Question

read the passage from \on seeing the elgin marbles.\

my spirit is too weak-mortality
weighs heavily on me like unwilling sleep,
and each imagined pinnacle and steep
of godlike hardship, tells me i must die
like a sick eagle looking at the sky.

now, read the passage from \ode on intimations of immortality,\ another poem from the romantic period.

the rainbow comes and goes,
and lovely is the rose;
the moon doth with delight
look round her when the heavens are bare;
waters on a starry night
are beautiful and fair;
the sunshine is a glorious birth;
but yet i know, whereer i go,

what theme do both passages share?

life is bleak.
life is precious.
death is inevitable.
death is an illusion.

Explanation:

Analyze the first passage

Using the Poetry Interpretation knowledge point

• The speaker in John Keats's "On Seeing the Elgin Marbles" reflects on their own "mortality" which "weighs heavily" on them.
• The lines "tells me I must die" and "Like a sick eagle looking at the sky" directly emphasize the inescapable nature of human death.

Analyze the second passage

Using the Poetry Interpretation knowledge point

• The passage from William Wordsworth's "Ode: Intimations of Immortality" (mislabeled in the prompt as "Morality") describes beautiful, transient natural phenomena: "The rainbow comes and goes," "lovely is the rose," and "The sunshine is a glorious birth; But yet I know, where'er I go, [That there hath past away a glory from the earth]."
• The focus on things that "come and go" and the passing of glory highlights the fleeting nature of life and the inevitability of change and death.

Determine the shared theme

Using the Thematic Analysis knowledge point

• Both poems confront the limitations of human existence and the passage of time.
• Keats explicitly states "I must die," while Wordsworth reflects on the transience of nature's beauty ("comes and goes").
• Therefore, the shared theme is that death and transience are inescapable. This matches "Death is inevitable."

Answer:

• Life is bleak.
• Life is precious.
• Death is inevitable. (Correct answer)
• Death is an illusion.