Question

read the poem:
he had his dream
he had his dream, and all through life,
worked up to it through toil and strife.
afloaf foreer before his eyes,
it colored for him all his skies!
the storm-cloud dark
above his bark,
the calm and listless vault of blue
took on its hopeful hue;
it tinctured every passing beam-
he had his dream.
he labored hard and failed at last,
his sails too weak to bear the blast,
which statement about why dreams fail is illustrated by the metaphor of the bark in the poem?

1. failure is caused by a character defect.
2. failure is caused by lack of effort.
3. failure is caused by insufficient resources.
4. failure is caused by external forces.

reset joshua miller kern, id#***21 growth reading 6+ ca 2010 1.1

Explanation:

The poem uses the metaphor of a bark (a small ship). The storm - cloud (external force) is above the bark. The sails (resources related to the journey/dream pursuit) are too weak. The failure of the dream (the ship not being able to withstand) is because of the external storm (external force) and the insufficient sails (resources). But the key metaphor related to the reason for failure in terms of the bark is the storm - cloud (external force). The line “His sails too weak to bear the blast” implies that the external blast (storm, an external force) is what the sails (resources) can't handle.

Answer:

1. Failure is caused by external forces.