Question

Happy istes,

And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Source: Tennyson, Alfred. "Ulysses." The Early Poems of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. London: Edward Moxon, 1842.
Project Gutenberg. 2005. Web. 7 June 2011.
Which of the following describes the structure of this excerpt best?
free verse
sonnet
ballad
blank verse

Answer 1

The option which describes the structure of the excerpt best is:

D. blank verse

Step-by-step explanation:

Alfred, Lord Tennyson was an English poet born in 1809. The excerpt we are analyzing here belongs to his famous poem "Ulysses", which alludes to the character Ulysses, or Odysseus, from the famous epic poem "The Odyssey".

As we can see, the poem is written in blank verse. Blank verse does not worry about rhymes. It does, however, pay attention to meter. "Ulysses" is written in iambic pentameter, which means it has a foot composed of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one, and that foot is repeated five times in each line.

Take a look at the line below. The stressed syllables are highlighted:

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.