Passage: Snowy Mountains
Snowy Mountains
by John Gould Fletcher
Higher and still more high, Palaces made for cloud, Above the dingy city-roofs Blue-white like angels with broad wings, Pillars of the sky at rest The mountains from the great plateau Uprise.
But the world heeds them not; They have been here now for too long a time. The world makes war on them, Tunnels their granite cliffs, Splits down their shining sides, Plasters their cliffs with soap-advertisements, Destroys the lonely fragments of their peace.
Vaster and still more vast, Peak after peak, pile after pile, Wilderness still untamed, To which the future is as was the past, Barrier spread by Gods, Sunning their shining foreheads, Barrier broken down by those who do not need The joy of time-resisting storm-worn stone, The mountains swing along The south horizon of the sky; Welcoming with wide floors of blue-green ice The mists that dance and drive before the sun.
“Snowy Mountains” by John Gould Fletcher—Public Domain
How does isolating the word “Uprise” in line 7 affect the meaning of the poem?
- AIt creates a contrast between the great plateau and the city buildings.
- BIt reveals the similarity between the tall buildings in the city and the tall mountains on the horizon.
- CIt creates a vision of the region before people developed the land.
- DIt emphasizes that the mountains dominate the landscape.
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Correct answer: D
The question asks how the isolation of the word affects the meaning of the poem. The isolation of the word “Uprise” powerfully emphasizes the first stanza’s description of the magnificent mountains standing tall above the land below, as expressed in Option D.
Option A is incorrect because the word describes the mountains and, therefore, does not create a contrast between the plateau and the city buildings, but rather between the mountains and the plateau.
Option B is incorrect because the word contrasts the mountains with the plateau; it does not compare the mountains to the buildings in the city.
Option C is incorrect because the first stanza describes the already developed land over which the mountains rise.