Question

Percy Bysshe Shelley was an English romantic poet who wrote lyric poetry. In what ways does this excerpt from Shelley's “A Bridal Song” represent the lyric poetry of the nineteenth century?
The golden gates of Sleep unbar
Where Strength and Beauty, met together,
Kindle their image like a star
In a sea of glassy weather!
Night, with all thy stars look down,—
Darkness, weep thy holiest dew,—
Never smiled the inconstant moon
On a pair so true.

A.)The poem uses figurative language and rhyme to express the speaker's ideas.
B.)The poem uses imagery and a narrative structure to express the speaker's emotions.
C.)The poem addresses an unknown person the speaker is missing.
D.)The poem's form is completely free, without any rhyme or metrical pattern.

Answer 1

In my opinion, the correct answer is A.)The poem uses figurative language and rhyme to express the speaker's ideas. Shelley uses metaphors, similes, imagery, sound devices such as sibilance, but those features are not typical only for the 19th-century lyric poetry. However, rhyme was used almost regularly. As for the B and C options, they can be applied to poetry from any age. The D option is not at all typical for the 19th-century poetry. Some poets used it (such as Wordsworth in Britain and Whitman in U.S.), but most of them didn't.

Answer 2

A.)The poem uses figurative language and rhyme to express the speaker's ideas.