The correct answer is D) The simile is meant to evoke horror in the reader; the autumn leaves are red--but not just any red, the red blood of a murdered child.
The effect that the author wanted this simile to have on the reader is "The simile is meant to evoke horror in the reader; the autumn leaves are red--but not just any red, the red blood of a murdered child."
This is the poem:
The old moon is tarnished
With smoke of the flood,
The dead leaves are varnished
With color like blood,
A treacherous smiler 5
With teeth white as milk,
A savage beguiler
In sheathings of silk,
The sea creeps to pillage,
She leaps on her prey; 10
A child of the village
Was murdered to-day.
She came up to meet him
In a smooth golden cloak,
She choked him and beat him 15
To death, for a joke.
Her bright locks were tangled,
She shouted for joy,
With one hand she strangled
A strong little boy. 20
Now in silence she lingers
Beside him all night
To wash her long fingers
In silvery light.
We are referring to the poem "Sea Lullaby," written by Elinor Wylie (1885-1928). She was an American author that was so talented to write poems. Her life had an obscure side because she married several times and had many affairs that tarnished her public life.
