Answer:
Correct answer: The meter in the poem creates a reflective tone.
Step-by-step explanation:
"The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe is a narrative poem made up of 18 stanzas, and each stanza has six lines. The effect that a poem has on the reader is closely determined by the tone and mood it creates. The correct answer is the first one "the meter in the poem creates a reflective tone" because according to Poe, beauty in a poem is closely associated with sadness and loss, which is found in "The Raven" in the death of the speaker's beloved woman Lenore. Therefore, melancholy is the most legitimate of all the poetical tones.
Besides, the last purpose of the five lines and the refrain in each stanza is NOT to "create consistency for the reader" (option 4) but to contribute to this solemn, serious and monotonous tone that creates a lonely atmosphere. The speaker has lost his beloved Lenore and in his lamenting comes the Raven, a not lively creature associated with bad omen. The refrain, which is the repetition of one line at different stanzas with slight variation, is used to combine the two ideas of a lover lamenting his deceased mistress and a Raven continously repeating the word "Nevermore". We can say that the Raven employs this word as an answer to the queries of the lover. The speaker asks about Lenore, but the only answer he gets from the Raven is "Nevermore", which tells the speaker that he will never be again with Lenore and he will never forget her.
Poe claims that the key in the phillosophy of composition of a poem is to convey a single impression or effect. Evertything in the poem, in this case rhythm, rhime and length, which make the poetic structure, must be planned to convey the effect of melancholy by using a reflective tone. That is why the options "Its lends itself to a moderate and reasonable pace for readers"(2) and "the rhyming lines in each stanza create a hypnotic rhythm" (3) must be discarded. Although the poetic structure of a poem do contribute to rhythm, its final end in "The Raven" is to create a reflective tone of sadness and loniless.