GRE care: Reading Comprehension Questions and answer Part – 10 [Analyzing and Interpreting Poems ]
Analyzing and Interpreting Poems
Poetry scares some people, mainly because they believe that poems have hidden meanings. A good way to approach poetry is by reading closely for the literal meaning. In reality, poetry compresses the language into small sentences or phrases, so it just seems that the meanings are hidden. Ask yourself, what is that poet’s view on the subject? If you add a few of your own thoughts and experiences, you can uncover what has been left out. Think of it as frozen orange juice. Add water and you have the entire amount. Also, remember that poets compare objects to other objects … just like the frozen orange-juice metaphor. Think back to Section 2, Analogies, and remember the way you made comparisons there.
As you begin to read the poems in this section, it is important to understand who is speaking in the poem. (The speaker may not be the poet.) Once you can identify the narrator, you should be able to get an idea of the narrator’s attitude toward the subject, and this is easily discovered by the author’s word choice. Through the images that the words make, you should be able to answer the questions correctly.
Question 326 to 345:
The following poem is by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Con-sider the title of this poem as a guide to meaning.
The Eagle
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed with the azure world he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
329. Given the tone of the poem, and noting espe¬cially the last line, what is the eagle most likely doing in the poem?
a. dying of old age
b. hunting prey
c. learning joyfully to fly
d. keeping watch over a nest of young eagles
330. To which of the following do the underlined words azure world most likely refer?
a. a forest
b. the sky
c. the cliff
d. nature
331. In the second stanza, first line, to which of the following does the verb crawls refer?
a. waves
b. sunlight on the water
c. the eagle’s prey
d. the eagle itself
This poem, by Emily Dickinson, is a sort of riddle. Depending on your life experiences, the answer may be immediately clear. Or it may very well not be. Look closely for clues in the language.
A Narrow Fellow in the Grass
A narrow Fellow in the grass Occasionally rides—
You may have met him—did you not His notice sudden is—
The Grass divides as with a Comb—
A spotted shaft is seen—
And then it closes at your feet And opens further on—
He likes a Boggy Acre—
A Floor too cool for Corn—
Yet when a Boy, and Barefoot—
I more than once at Noon
Have passed, I thought, a Whip-lash
Unbraiding in the Sun—
When, stooping to secure it,
It wrinkled, and was gone—
Several of Nature’s People I know, and they know me—
I feel for them a transport Of cordiality—
But never met this Fellow,
Attended, or alone—
Without a tighter breathing And zero at the bone—
332. Who or what is the Fellow in this poem?
a. a whip-lash
b. a snake
c. a gust of wind
d. a boy
333. The phrase Without a tighter breathing / And It’s true that poems often have two levels—one literal,
zero at the bone most nearly indicates one figurative. The next two poems, also by Emily
a. fright. Dickinson, are full of images from nature. In exploring
b. cold. the second level of meaning, consider the speaker’s
c. grief. attitude, revealed especially through surprising, and
d. awe. jarring, word choices.
334. The phrase Nature’s People means
a. nature-lovers.
b. children.
c. animals.
d. neighbors.
Apparently with No Surprise
Apparently with no surprise To any happy flower,
The frost beheads it at its play In accidental power.
335. The speaker of this poem is most likely
a. an adult woman.
b. an adult man.
c. Emily Dickinson, the poet.
d. a young boy.
The blond assassin passes on,
The sun proceeds unmoved To measure off another day For an approving God.
336. Which of the following most nearly describes the author’s attitude toward nature as expressed in this poem?
a. delight
b. dismay
c. indifference
d. reverence
337. The poem implies that the attitude of the flowers toward the frost is one of
a. fear.
b. horror.
c. acceptance.
d. reverence.
338. The tone of the poem implies that the speaker probably regards God as
a. benevolent.
b. just.
c. cruel.
d. angry.
Because I Could Not Stop for Death 340.
Because I could not stop for Death—
He kindly stopped for me—
The carriage held but just Ourselves—
And Immortality.
We slowly drove—He knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labour, and my leisure too, 341.
For His Civility—
We passed the School, where children played At Recess—in the Ring—
We passed the fields of gazing grain—
We passed the Setting Sun. 342.
We paused before a house that seemed A swelling of the ground—
The roof was scarcely visible—
The cornice but a mound.
Since then—tis centuries; but each Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses’ Heads 343.
Were toward Eternity—
339. The image of death presented in stanza 1 is that of
a. an indifferent driver.
b. a kindly gentleman.
c. an immortal god disguised as a human.
d. none of the above.
The main idea of the poem is that
a. death kidnaps its victims and drives away emotionlessly.
b. death is dull; its chief torment is boredom.
c. death is a gentle timeless journey, simply leaving life’s cares behind.
d. death is an eternity.
In stanza 2, the word haste can be defined as
a. sorrow.
b. hurry.
c. guilt.
d. emotion.
The image described in stanza 4 most closely represents
a. a blurring of life and death.
b. an inability of the dead to focus on the world of the living.
c. a description of the grave.
d. a last image of security one sees before one dies.
One can infer from the tone of the poem that the speaker
a. views Death as a pleasant companion.
b. views Death as an intruder.
c. views Death as a figure of authority.
d. views Death as an intimate friend.
This next poem is by William Shakespeare.
The Seven Ages of Man
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts.
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant, Mewling . . . in the nurse’s arms.
And then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel And shining morning face . . . And then the lover, Sighing like a furnace . . . Then a soldier Full of strange oaths … Jealous of honor, Sudden and quick in quarrel . . . And then the justice . . .
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slippered pantaloon.
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side.
