Question

he had his dream
he had his dream, and all through life,
worked up to it through toil and strife.
alway 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.

Explanation:

The poem's metaphor of the "bark" (ship) being "too weak to bear the blast" implies that the failure of the dream (journey) is due to the bark's (the entity pursuing the dream) inherent weakness, which relates to a character defect. Option 1 says failure is caused by a character defect, which matches the metaphor. Option 2 (lack of effort) is incorrect as the poem says "he labored hard". Option 3 (insufficient resources) isn't implied by the bark's weakness being its own flaw. Option 4 (external forces) is incorrect as the failure is due to the bark's weakness, not external forces alone.

Answer:

1. Failure is caused by a character defect.