Question

she walks in beauty
george gordon byron
she walks in beauty, like the night
of cloudless climes and starry skies;
and all thats best of dark and bright
meet in her aspect and her eyes:
thus mellowd to that tender light5
which heaven to gaudy day denies.
one shade the more, one ray the less,
had half impaird the nameless grace
which waves in every raven tress,
or softly lightens oer her face;10
where thoughts serenely sweet express
how pure, how dear their dwelling - place.
and on that cheek, and oer that brow,
so soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
the smiles that win, the tints that glow,15
but tell of days in goodness spent,
a mind at peace with all below,
a heart whose love is innocent!
what may accurately be said about the structure of this poem?
a the meter is irregular.
b the rhyme scheme is ababab.
c the rhyme scheme is irregular.
d each line is ten syllables long.

Explanation:

Let's analyze each option:

• Option A: The meter of the poem is iambic tetrameter (four iambs per line, where an iamb is an unstressed - stressed syllable pair). So, the meter is regular.
• Option B: Let's check the rhyme scheme.
• In the first stanza: night (a), skies (b), bright (a), eyes (b), light (a), denies (b). The rhyme scheme is ABABAB.
• In the second stanza: more (a), grace (b), tress (c), face (b), express (c), place (b).
• In the third stanza: brow (a), eloquent (b), glow (a), spent (c), below (a), innocent (b).
• Overall, the rhyme scheme is consistent as ABABAB for each stanza.
• Option C: As shown above, the rhyme scheme is not irregular.
• Option D: Each line is in iambic tetrameter, which has 8 syllables (4 iambs, 2 syllables per iamb: \(4\times2 = 8\)).

Answer:

B. The rhyme scheme is ABABAB.