Question

Which statement best describes how the setting in stanza 4 impacts the meaning of the poem?

"We paused before a house that seemed /A swelling of the ground; /The roof was scarcely visible, /The cornice but a mound."

Question 3 options:

The speaker does not want to pause at the "house," suggesting the setting frightens her and she is eager to move on.


The speaker's final "house" or tomb has collapsed into the earth, contributing to the poem's theme that human lives are unimportant to nature.


The speaker describes her grave as a "house," suggesting she needs shelter from death, contributing to her desperate and scared tone.


The speaker describes her tomb as a "house," showing she views her body's final resting place as one of comfort rather than fear.

Answer 1

The statement that best describes how the setting in stanza 4 impacts the meaning of the poem is: "The speaker's final 'house' or tomb has collapsed into the earth, contributing to the poem's theme that human lives are unimportant to nature."

In stanza 4, the speaker describes a house that seems like a swelling of the ground, with a barely visible roof and a cornice that is just a mound. This image suggests that the speaker's final resting place, or tomb, has collapsed and merged with the earth. This description contributes to the overall theme of the poem, which is that human lives are insignificant and unimportant to nature.

The collapsing house symbolizes the transience and fragility of human existence, highlighting the idea that nature has the power to reclaim and erase our presence. The image of the house being reduced to a mound emphasizes the idea that our physical bodies will eventually return to the earth.

By describing the speaker's tomb in this way, the poet conveys a sense of insignificance and impermanence. This adds depth to the poem's exploration of mortality and the human experience. The setting in stanza 4 underscores the theme that human lives hold little importance in the grand scheme of nature, contributing to the overall meaning of the poem.

Answer 2

The stanza describes a grave metaphorically as a house, implying the speaker sees her tomb as a place of comfort, aligning with the theme of nature's indifference and reclamation.

Step-by-step explanation:

The passage "We paused before a house that seemed / A swelling of the ground; / The roof was scarcely visible, / The cornice but a mound," describes a grave as the speaker's final resting place. However, rather than suggesting fear or the need for shelter from death, the imagery utilized here implies a sense of the grave being a house, a place of final comfort—an extension of the home metaphor for the tomb. The best description of the setting's impact on the meaning of the poem is that the speaker describes her tomb as a "house," showing she views her body's final resting place as one of comfort rather than fear. This contributes to the poem's theme of nature's indifference towards human lives and structures, highlighting the natural reclamation process as the grave merges seamlessly with the earth.