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 poem has a regular meter. It is written in iambic tetrameter (four iambic feet per line, where an iamb is an unstressed - stressed syllable pair). So, this option is incorrect.
• Option B: Let's check the rhyme scheme.
• Line 1: night (rhyme sound /aɪt/)
• Line 2: skies (/skaɪz/)
• Line 3: bright (/braɪt/)
• Line 4: eyes (/aɪz/)
• Line 5: light (/laɪt/)
• Line 6: denies (/dɪˈnaɪz/)
• The rhyme scheme of the first stanza is ABABAB. The same pattern continues in the other stanzas.
• Option C: As we saw in Option B, the rhyme scheme is regular (ABABAB for each stanza). So, this option is incorrect.
• Option D: The lines are in iambic tetrameter, which has 8 syllables per line (4 iambs, each iamb has 2 syllables: 4×2 = 8). So, this option is incorrect.

Answer:

B. The rhyme scheme is ABABAB.