Passage Excerpt from “Niagara Falls”
Excerpt from “Niagara Falls”
by Rupert Brooke
The real secret of the beauty and terror of the Falls is not their height or width, but the feeling of colossal power and of unintelligible disaster caused by the plunge of that vast body of water. If that were taken away, there would be little visible change, but the heart would be gone.
The American Falls do not inspire this feeling in the same way as the Canadian. It is because they are less in volume, and because the water does not fall so much into one place. By comparison their beauty is almost delicate and fragile. They are extraordinarily level, one long curtain of lacework and woven foam. Seen from opposite, when the sun is on them, they are blindingly white, and the clouds of spray show dark against them. With both Falls the colour of the water is the ever-altering wonder. Greens and blues, purples and whites, melt into one another, fade, and come again, and change with the changing sun. Sometimes they are as richly diaphanous as a precious stone, and glow from within with a deep, inexplicable light. Sometimes the white intricacies of dropping foam become opaque and creamy. And always there are the rainbows. If you come suddenly upon the Falls from above, a great double rainbow, very vivid, spanning the extent of spray from top to bottom, is the first thing you see. If you wander along the cliff opposite, a bow springs into being in the American Falls, accompanies you courteously on your walk, dwindles and dies as the mist ends, and awakens again as you reach the Canadian tumult. And the bold traveller who attempts the trip under the American Falls sees, when he dare open his eyes to anything, tiny baby rainbows, some four or five yards in span, leaping from rock to rock among the foam, and gambolling beside him, barely out of hand’s reach, as he goes. One I saw in that place was a complete circle, such as I have never seen before, and so near that I could put my foot on it. It is a terrifying journey, beneath and behind the Falls. The senses are battered and bewildered by the thunder of the water and the assault of wind and spray; or rather, the sound is not of falling water, but merely of falling; a noise of unspecified ruin. So, if you are close behind the endless clamour, the sight cannot recognise liquid in the masses that hurl past. You are dimly and pitifully aware that sheets of light and darkness are falling in great curves in front of you. Dull omnipresent foam washes the face. Farther away, in the roar and hissing, clouds of spray seem literally to slide down some invisible plane of air.
Beyond the foot of the Falls the river is like a slipping floor of marble, green with veins of dirty white, made by the scum that was foam. It slides very quietly and slowly down for a mile or two, sullenly exhausted. Then it turns to a dull sage green, and hurries more swiftly, smooth and ominous. As the walls of the ravine close in, trouble stirs, and the waters boil and eddy. These are the lower rapids, a sight more terrifying than the Falls, because less intelligible. Close in its bands of rock the river surges tumultuously forward, writhing and leaping as if inspired by a demon. It is pressed by the straits into a visibly convex form. Great planes of water slide past. Sometimes it is thrown up into a pinnacle of foam higher than a house, or leaps with incredible speed from the crest of one vast wave to another, along the shining curve between, like the spring of a wild beast. Its motion continually suggests muscular action. The power manifest in these rapids moves one with a different sense of awe and terror from that of the Falls. Here the inhuman life and strength are spontaneous, active, almost resolute. . . . A place of fear.
One is drawn back, strangely, to a contemplation of the Falls, at every hour, and especially by night, when the cloud of spray becomes an immense visible ghost, straining and wavering high above the river, white and pathetic and translucent. The Victorian lies very close below the surface in every man. There one can sit and let great cloudy thoughts of destiny and the passage of empires drift through the mind; for such dreams are at home by Niagara. I could not get out of my mind the thought of a friend, who said that the rainbows over the Falls were like the arts and beauty and goodness, with regard to the stream of life—caused by it, thrown upon its spray, but unable to stay or direct or affect it, and ceasing when it ceased. In all comparisons that rise in the heart, the river, with its multitudinous waves and its single current, likens itself to a life, whether of an individual or of a community. A man’s life is of many flashing moments, and yet one stream; a nation’s flows through all its citizens, and yet is more than they. In such places, one is aware, with an almost insupportable and yet comforting certitude, that both men and nations are hurried onwards to their ruin or ending as inevitably as this dark flood. Some go down to it unreluctant, and meet it, like the river, not without nobility. And as incessant, as inevitable, and as unavailing as the spray that hangs over the Falls, is the white cloud of human crying. . . . With some such thoughts does the platitudinous heart win from the confusion and thunder of a Niagara peace that the quietest plains or most stable hills can never give.
From LETTERS FROM AMERICA by Rupert Brooke—Public Domain
diaphanous: sheer, translucent
platitudinous: clichéd, common
Question
In paragraph 4, the idea that human life and history ultimately end in the same way is illustrated mainly through
- Athe discussion of how the rainbows visible in the Falls are like the art and beauty created by humankind.
- Bthe comparison between the movement of water in the Falls and the human experience.
- Cthe inclusion of details that show that every observer’s experience with the Falls is different.
- Dthe acknowledgment that contemplating the Falls at night sparks an awareness of humankind’s destiny.
Show the answer
Correct answer: B
The question asks how paragraph 4 of the excerpt mainly illustrates the idea that human life and history ultimately end in the same way.
A. Incorrect. In paragraph 4, the author compares the rainbows visible in the Falls to “the arts and beauty,” which share the rainbows’ dependence on “the stream of life”—that is, they are “caused by it, thrown upon its spray, but unable to stay or direct or affect it, and ceasing when it ceased.” This comparison does not illustrate the idea that human life and history ultimately end in the same way but rather that art and beauty, like human beings, are unable to “stay or direct or affect” their ultimate fate.
