Question

question 2 of 10

read the first two stanzas of this poem:

to shortened days and circle wide of shade
i have now come, alas! and snow-clad hills,
when all bright hues grow pale upon the grass;
yet my desire hath not yet lost its green,
and so is rooted in the flinty rock,
which speaks and hears, as though it were a lady.

so in like manner doth this fair young lady
stand frozen, as the snow stands in the shade,
for she no more is moved than is the rock,
when the sweet season comes which warms the hills,
and makes them change from white to pleasant green,
because it clothes them all with flowers and grass.

this excerpt is an example of what type of poem?

Explanation:

Analyze the end-words of each stanza

Stanza 1 end-words:

1. shade
2. hills
3. grass
4. green
5. rock
6. lady

Stanza 2 end-words:

1. lady
2. shade
3. rock
4. hills
5. green
6. grass

Identify the poetic form based on end-word pattern

The end-words of the six-line stanzas (sestets) are identical but rearranged in a specific spiral pattern (lexical repetition):

• Stanza 1: 1-2-3-4-5-6 (shade, hills, grass, green, rock, lady)
• Stanza 2: 6-1-5-2-4-3 (lady, shade, rock, hills, green, grass)

This pattern of repeating the same six end-words across six-line stanzas is the defining characteristic of a sestina.

Answer:

Sestina