AP MCQ 9

The speaker's exclamation in line 13 ("A steady . . . correspondences") most clearly serves to introduce a series of observations that illustrate the speaker's

ability to see his emotional struggles reflected in the natural world

In the context of the poem as a whole, the paradox in line 1, "In a dark time, the eye begins to see," establishes the speaker's understanding that

clarity can come in times of distress

The cage metaphor in lines 21-25 ("Forsake . . . law") suggests that the speaker

creates his own restraints

In the final sentence of the passage, the words "He did not notice" reveal Nirmal's

distraction from his original purpose

In the first paragraph, by incorporating the small detail that Bakul is motherless, the narrator

emphasizes Bakul's fixed isolation and detachment

In the second paragraph of the passage, what is the reason for Bakul's anger?

An earlier conflict with her father

In the closing two lines of the poem (lines 23-24), the speaker undergoes which of the following changes?

He finds release in spirituality.

In context, the word "Instead" that appears in the fourth paragraph demonstrates

Nirmal's inability to become a better father

What function do the rhetorical questions in lines 3-16 serve?

They demonstrate the speaker's conflicted perspective.

In the final paragraph, when Nirmal strokes one of the Himalayan leaves in his exercise book "with infinite gentleness" and "smiled to himself," he demonstrates

a deeper interest in his hobbies than in his daughter

At the end of the poem, the speaker is revealed as a complex character who

rejects earlier impulses

In lines 1-32, the repeated use of short lines emphasizes the speaker's

urgent desire for freedom

Lines 1-21 ("I struck . . . not") suggest that the speaker

wishes to experience sensual pleasures

"But" in line 33 indicates a shift that serves both to conclude the unspoken dialogue and to

signal the speaker's acceptance of his position

The simile "My soul, like some heat-maddened summer fly, / Keeps buzzing at the sill" (lines 20-21) enhances the tense mood of the poem by

signaling the speaker's mounting frustration