Question

Read the quotation from "Song of Myself."

I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun,
I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags.

How do the words “effuse” and “drift” affect the tone of the second line?

A - They give the line a distanced tone.

B - They create a mood of mystery in the line.

C - They make it difficult to comprehend the line’s meaning.

D - They give the actions described a feeling of importance.

Answer 1

The correct answer is the following: option D. The words "effuse" and "drift" affect the tone of the second line as they give the actions described a feeling of importance. In literature, the tone can be defined as the attitude or approach that the author takes toward the main theme of the piece. There are several and various types of tones that a literature work can have, like a dramatic one, a humorous one, arrogant, angry, and the list goes on. Basically any sort of emotion that a human can feel and express is an emotion that can set the tone of the piece.

When Walt Whitman wrote the second line in the poem "Song of Myself" and chose the words "effuse" and "drift" his intention was probably the one of giving an air of importance to the line, as he chose two words that acted as a more complex synonym for more simple terms.

Answer 2

Answer: D) They give the actions described a feeling of importance.

Step-by-step explanation: The tone of a poem, a story, or a text in general, is the author's attitude toward the audience, the subject or even the characters of the text. There are many different types of tones: negative, positive, happy, sad, angry, etc. In the given quotation from "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman, we can see that the words "effuse" and "drift" affect the tone of the line by giving the described actions a feeling of importance.