
13 Come near, come near, come near—Ah, leave me still
14 A little space for the rose-breath to fill!
15 Lest I no more hear common things that crave;
16 The weak worm hiding down in its small cave,
17 The field-mouse running by me in the grass,
18 And heavy mortal hopes that toil and pass;
19 But seek alone to hear the strange things said
20 By God to the bright hearts of those long dead,
21 And learn to chaunt a tongue men do not know.
22 Come near; I would, before my time to go,
23 Sing of old Eire and the ancient ways:
24 Red Rose, proud Rose, sad Rose of all my days.
(1893)
"Ruin" (line 5) functions syntactically as _____________.
The direct object of a verb is the thing which receives the action of that verb. For instance, in the sentence, "The cat ate the fish," the "fish" is the direct object of the verb "ate" because the fish is the thing being eaten.
"Ruin untold," along with "dreams," is one of the things that is "cast round Fergus" in line 5. Because "ruin" is one of the things being cast, it functions as the direct object of the verb "cast" in that line.
Passage adapted from "To the Rose Upon the Rood of Time" by William Butler Yeats (1893)
Compare your answer with the correct one above
1 I WILL arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, 2 And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made: 3 Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee, 4 And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
5 And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow, 6 Dropping from the veils of the mourning to where the cricket sings; 7 There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow, 8 And evening full of the linnet's wings.
9 I will arise and go now, for always night and day 10 I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore; 11 While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey, 12 I hear it in the deep heart's core.
(1893)
What is the grammatical function of "dropping" (line 5)?
An adverbial modifier can be an adverb modifying (that is, describing) a verb, or it can also be an adverb modifying an adjective. Thus, "quickly" in "run quickly" and "very" in "very fast" are both adverbs. An adverb can even be a modifier for another adverb; such is the case with "very" in the phrase "very quickly."
An adjective (adjectival modifier), however, always modifies a noun.
In the case of "dropping" in line 5, it is clear from syntax and context that "dropping" must be modifying "slow." Because "slow" is itself an adjective, and adjectives are modified by adverbs (not more adjectives), the word modifying it must be an adverbial modifier.
Passage adapted from William Butler Yeats' "Lake Isle of Innisfree" (1893)
Compare your answer with the correct one above
1 MUCH have I travell’d in the realms of gold,
2 And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;
3 Round many western islands have I been
4 Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
5 Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
6 That deep-brow’d Homer ruled as his demesne;
7 Yet did I never breathe its pure serene
8 Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold:
9 Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
10 When a new planet swims into his ken;
11 Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes
12 He star’d at the Pacific—and all his men
13 Look’d at each other with a wild surmise—
14 Silent, upon a peak in Darien.
(1816)
What is the subject of the verb "seen" (line 2)?
The subject of a verb is the thing that performs the action of the verb. For instance, in the sentence, "The dog barks," the "dog" is the subject of the verb "barks" because the dog is the thing doing the barking.
In the case of the verb "seen" in line 2, the thing doing the seeing is the speaker, who refers to himself as "I" in line 1. "I" is therefore the subject of the verb "seen."
Passage adapted from "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" by John Keats (1816)
Compare your answer with the correct one above
1 MUCH have I travell’d in the realms of gold,
2 And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;
3 Round many western islands have I been
4 Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
5 Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
6 That deep-brow’d Homer ruled as his demesne;
7 Yet did I never breathe its pure serene
8 Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold:
9 Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
10 When a new planet swims into his ken;
11 Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes
12 He star’d at the Pacific—and all his men
13 Look’d at each other with a wild surmise—
14 Silent, upon a peak in Darien.
(1816)
Which of the following is the object of a preposition?
A preposition is a word such as "on," "in," "at," "near," "toward," "beside," etc., which expresses the a relationship (often but not always spatial in nature) between a noun and something else in the sentence. The object of a preposition is the noun which the preposition governs. Often this noun comes after the preposition. For instance, in the phrase "beside the house," the preposition is "beside" and the object of the preposition is the "house."
In line 3, "islands" is the object of the preposition "round." (Round means the same thing as the more modern English word "around.") None of the other answers are the object of a preposition.
Passage adapted from "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" by John Keats (1816)
Compare your answer with the correct one above
1 Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
5 What leaf-fring'd legend haunts about thy shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?
9 What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?
11 Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:
15 Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
18 Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!
21 Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unwearied,
For ever piping songs for ever new;
25 More happy love! more happy, happy love!
For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd,
For ever panting, and for ever young;
28 All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.
31 Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?
35 What little town by river or sea shore,
Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?
38 And, little town, thy streets for evermore
Will silent be; and not a soul to tell
Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.
41 O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede
Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
With forest branches and the trodden weed;
Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought
45 As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
48 Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
(1819)
What is the antecedent of the pronoun "That" in line 29?
The antecedent of a pronoun is the noun to which the pronoun refers. For example, in the sentence, "I found the book that I was looking for," the pronoun "that" refers back to the noun "book." Therefore "book" is the antecedent of the pronoun "that" in this sentence.
In Line 29 of the poem, "That" is referring back to "All breathing human passion" in the previous line.
Passage adapted from John Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn" (1819)
Compare your answer with the correct one above