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AP English Literature and Composition 1.4 Passage Drill 4 221 Views


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AP English Literature and Composition 1.4 Passage Drill 4. Lines 21-24 imply that what?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

Here's your shmoop du jour, brought to you by Spirit Ditties. Just wait and see -- you'll

00:08

have so much more time to dance, play and sing after you're dead.

00:16

Lines 21--24 imply that... what? And here are the potential answers...

00:27

Once again, we're being asked to zero in on a few particular lines and try to decipher the meaning.

00:32

We'll have to really get inside the writer's head. Hopefully, he left the back door open.

00:35

Okay, here are the lines in question:

00:37

Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;

00:44

And, happy melodist, unwearied, For ever piping songs for ever new...

00:50

All right... so we start out talking about tree boughs that never shed leaves... somewhere

00:56

where it's always Spring...

00:58

Hm... south Florida?

00:59

Oh wait... actually, because we're studying scenery on the side of an urn, that would

01:04

make sense... the trees painted onto it would never lose their leaves, and the season would

01:08

never change... Does that work with the last two lines?

01:12

"Happy melodist, unwearied"... okay, so this melodist guy never gets tired, and is

01:18

forever playing songs on his pipe...

01:20

Either he is really hard up for the cash and can't afford to take breaks...

01:23

...or... yeah... he's also frozen in time on the urn.

01:27

So it seems these lines are all about how nice and happy and beautiful it is that these

01:31

pleasant scenes are forever preserved on the urn...

01:34

...and we never have to see the tree lose its leaves, or the melodist... take five.

01:40

Looking over our answer choices, C looks like a pretty clear winner here:

01:43

"The speaker envies the stillness of time in the urn."

01:48

Boom. We're done.

01:49

Play us out, melodist...

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