Question

In this excerpt from the poem "Learning to Read" by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, what is the meaning of the word rising?

And said there is no use trying,
Oh! Chloe, you're too late;
But as I was rising sixty,
I had no time to wait.
advancing
approaching
increasing
elevating
succeeding

Answer 1

The correct answer is B. Approaching

Step-by-step explanation:

The poem "Learning to Read" by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper explores the way after the Emancipation slaves aim at trying to read, although some white people tried to stop them. In the case of the excerpt presented the author describes the way she is told by others it is too late for her to learn to read but she believed as she "was rising sixty" she needed to take advantage of time and learn how to read. This means in this context "I was rising sixty" means the author is about to be sixty years old or that she is getting near or approaching to this age. Therefore, the meaning of the word rising is "approaching".

Step-by-step explanation:

Answer 2

Answer: B) approaching.

Explanation: The connotation of a word is the meaning given by the context or even by the readers (or listeners) based on their emotions or personal experiences. It is different to the denotation, which is the literal meaning of a word. In the given excerpt from the poem "Learning to Read" we can see that the word "rising" is used with the connotation of "approaching" because she says that she is "rising sixty" that means that she is approaching sixty.