[LC] Fall of the House of Usher, excerptBy Edgar Allan Poe U…
Questions
[LC] Fаll оf the Hоuse оf Usher, excerptBy Edgаr Allаn Poe Upon my entrance, Usher rose from a sofa on which he had been lying at full length, and greeted me with a vivacious warmth which had much in it, I at first thought, of an overdone cordiality—of the constrained effort of the ennuyé1 man of the world. A glance, however, at his countenance convinced me of his perfect sincerity. We sat down; and for some moments, while he spoke not, I gazed upon him with a feeling half of pity, half of awe. Surely, man had never before so terribly altered, in so brief a period, as had Roderick Usher! It was with difficulty that I could bring myself to admit the identity of the wan being before me with the companion of my early boyhood. Yet the character of his face had been at all times remarkable. A cadaverousness of complexion; an eye large, liquid, and luminous beyond comparison; lips somewhat thin and very pallid, but of a surpassingly beautiful curve; a nose of a delicate Hebrew model, but with a breadth of nostril unusual in similar formations; a finely moulded chin, speaking, in its want of prominence, of a want of moral energy; hair of a more than web-like softness and tenuity;—these features, with an inordinate expansion above the regions of the temple, made up altogether a countenance not easily to be forgotten. And now in the mere exaggeration of the prevailing character of these features, and of the expression they were wont to convey, lay so much of change that I doubted to whom I spoke. The now ghastly pallor of the skin, and the now miraculous lustre of the eye, above all things startled and even awed me. The silken hair, too, had been suffered to grow all unheeded, and as, in its wild gossamer texture, it floated rather than fell about the face, I could not, even with effort, connect its Arabesque expression with any idea of simple humanity.1Bored Which sentence summarizes the meaning of the line in bold? (5 points)
(LC) "The Old Swimmin' Hоle"By Jаmes Whitcоmb Riley OH! the оld swimmin'–hole! whаre the crick so still аnd deepLooked like a baby-river that was laying half asleep,And the gurgle of the worter round the drift jest belowSounded like the laugh of something we onc't ust to knowBefore we could remember anything but the eyesOf the angels lookin' out as we left Paradise;But the merry days of youth is beyond our controle,And it's hard to part ferever with the old swimmin'–hole. Oh! the old swimmin'–hole! In the happy days of yore,When I ust to lean above it on the old sickamore,Oh! it showed me a face in its warm sunny tideThat gazed back at me so gay and glorified,It made me love myself, as I leaped to caressMy shadder smilin' up at me with sich tenderness.But them days is past and gone, and old Time's tuck his tollFrom the old man come back to the old swimmin'–hole. Oh! the old swimmin'–hole! In the long, lazy-daysWhen the humdrum of school made so many run-a-ways,How plesant was the jurney down the old dusty lane,Whare the tracks of our bare feet was all printed so planeYou could tell by the dent of the heel and the soleThey was lots o'fun on hands at the old swimmin'–hole.But the lost joys is past! Let your tears in sorrow rollLike the rain that ust to dapple up the old swimmin'–hole. There the bullrushes growed, and the cattails so tall,And the sunshine and shadder fell over it all;And it mottled the worter with amber and goldTel the glad lilies rocked in the ripples that rolled;And the snake-feeder's four gauzy wings fluttered byLike the ghost of a daisy dropped out of the sky,Or a wounded apple-blossom in the breeze's controleAs it cut acrost some orchurd to'rds the old swimmin'–hole. Oh! the old swimmin’—hole! When I last saw the place,The scene was all changed, like the change in my face;The bridge of the railroad now crosses the spotWhare the old divin'–log lays sunk and fergot.And I stray down the banks whare the trees ust to be –But never again will theyr shade shelter me!And I wish in my sorrow I could strip to the soul,And dive off in my grave like the old swimmin'–hole. The speaker feels sad about the passage of time. Which lines from the poem best illustrate that idea? (4 points)
(MC) A very hаndsоme yоung lаdy in the stоre offered me а pair of blue gloves. I did not want blue, but she said they would look very pretty on a hand like mine. The remark touched me tenderly. I glanced furtively at my hand, and somehow it did seem rather a comely member. I tried a glove on my left, and blushed a little. Manifestly the size was too small for me. But I felt gratified when she said: "Oh, it is just right!" yet I knew it was no such thing. I tugged at it diligently, but it was discouraging work. She said: "Ah! I see you are accustomed to wearing kid gloves while some gentlemen are so awkward about putting them on." It was the last compliment I had expected. I only understand about putting on the buckskin article perfectly. I made another effort, and tore the glove from the base of the thumb into the palm of the hand, and tried to hide the tear. She kept up her compliments, and I kept up my determination to deserve them or die. "Ah, you have had experience!" (Yes, a rip down the back of the hand) "They are just right for you—your hand is very small—if they tear, you need not pay for them." (There was a rent across the middle.) "I can always tell when a gentleman understands putting on kid gloves. There is a grace about it that only comes with long patience." (Meanwhile, my efforts caused the whole afterguard of the glove to "fetch away," as the sailors say, and then the fabric parted across the knuckles, and nothing was left but a melancholy ruin.) I was too much flattered to make an exposure and throw the merchandise on the angel's hands. I was hot, vexed, confused, yet still happy, but I hated the other boys for taking such an absorbing interest in the proceedings. I wished they were in Jericho. I felt exquisitely mean when I said cheerfully: "This one does very well; it fits elegantly. I like a glove that fits. No, never mind, ma'am, never mind; I'll put the other on in the street. It is warm here." It was warm. It was the warmest place I ever was in. I paid the bill, and, as I passed out with a fascinating bow, I thought I detected a light in the woman's eye that was gently ironical, and when I looked back from the street, and she was laughing to herself about something or other, I said to myself, with withering sarcasm: "Oh, certainly; you know how to put on kid gloves, don't you?—a self-complacent heel, ready to be flattered out of your senses by every petticoat that chooses to take the trouble to do it!" And I tried to remember why I had entered the store in the first place, and if I shouldn't return on the morrow to complete my initial mission. Read these lines from the excerpt again: Read these lines from the excerpt again:It was warm. It was the warmest place I ever was in. I paid the bill, and, as I passed out with a fascinating bow, I thought I detected a light in the woman's eye that was gently ironical, and when I looked back from the street, and she was laughing to herself about something or other, I said to myself, with withering sarcasm: "Oh, certainly; you know how to put on kid gloves, don't you?—a self-complacent heel, ready to be flattered out of your senses by every petticoat that chooses to take the trouble to do it!" This excerpt from the story shows that the narrator (4 points)