Question

“The Old Swimmin’ Hole” by James Whitcomb Riley

Answer 1

The correct answer is option letter D (feels sad that the swimming hole has changed). The poem “The Old Swimmin' Hole” by James Whitcomb Riley (1883) shows notes of nostalgia and loss. The speaker describes the days he spent at the swimming hole in his childhood and how thrilled and sad he is that everything has changed, including his life. For instance, in the second stanza, the speaker says, “But them days is past and gone, and old Time's tuck his toll”. Moreover, in the fifth and final stanza, the sadness and nostalgia in the speaker’s narration can be spotted when he says, “Oh! the old swimmin'-hole! When I last saw the place, The scenes was all changed, like the change in my face.”. The speaker in this final stanza reflects on the changes of the landscape of his boyhood and his mortality arguing that he wishes he could dive off in his grave “like the old swimmin'-hole”.