The epitaph of Mrs. Purkapile is part of Edgar Lee Masters'<em> "Spoon River Anthology". </em>It was published in 1915. This is a sequence of 245 free-verse epitaphs that are presented in the form of monologues. They are written from the point of view of deceased citizens of a small town.
The correct answer is option C: "<em>And out of respect for my own character / I refused to be drawn into a divorce."</em> These lines directly state the reason that Mrs. Purkapile had for staying married.
He is referring to the bird as clumsy because "ungainly" is define as "awkward" or "clumsy" and "fowl" is another word for "bird"