Question

Read the passage from "A Shield." A lonely warrior,I am wounded with iron, Scarred with sword-points,sated with battle-play, Weary of weapons.I have witnessed much fighting, Much stubborn strife. Which feature most helps indicate to the reader that this modern translation was originally an Old English poem? alliteration character plot rhyme

Answer 1

Scarred with sword points, is a dead giveaway that is an old english poem. Nobody uses swords anymore.

Answer 2

We can analyze this question with the help of the given options. First of all, let's put the lines like in a poem structure in order to examine it better:

A lonely warrior,I am wounded with iron,                                                     Scarred with sword-points, sated with battle-play,                                                  Weary of weapons.                                                                                                                      I have witnessed much fighting,                                                                                                   Much stubborn strife.

The answer is not rhyme because we don't observe a regular rhyme scheme here. Similarly, there there aren't any repetitive consonant to claim that there is an alliteration. There are two options we can choose - character and plot. Character is more suitable because we can observe a characterization of a warrior. Additionally, there is a usage of pronoun "I" which is an attribute to character. Although it is about a warrior we cannot exactly identify what kind of plot it is. We cannot justify that it is an epic poem or ballad. The correct answer is character.