Answer:
The dancer doesn't want to dance in the traditional way
Explanation:
Flute?
maybe...
Idk...
It might be a different answer...
WHy am I here?
First of all, it's really sad that we're teaching poetry with questions like this, because this question really sucks the life and beauty out of reading poetry.
A is your best answer. Obviously knowing the literal meaning of a word is an essential first step to understanding what's happening in a poem. It's hard to analyze a poem if you don't know what the words mean to begin with. Once you know those meanings, you can then move on to thinking about metaphorical or figurative (i.e., non-literal) meanings of the same word.
B is partially right, but it's not the best answer. Certainly knowing the literal meaning of a word CAN help you determine the narrator, but not all poems have narrators, and sometimes the literal meaning won't help you figure out who the narrator is (especially if the narrator is deliberately left unclear).
C and D are wrong, and as a general rule in multiple-choice questions you should be very suspicious of answer-choices that use extreme language (like "useless") or that completely shut down a possibility entirely (which happens in choice C).
In the sonnet the speaker is talking about how the audience can see him approaching death. The first thing the speaker says that can be seen are the trademarks of Fall - the leaves changing and dropping and the weather turning cold. The second thing the speaker says that can be seen is twilight. Symbolically the twilight of someone's life is the time before they die. In him the audience can see the day fading and darkness approaching. The last thing the speaker says can be seen is a fire still glowing. He reflects on the fire of his youth which burned bright and strong but is not fading like glowing embers turn to ash.