… and his big manly voice, Turning again toward Childish treble, pipes and whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness, and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
344. What attitude does the speaker reveal by using the word merely in the second line?
a. sorrow
b. anger
c. amusement
d. indifference
346. What is the main idea of this poem?
a. Life is a misery that never gets any better at any time.
b. Life is what each of us makes of it during our journey down the river of eternity.
c. Life is a play and it follows a specific script, none of which should cause anguish or sorrow.
d. Life is a comedy, and we are all buffoons in pantaloons no matter what we do.
347. What is the theme of the poem?
a. Death is to be feared.
b. Life is a circle that brings us back to the beginning.
c. The male of the species is the only true measure of the stages of life.
d. The stages of life are unrelated and can be altered by each individual’s free will.
348. The poet uses the words merely (line 2) and
mere (line 20)
a. to soften the effect of the strong images he presents to us in those lines.
b. to tie together his theme of the cycle of life.
c. convey his tone to the reader.
d. all of the above.
345. What characterizes the period of life repre-sented by the soldier?
a. brash behavior
b. his sense of honor
c. his dedication to duty
d. his fear of cowardice
Answer to the question number 326 to 345
327. d. The passage explicitly states that once the first
cold pack is removed, one should wait 30 min¬utes and then reapply for another 20 minutes. Choice a is incorrect because it is not the next step, but the third. Both choices a and b bypass the reapplication of the cold pack. Choice c has the timing of the packs reversed.
328. c. This is implied in the sentence, bleeding, hence
bruising…, demonstrating a clear relationship between bleeding and the “black-and-blue” of the question. Choice a is not a direct cause of the bruising; again, blood is. Choice b is incor¬rect because the passage states that wrapping the bandage too tightly will interfere with cir¬culation to the foot, which is the opposite of the condition needed for bruising. Choice d is irrel¬evant to the passage.
329. b. The eagle, who watches from his mountain walls
and falls like a thunderbolt, is depicted as too alert and dynamic to be dying (choice a). There is really no joy depicted in the poem nor any sense that this is a baby eagle (choice c), and there is no mention of baby birds the eagle might be watching over (choice d). Saying that the eagle watches and then falls like a thunder¬bolt implies alertness and then striking, respec¬tively. The most logical choice is that the eagle is hunting.
330. b. The word azure means blue and is often used to
describe the sky. Neither a forest nor cliffs are azure (choices a and c), and nature is not men¬tioned as an entity in the poem (choice d).
331. a. It is the wrinkled sea that crawls in the first line
of the second stanza of the poem.
332. b. The fellow frightens the speaker—a, c, and d are
not frightening.
333. a. Tighter breathing indicates fear, as does zero at
the bone (one is sometimes said to be cold with fear). Also, the subject is a snake, which is gen¬erally a feared animal.
334. c. In context, the speaker is discussing animals,
because he follows with his contrasting atti-tude toward this fellow, meaning the snake. The other choices are all human beings.
335. b. Stanza 3 contains the phrase when a boy imply¬
ing the speaker was a boy in the past and is now, therefore, an adult man.
336. b. The poem describes nature in terms of the
murder of a happy flower, and includes the words beheads and assassin; therefore, the most logical description of the poet’s attitude would not be delight, indifference, or reverence, but rather dismay.
337. c. The flower in the poem is happy and feels no
surprise that it must die, which implies accep-tance. If there is any hint of fear or horror in the poem (choices a and b), it is on the part of the poet. Nothing in the poem is described as feel¬ing reverence (choice d).
. A God who would approve of a happy flower
being beheaded, while, apparently, the rest of the natural world (as exemplified by the sun) remains unmoved, is probably not to be regarded as benevolent or just (choices a and
b) . Approval does not connote anger (choice d). The most logical choice is that, in this poem, God is cruel (choice c).
339. b. Line 2 of stanza 1 states that Death kindly
stopped for the speaker. Therefore, Death is pre¬sented as a kindly gentleman. Choice a is incor¬rect because indifferent would suggest that Death did not acknowledge the speaker. Choice c is incorrect because the poem does not relate that the character, Death, is an immortal god. Choice d (none of the above) is incorrect because b is the correct answer.
340. c. This choice fits the kindness of Death, as stated
by the speaker, as well as the fact that Death knew no haste. Also it includes the idea that the speaker put away… labour and leisure, too, for his civility. This supports the image of Death as gentle, timeless, and leaving of life’s cares behind. Choice a is a violent image of Death that is not supported by the poem, that is, the image of a kidnapper. Choice b is not an idea presented by the poem, but rather one the reader may hold of Death’s journey. Choice d is not broad enough to support all the ideas of Death that are presented in the poem; it just refers to the last line.
341. b. The meaning of the word can be derived from
the context of the line. Because he is driving slowly, Death knows no haste. This is a matter of opposites. None of the other choices are the opposite of slowly.
342. c. The swelling of the ground … the roof scarcely
visible… [the cornice] but a mound. All of these are descriptive of a grave with its gravestone. Choice a presents the idea of blurring the worlds of life and death. This is not supported, even with the line that says the roofwas scarcely visible. This does not mean it was blurred. Choice b is incorrect for the same reason that a was. Choice d is incorrect because the speaker is already dead when she sees the mound as anyone would have to be before he could view his grave.
343. a. Death is a pleasant companion; the speaker
only describes it in positive, gentle terms. Choice b is incorrect because an intruder, someone to be feared, would come from out-side. Neither is the case in this poem. Choices c and d are not supported in the poem.
344. d. The poet uses merely to simply make a state¬
ment with no emotion attached to it. Therefore, the other answers are all incorrect as anger, amusement, and sorrow are emotions.
345. a. The soldier’s behavior is aggressive: cursing,
jealous of others who receive honor, quick to fight. The lines do not reveal a sense of honor, but rather the soldier’s dishonorable behavior. There is no mention of dedication, nor any¬thing to suggest a fear of cowardice.
