English Literature - Poetry and Poetic Devices

English Literature
English Literature - Poetry and Poetic Devices

The poem's tone shifts between the stanzas. Which of the following best describes this shift ?


Read the following poem and answer the question:

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.

Options:

  1. From nostalgic to resentful
  2. From loving to mournful
  3. From hopeful to despairing
  4. From indifference to passionate

Right Answer: From loving to mournful

The first two stanzas are warm and affectionate. The speaker imagines the woman reading by the fire and remembering the soft look of her eyes, and he recalls how one man loved her pilgrim soul. The final stanza changes key: bending beside the glowing bars she is to murmur ‘a little sadly’ how Love fled, paced upon the mountains and hid his face amid a crowd of stars. The vocabulary of flight, hiding and remoteness makes the close elegiac. The movement is therefore from loving to mournful, not from hope to despair or from affection to resentment.

This question is part of English Literature - Poetry and Poetic Devices, which has 17 practice questions with answers.

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