AP English Literature and Composition 1.8 Passage Drill 4
AP English Literature and Composition 1.8 Passage Drill 4. What shift is indicated in line 15?
| AP English Literature and Composition | Audience and Purpose Passage Drill Passage Drill 4 |
| Diction and Syntax | Interpreting significance or effect of word choices |
| English | Audience and Purpose |
| Language | English Language |
| Literary Comprehension | Identifying details about plot, setting, or characterization |
| Reading | Audience and Purpose |
Transcript
The poem goes from doing one thing... to doing another.
UNLIKE in music, it's rarely because the writer is having trouble... hitting the high notes...
So let's take a look at line 15 and see what we can see.
Although... we want to see what SHIFT takes place, so we should also look at the few lines
that precede it:
Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play
on; Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone: Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Line 15 is the last one... the one that starts with "fair youth."
So... what changes? Is he suddenly addressing the urn?
Nah... he's been talking to the urn the entire time. Apparently, his silverware already had
plans. Is he now addressing his own former youth?
Nope. He's not talking to himself... although, that would probably be an improvement, from
a social standpoint...
...instead, he's talking to this "fair youth beneath the trees"... whom he has spotted
on the side of the urn. Let's keep going...
Well, because we just established that he isn't addressing himself, we can rule out
option C, too...
...and D can't be it, because he's no longer talking to the urn in general -- he's talking
to a SPECIFIC image on the urn...
...which is option E.
Remind us not to attend any of this guy's dinner parties...