Question

Read the excerpt from Annus Mirabilis by John Dryden and complete the sentence that follows.

Answer 1

Answer: In the above lines, the king is praying to God to bring an end to the ongoing war.

In this poem, the first stanza tells us that the speaker considers himself lucky to own the kingdom of his fathers. We see then that the speaker is a king, and that he is speaking to God. Moreover, the second stanza asks God to have pity on his people, and to heal the wounds they have from the civil war. He also asks Him to stop all the wasted blood (the deaths in battle).

Answer 2

Based on the givenstatement  the best answer would be:

The “King” is praying to God to bring an end to the “ongoing war.”

It is evident in the excerpt that the king is praying for mercy for his people, in order to plead God to stop the bloodshed that is happening in the war.