Question

From The Oven Bird

by Robert Frost


There is a singer everyone has heard,
Loud, a mid-summer and a mid-wood bird,
Who makes the solid tree trunks sound again.
He says that leaves are old and that for flowers
5 Mid-summer is to spring as one to ten.
He says the early petal-fall is past
When pear and cherry bloom went down in showers
On sunny days a moment overcast;
And comes that other fall we name the fall.
10 He says the highway dust is over all.
The bird would cease and be as other birds
But that he knows in singing not to sing.
The question that he frames in all but words
Is what to make of a diminished thing.
8
How do the first three lines help develop the poem?
A.
they introduce the main subject.
B.
they explain the conflict of the poem.
C.
they describe the tone of the poem.
D.
they introduce the theme.

Answer 1

A. The first three lines of the poem introduce the main subject, which is the "singer everyone has heard" and sets the tone for the rest of the poem. The lines describe the bird's singing and the effect it has on the environment, introducing the idea that this bird is unique and important. The following lines develop the bird's message about the passing of time and the nature of things, but it is the first three lines that introduce the subject of the poem.