This question is incomplete because part of the poem is missing; here is the complete poem:
"Forgetfulness" by Billy Collins
The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read,
never even heard of,
as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.
Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye
and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,
and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,
something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,
the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.
Whatever it is you are struggling to remember
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue,
not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.
It has floated away down a dark mythological river
whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall,
well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those
who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.
No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.
No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.
The correct answer to the question is B. There is no clear pattern to the length of the stanzas
Explanation:
In poetry, the structure includes the number and structure of verses, the organization of these in stanzas, and other aspects such as the rhyme. The poem "Forgetfulness" by Billy Collins includes seven stanzas (groups of verses) and 24 verses.
Additionally, there is no pattern in the length of stanzas (Option B), for example, the first stanza includes 5 verses, while the second includes 2 and the third includes 3. Moreover, this lack of pattern also applies to the structure of verses, for example, the verse "The name of the author is the first to go " has 11 syllables, while the verse "to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war" has 16 syllables.
