Question

Read the poem.

excerpt from “Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood” by William Wordsworth
In this poem, Wordsworth conveys his belief that as people age, they lose sight of the joy and purity of life that they experienced as children.
V
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home: Heaven lies about us in our infancy! Shades of the prison-house begin to close Upon the growing Boy, But He beholds the light, and whence it flows, He sees it in his joy; The Youth, who daily farther from the east Must travel, still is Nature's Priest, And by the vision splendid Is on his way attended; At length the Man perceives it die away, And fade into the light of common day. VI Earth fills her lap with pleasures of her own; Yearnings she hath in her own natural kind, And, even with something of a Mother's mind, And no unworthy aim, The homely Nurse doth all she can To make her Foster-child, her Inmate Man, Forget the glories he hath known, And that imperial palace whence he came.

What is the effect of the words from stanza VI, "And that imperial palace whence he came" on the tone of the poem?

A.) The palace represents a child's idyllic perspective on life, setting a melancholy tone.

B.) The palace symbolizes a child's unrealistic expectations of life, setting a judgmental tone.

C.) The palace represents the speaker's desire for abundance in life, developing a hopeful tone.

D.) The palace represents the speaker's attainment of happiness in life, creating a grateful tone.

Answer 1

The Answer is A) The palace represents a child's idyllic perspective on life, setting a melancholy tone.

Step-by-step explanation:

Answer 2

The words from stanza VI, "And that imperial palace whence he came" have the following effect on the tone of the poem:

A) The palace represents a child's idyllic perspective on life, setting a melancholy tone.

William Wordsworth describes how miserable we grow to be as we get older. The palace he talks about is how a child sees life: pure, joyful, always exciting. However, life itself takes that palace away from us as we experience life in its naked entirety, with all the setbacks, sorrow, pain and misery. The author believes we all come from God, and that we are born with the wonders of Heaven floating above us. Losing such eagerness to live and smile is a melancholic perspective. That is why Christ says in the New Testament that in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, one must be like a child.