Question

question 15 of 20
read the following excerpt from the poem \spring\ by edna st. vincent millay:

life in itself
is nothing,
an empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs.
it is not enough that yearly, down this hill,
april
comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.

which best describes the effect of personification on the overall meaning in this excerpt?

a. it compares the emptiness of life with the arrival of springtime to underscore the contrast between the two.
b. it makes april seem to the speaker like a mindless person to emphasize the contradictions of the month.
c. it compares the month of april to a babbling brook bordered with flowers to emphasize the fertility of spring.
d. it makes an allusion to april being the cruelest month of the year

Explanation:

1. Analyze Option A: The excerpt's personification of April (as an idiot babbling/strewing flowers) isn't about comparing life's emptiness to spring's arrival for contrast. The focus is on April's portrayal, not the contrast between life and spring. Eliminate A.
2. Analyze Option B: The personification "April comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers" gives April human - like (mindless) traits. The poem presents life as empty, yet April arrives with seemingly thoughtless actions (babbling, strewing flowers), creating a contradiction. This matches the option's description.
3. Analyze Option C: The personification doesn't compare April to a brook. It presents April as a person - like figure, not a brook. Also, the poem's tone about life being empty doesn't emphasize spring's fertility. Eliminate C.
4. Analyze Option D: There's no allusion to April being the cruelest month (that's from another work, T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land"). The excerpt's personification is about April as an idiot, not an allusion to cruelty. Eliminate D.

Answer:

B. It makes April seem to the speaker like a mindless person to emphasize the contradictions of the month.