AnswersBritish Literature and Composition“Mutability” and “A Defence of Poetry” by Percy Bysshe Shelley

“Mutability” and “A Defence of Poetry” by Percy Bysshe Shelley — Quiz Answers

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1
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Read the second stanza from "Mutability.” We rest.—A dream has power to poison sleep; We rise.—One wandering thought pollutes the day; We feel, conceive or reason, laugh or weep; Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away What is the effect of the words poison and pollutes in this stanza?

A
They suggest that human beings tend to be inherently negative.
B
They illustrate the negative effects of not getting enough sleep.
C
They emphasize the idea that thoughts can have negative effects.
D
They show that negative thoughts alone are able to destroy one’s life.
2
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Read the second stanza from "Mutability.” Or like forgotten lyres, whose dissonant strings Give various response to each varying blast, To whose frail frame no second motion brings One mood or modulation like the last. What idea is conveyed through this comparison of humans to lyres?

A
Like a lyre that has a fragile structure, humans are too delicate to survive in a harsh and unforgiving universe.
B
Like a lyre that is capable of always playing new music, humans will be remembered for their intense creativity.
C
Like a lyre with strings that need to be tuned, humans will inevitably find reasons to disagree about things.
D
Like a lyre with strings that always make new sounds, humans respond uniquely to different experiences.
7

Read the passages. "A Defence of Poetry” Poetry thus makes immortal all that is best and most beautiful in the world; it arrests the vanishing apparitions which haunt the interlunations of life, and veiling them, or in language or in form, sends them forth among mankind. " Mutability ” We are as clouds that veil the midnight moon; How restlessly they speed, and gleam, and quiver, Streaking the darkness radiantly!—yet soon Night closes round, and they are lost for ever How does the first stanza of "Mutability” reflect the idea expressed in this excerpt from "A Defence of Poetry”?

A
It demonstrates poetry’s ability to portray all things as “beautiful” by taking an unpleasant image and depicting it as a lovely one.
B
It demonstrates poetry’s ability to make all things “immortal” by referring to images from nature that have existed for centuries.
C
It demonstrates poetry’s ability to “arrest the vanishing apparitions” of life by preserving an image of a fleeting moment in time.
D
It demonstrates poetry’s ability to send images “forth among mankind” by explaining in detail how this is accomplished.
8

In "A Defence of Poetry,” Shelley suggests that emotions experienced in life are constantly changing. Which lines from "Mutability” can also be seen as a reflection of this idea?

A
Streaking the darkness radiantly!—yet soon Night closes round, and they are lost for ever
B
We rest.—A dream has power to poison sleep; We rise.—One wandering thought pollutes the day
C
We feel, conceive or reason, laugh or weep; Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away
D
Man’s yesterday may ne’er be like his morrow; Nought may endure but Mutability.
9

Read the excerpt from "A Defence of Poetry,” We are aware of evanescent visitations of thought and feeling sometimes associated with place or person, sometimes regarding our own mind alone, and always arising unforeseen and departing unbidden. Which lines from "Mutability” most reflect a similar idea?

A
Or like forgotten lyres, whose dissonant strings Give various response to each varying blast
B
To whose frail frame no second motion brings One mood or modulation like the last
C
We rest.—A dream has power to poison sleep; We rise.—One wandering thought pollutes the day
D
It is the same!—For, be it joy or sorrow, The path of its departure still is free
10

In "A Defence of Poetry,” Shelley suggests that thoughts and feelings in life are "always arising unforeseen and departing unbidden.” Which lines from "Mutability” also reflect the idea that life is fleeting?

A
We are as clouds that veil the midnight moon; How restlessly they speed, and gleam, and quiver
B
Or like forgotten lyres, whose dissonant strings Give various response to each varying blast
C
We rest.—A dream has power to poison sleep; We rise.—One wandering thought pollutes the day
D
We feel, conceive or reason, laugh or weep; Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away

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