Question

choose the poem that uses iambic meter.
all my thoughts are slow and brown:
standing up or sitting down
little matters, or what gown
or what shoes i wear.
out in the lonely woods the jasmine burns
its fragrant lamps, and turns
into a royal court with green festoons
the banks of dark lagoons.
from edna st. vincent millay, \sorrow\ and from henry timrod, \spring in carolina\

Explanation:

Iambic meter consists of iambs (a metrical foot with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable). Let's analyze each line of both poems:

• For "All my thoughts are slow and brown: Standing up or sitting down Little matters, or what gown Or what shoes I wear."
• "All my" - unstressed - stressed (iamb). "thoughts are" - stressed - unstressed (not an iamb).
• For "Out in the lonely woods the jasmine burns Its fragrant lamps, and turns Into a royal court with green festoons The banks of dark lagoons."
• "Out in" - unstressed - stressed (iamb). "the lonely" - unstressed - stressed (iamb). "woods the" - unstressed - stressed (iamb). "jasmine burns" - unstressed - stressed (iamb). "Its fragrant" - unstressed - stressed (iamb). "lamps, and" - unstressed - stressed (iamb). "turns Into" - unstressed - stressed (iamb). "a royal" - unstressed - stressed (iamb). "court with" - unstressed - stressed (iamb). "green festoons" - unstressed - stressed (iamb). "The banks" - unstressed - stressed (iamb). "of dark" - unstressed - stressed (iamb). "lagoons" - (though a single word, if we consider the metrical flow in the line - in the context of the line's rhythm, it fits the iambic pattern when combined with the previous words in the line's rhythm).

Answer:

The poem "Out in the lonely woods the jasmine burns Its fragrant lamps, and turns Into a royal court with green festoons The banks of dark lagoons." uses iambic meter.