Question

reading
read the selection, and choose the best answer to each question.
\frederick douglass\
by paul laurence dunbar
frederick douglass was a leading abolitionist and civil rights activist in the nineteenth century. paul laurence dunbar, an african american writer, befriended douglass in the 1890s. douglass was an admirer and early supporter of dunbar’s work. after douglass’s death in 1895, dunbar wrote this poem, first published in the 1896 collection lyrics of lowly life.
a hush is over all the teeming lists,
and there is pause, a breath - space in the strife;
a spirit brave has passed beyond the mists
and vapors that obscure the sun of life.
5 and ethiopia,² with bosom torn,
laments the passing of her noblest born.
she weeps for him a mother’s burning tears—
she loved him with a mother’s deepest love.
he was her champion thro’ direful years
which of the following best describes the poetic structure of each stanza, except the last one?
a. six lines divided among three rhyming pairs, yielding an aabbcc rhyme scheme
b. four lines of alternating rhyme followed by a rhyming pair, yielding an ababcc rhyme scheme
c. six lines divided between two three - line units, yielding an abcabc rhyme scheme
d. four lines with internal and end rhymes followed by a rhyming pair, yielding an abbacc rhyme scheme

Explanation:

To solve this, we analyze the rhyme scheme of a stanza (excluding the last) from the poem "Frederick Douglass". Let's take the first stanza (lines 1 - 6):

• Line 1: "A hush is over all the teeming lists" (let's assign "a")
• Line 2: "And there is pause, a breath - space in the strife" (rhyme with line 1? "lists" and "strife" do not rhyme. Let's assign "b")
• Line 3: "A spirit brave has passed beyond the mists" (rhyme with line 1? "lists" and "mists" rhyme. So "a")
• Line 4: "And vapors that obscure the sun of life" (rhyme with line 2? "strife" and "life" rhyme. So "b")
• Line 5: "And Ethiopia, with bosom torn" (new sound, assign "c")
• Line 6: "Laments the passing of her noblest born" (rhyme with line 5? "torn" and "born" rhyme. So "c")

So the rhyme scheme is a b a b c c. Now let's analyze the options:

• Option A: "six lines divided among three rhyming pairs, yielding an aabbcc rhyme scheme" → Incorrect. The first four lines are a b a b, not a a b b.
• Option B: "four lines of alternating rhyme (a b a b) followed by a rhyming pair (c c), yielding an ababcc rhyme scheme" → This matches our analysis (a b a b c c is equivalent to ababcc in structure: four alternating rhyme lines + a rhyming pair).
• Option C: "six lines divided between two three - line units, yielding an abcabc rhyme scheme" → Incorrect. The rhyme scheme is not abcabc.
• Option D: "four lines with internal and end rhymes followed by a rhyming pair, yielding an abbacc rhyme scheme" → Incorrect. The first four lines are a b a b, not a b b a.

Answer:

B. four lines of alternating rhyme followed by a rhyming pair, yielding an ababcc rhyme scheme