Question

Read the excerpt from Muir's essay "Calypso Borealis" and answer the question.

[5] How long I sat beside Calypso I don't know. Hunger and weariness vanished, and only after the sun was low in the west I splashed on through the swamp, strong and exhilarated as if never more to feel any mortal care. At length I saw maple woods on a hill and found a log house. I was gladly received. "Where ha ye come fra? The swamp, that awfu' swamp. What were ye doin' there?" etc. "Mony a puir body has been lost in that muckle, cauld, dreary bog and never been found." When I told her I had entered it in search of plants and had been in it all day, she wondered how plants could draw me to these awful places, and said, "It's god's mercy ye ever got out."

Examine the words Muir uses in this paragraph. How does Muir respond to his time in the swamp?

He becomes depressed to leave such a beautiful, rare flower.
He feels alive, invigorated, and completely satisfied.
He is hungry, weary, and ready to be in a warm house.
He is relieved that he made it out of the swamp before night.

Answer 1

He feels alive, invigorated, and completely satisfied. This is the correct option.

While he was next to the flower, Calypso, John Muir, the writer, did not feel hungy or tired -Hunger and weariness vanished- . Then, when the sun set, he decided to come back. However, he felt strong and excited - strong and exhilarated-. He was so happy that he did not care about anything - if never more to feel any mortal care-.

These options are not right:

-He becomes depressed to leave such a beautiful, rare flower. He thinks the flower is beautiful but he does not feel depressed. On the contrary, he feels full of energy.

-He is hungry, weary, and ready to be in a warm house. His hunger and weariness have disappeared. By chance, he finds a house.

-He is relieved that he made it out of the swamp before night. The writer has never got scared. He decides to leave the swamp when the sun sets.

Answer 2

The right answer is the second one: He feels alive, invigorated, and completely satisfied. Meeting that "frail and lovely a plant" in that "great tamarack and arbor-vitae" swamp in 1864 was one of Muir's most memorable experiences of his life, one that even made him cry for joy. When he decided to leave the swamp, and after such a wonderful discovery (the Calypso borealis is a very rare type of orchid) he felt "strong and exhilarated as if never more to feel any mortal care." So even though he told the farmer that received him that he came from "that awfu' swamp," it seems that he was beyond himself with excitement and satisfaction after his encounter with the "most spiritual of all the flower people" he had ever met.