Question

1. read the following verse from a famous sonnet by john donne.

death, be not proud, though some have called thee
mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so,
for, those, whom thou thinkst, thou dost overthrow
die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
what is the rhyme scheme in this poem?
○ abbb
○ abba
○ aaab
○ abab

Explanation:

To determine the rhyme scheme, we analyze the end - words of each line:

• Line 1: "thee" (we assign "a")
• Line 2: "so" (rhymes with no other line yet, assign "b")
• Line 3: "overthrow" (rhymes with "so"? No, wait, "so" and "overthrow" don't rhyme. Wait, no, let's re - check. Wait, "thee" (line 1), "so" (line 2), "overthrow" (line 3) - no, wait, "so" and "me"? No, wait, line 2: "so", line 3: "overthrow" - no, maybe I made a mistake. Wait, line 1: "thee" (a), line 2: "so" (b), line 3: "overthrow" - no, wait, line 4: "me". Wait, no, let's look at the rhymes again. "thee" (line 1), "so" (line 2), "overthrow" - no, "so" and "me" don't rhyme. Wait, maybe the correct way: line 1: "thee" (a), line 2: "so" (b), line 3: "overthrow" - no, this is wrong. Wait, actually, "thee" (line 1), "so" (line 2) - no, "so" and "overthrow" - no, "overthrow" and "me" - no. Wait, no, let's check the options. The option "abba": line 1 (a), line 2 (b), line 3 (b), line 4 (a)? Wait, no, "thee" (a), "so" (b), "overthrow" (b), "me" (a)? Wait, "thee" and "me" rhyme (both have the long "e" sound in the end), "so" and "overthrow" - no, "overthrow" ends with "ow", "so" ends with "o". Wait, maybe I misread. Wait, "thou art not so" (line 2), "thou dost overthrow" (line 3) - "so" and "overthrow" don't rhyme. Wait, maybe the correct rhyme scheme is abba. Let's see: line 1: "thee" (a), line 2: "so" (b), line 3: "overthrow" (b), line 4: "me" (a). Yes, "thee" and "me" rhyme (a - a), "so" and "overthrow" - wait, "so" is pronounced /səʊ/ (in British English) or /soʊ/ (American), "overthrow" is /ˌəʊvəˈθrəʊ/ (British) or /ˌoʊvərˈθroʊ/ (American) - so "so" and "overthrow" rhyme (b - b). And "thee" (/θiː/) and "me" (/miː/) rhyme (a - a). So the rhyme scheme is abba.

Answer:

B. abba (assuming the second option is labeled as B, as per the options: first option abbb, second abba, third aaab, fourth abab)