Question

choose the poem that uses iambic meter.
thunder blossoms gorgeously above our heads,
great, hollow, bell - like flowers,
rumbling in the wind,
stretching clappers to strike our ears.

the sun that brief december day
rose cheerless over hills of gray,
and, darkly circled, gave at noon
a sadder light than waning moon.

from jean toomer, \storm ending\ and from john greenleaf whittier, \a

Explanation:

To determine which poem uses iambic meter, we analyze the stress pattern. Iambic meter has a weak (unstressed) syllable followed by a strong (stressed) syllable (˘ ´).

For the second poem ("The sun that brief December day..."):

• "The" (˘), "sun" (´); "that" (˘), "brief" (´); "De" (˘), "cem" (´), "ber" (˘), "day" (´) – this follows the iambic pattern.

The first poem has a more irregular stress pattern, lacking consistent iambic feet. So the second poem (from John Greenleaf Whittier) uses iambic meter.

Answer:

The poem starting with "The sun that brief December day" (the second poem, from John Greenleaf Whittier)