i think the answer is A but i am not sure can someone check if i am right? thank you

Question

Summer, an excerpt

by Amy Lowell

 

Some men there are who find in nature all

Their inspiration, hers the sympathy

Which spurs them on to any great endeavor,

To them the fields and woods are closest friends,

And they hold dear communion with the hills;

The voice of waters soothes them with its fall,

And the great winds bring healing in their sound.

To them a city is a prison house

Where pent up human forces labour and strive,

Where beauty dwells not, driven forth by man;

But where in winter they must live until

Summer gives back the spaces of the hills.

To me it is not so. I love the earth

And all the gifts of her so lavish hand:

Sunshine and flowers, rivers and rushing winds,

Thick branches swaying in a winter storm,

And moonlight playing in a boat's wide wake;

But more than these, and much, ah, how much more,

I love the very human heart of man.

Above me spreads the hot, blue mid-day sky,

Far down the hillside lies the sleeping lake

Lazily reflecting back the sun,

And scarcely ruffled by the little breeze

Which wanders idly through the nodding ferns.

The blue crest of the distant mountain, tops

The green crest of the hill on which I sit;

And it is summer, glorious, deep-toned summer,

The very crown of nature's changing year

When all her surging life is at its full.

To me alone it is a time of pause,

A void and silent space between two worlds,

When inspiration lags, and feeling sleeps,

Gathering strength for efforts yet to come.

 

Which line from "Summer" suggests a possible season for the evening? 

 

  

A)The very crown of nature's changing year

  

B)And moonlight playing in a boat's wide wake

  

C)And they hold dear communion with the hills

  

D)When inspiration lags, and feeling sleeps

Answer 1

Hi Daisy;

Let's look at the context of answer A...

The green crest of the hill on which I sit;
And it is summer, glorious, deep-toned summer,
The very crown of nature's changing year

(emphasis supplied)

There is no mention of evening.

 

Let's look at answer B and the few lines which follow...

And moonlight playing in a boat's wide wake;
But more than these, and much, ah, how much more,
I love the very human heart of man.
Above me spreads the hot, blue mid-day sky,

(emphasis supplied)

The word moonlight is a reference to evening.  It is contrasted with the blue sky of day.  Henceforth, this suggests a possible season for the evening.

 

I believe the answer is B.

 

Answer 2

This is a tough question because how one interprets a poem is very subjective.

 

It appears the poem "Summer" has a few more lines...

 

For life alone is creator of life,
And closest contact with the human world
Is like a lantern shining in the night
To light me to a knowledge of myself.
I love the vivid life of winter months
In constant intercourse with human minds,
When every new experience is gain
And on all sides we feel the great world’s heart;
The pulse and throb of life which makes us men!

 

Without these extra lines, the poem reads as if it were 1 day in a life:

You wake up inspired, you go to work (the prison), you experience freedom again, and then go to sleep.

Perhaps in this case, A) is correct saying that the evening is summer.

 

However, given the extra lines, I believe the author did not intend to say that 1 day is like the seasons. I think she wanted to say that being with people is Winter and being free is Summer. She draws inspiration unexpectedly from the Winter. In this case, I can't see the question's purpose in the wording the evening.

 

Therefore, I believe the question is flawed, but the answer to this flawed question is A).

Disclaimer: This is only my personal interpretation.