I saw both banks of the river—I saw that once there had been god-roads across it, though now they were broken and fallen like broken vines. Very great they were, and wonderful and broken—broken in the time of the Great Burning when the fire fell out of the sky. And always the current took me nearer to the Place of the Gods, and the huge ruins rose before my eyes.
I do not know the customs of rivers—we are the People of the Hills. I tried to guide my raft with the pole but it spun around. I thought the river meant to take me past the Place of the Gods and out into the Bitter Water of the legends.
–“By the Waters of Babylon,”
Stephen Vincent Benét
Which statement best describes the impact of word choice in this passage?
Words that reference religion create a sense of reverence for the reader.
Words used to describe the narrator’s journey bring a sense of joy to the reader.
The description of the narrator’s actions indicates that he is an evil character.
The repetition of a word associated with war and decay emphasize the horror of the past.