Question

my grandmothers cookies
by a gautam
she bakes and she forgets
she eats and she forgets
my grandmother still bakes
she wakes up and she bakes
5 she is at the nursing home
she cannot freely roam
they say she cannot cook
she has a sullen look
i ask the sweet nurse
10 i tell her it could be worse
i beg her to supervise
i beg with my soul, my eyes
the nurse allows grandmother
to bake cookies a cake
15 grandmothers cries and laughter
and joy are no mistake
what is true about the structure of this poem?
a each stanza uses repetition for musical effect in the poem
b the first and last stanza lack a rhyme scheme unlike other stanzas
c the line breaks in each stanza cause the reader to pause
d the rhythm and rhythm create a musical quality in the poem

Explanation:

• Option A: Not all stanzas use repetition. For example, the third stanza ("I ask the sweet nurse...") doesn't have the same kind of repetition as the first stanza ("She bakes and she forgets...").
• Option B: The first stanza ("She bakes and she forgets...") has an ABAB rhyme scheme (forgets - bakes; bakes - bakes in a sense of internal rhyme). The last stanza ("The nurse allows Grandmother...") also has a rhyme scheme (cake - mistake).
• Option C: Line breaks in poetry are used for various reasons like emphasizing a word, creating a pause for emotional effect. In this poem, the line breaks do make the reader pause, which can enhance the emotional impact and the flow of the poem. For example, in "She is at the nursing home / She cannot freely roam", the break makes the reader focus on the grandmother's restricted environment.
• Option D: While there is some rhythm (from the line breaks and the natural flow of the words), the rhyme scheme is not very consistent in a traditional sense. The first stanza has a bit of an ABAB - like internal rhyme, but it's not a strict, consistent rhyme scheme throughout the poem that would create a strong musical quality in the way a poem with a strict rhyme scheme (like a sonnet) does.

Answer:

C. The line breaks in each stanza cause the reader to pause.