B. CORRECT. The author concludes in paragraph 4 that the movement of the Falls can be compared to people and history when he writes, “both men and nations are hurried onwards to their ruin or ending as inevitably as this dark flood.” This comparison illustrates the idea that human life and history ultimately end in the same way.
C. Incorrect. Although in paragraph 4 the author states that “One is drawn back, strangely, to a contemplation of the Falls” and provides an account of “a friend, who said that the rainbows over the Falls were like the arts and beauty and goodness, with regard to the stream of life,” the author does not provide details to show that every observer’s experience with the Falls is different. Rather, the author explains that “the Victorian lies very close below the surface in every man” (paragraph 4).
D. Incorrect. While the setting at night does provide a place of contemplation, the author notes the “dark flood” as the overall illustration of the human experience.
Question analysis
In this question on the closing paragraph of Rupert Brooke’s “Niagara Falls,” students identify the main way the author illustrates the idea that human life and history ultimately end in the same way. It is a lightly reworded version of a 2018 Test B question. The paragraph is long and reflective, mixing several images with abstract thoughts, so students must decide which of them actually illustrates this particular idea.
- Grade level
- Grade 8 reading and task
- Compared with grade 7
- Above grade 7 Most grade 7 work asks how an idea is shown in plain modern prose. This paragraph is a century-old reflection in long sentences with words like “certitude” and “unavailing,” and several of its images could each seem to carry the idea.
- Estimated difficulty
- Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
- Thinking it demands
- Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
- What makes it hard
- Complex sentences major
- The right answer is reworded moderate
- Hard words minor
- Evidence
- Answered from one paragraph or stanza
- Reading level
- Passage: about grade 9, 987 words; question and choices: about grade 11, 81 words.
- Students, last 30 days
- Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)
Why it is hard
Paragraph 4 offers three pictures, the spray as a night ghost, the friend’s rainbows and the river as a life, and only one of them shows people and nations meeting an end. The 2026 stem’s “ultimately end” makes the rainbows’ “ceasing when it ceased” more tempting, and the night-time “thoughts of destiny” sound like the idea itself. Students who ask what the paragraph uses to show the idea, rather than where it mentions endings or destiny, land on the dark flood.
Complex sentences major Understanding the question
The idea sits inside a hedged sentence, “one is aware, with an almost insupportable and yet comforting certitude, that both men and nations are hurried onwards to their ruin or ending,” and the comparison comes last: “as inevitably as this dark flood.” (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
The right answer is reworded moderate Choosing the answer
The key sums up the paragraph’s river-and-life likeness in its own words, “movement of water” and “human experience,” while the other choices borrow the paragraph’s vocabulary: “rainbows,” “art and beauty,” “night” and “destiny.” (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Hard words minor Understanding the question
“Multitudinous,” “certitude,” “insupportable” and “unavailing” all sit in the lines that carry the idea, and the footnoted “platitudinous” closes the paragraph, so the comparison has to be read through them. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)
Strategy: Find the sentence in paragraph 4 that actually states the idea about life and history ending, then ask how that very sentence makes its point and match a choice to it.
Traps
- Supports only part of the claim: In a question about evidence: a line that backs one half of the claim but not the other, or a related point rather than the claim itself.
- Outside knowledge: A choice is plausible in the real world but not supported by this text.
The wrong answers, classified
A Supports only part of the claim (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Settles on the friend’s rainbows because they end “ceasing when it ceased,” which echoes the stem’s ending, but the likeness is about art and beauty, not the lives of men and nations.
C Outside knowledge (King et al., 2004; Recht & Leslie, 1988)
Relies on the common idea that every visitor sees the Falls in a personal way, but the paragraph speaks of “one” and “every man” in general and records no differences.
D Supports only part of the claim (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Joins the night view to “thoughts of destiny,” both real in paragraph 4, but they tell when and where the reflecting happens, not which picture shows lives and nations sharing an end.
Working it out, step by step
Figure out what the question asks
This asks how an idea is shown in paragraph 4. The idea is that people’s lives and whole nations end in the same way: they all come to an end. You need the picture the author mainly uses to show that idea. Paragraph 4 has several pictures, so find the one tied to this idea.
Find the sentence with the idea
Paragraph 4 says “both men and nations are hurried onwards to their ruin or ending as inevitably as this dark flood.” Men means people. Nations means countries and their history. Inevitably means in a way that can’t be stopped. The “dark flood” is the river’s dark water rushing over the Falls.
See how the comparison works
Just before, the author says “the river, with its multitudinous waves and its single current, likens itself to a life.” Multitudinous means very many. A current is water flowing one way. Likens itself to means seems like. A life has many moments but moves one way, like the river. And just as the water must rush on, people and nations rush toward their end. So the idea is shown by comparing moving water with human life.
Check each choice
- A does not fit. A friend compares the rainbows to “the arts and beauty and goodness.” That picture is about art, not about lives and nations ending.
- B fits. The river’s movement stands for human lives and history.
- C does not fit. The paragraph never says that each visitor sees the Falls differently.
- D does not fit. The night view and the “thoughts of destiny” tell when and where the author thinks. They do not show how lives end.
Watch out: D is tempting because destiny, or what happens in the end, sounds like the idea itself. But the question asks what illustrates the idea, and that is the river.
Choose the answer
The author pictures people and nations rushing to their end like the river’s water. So the answer is B, “the comparison between the movement of water in the Falls and the human experience.”
Why this answer and not the closest wrong one
D is the closest wrong choice. Paragraph 4 really does say the Falls at night stir “great cloudy thoughts of destiny.” But that only tells you the author was thinking about such things. The picture that shows lives and nations ending is the river. They are “hurried onwards to their ruin or ending as inevitably as this dark flood.”
More questions like this
The original DOE question
The passage “Excerpt from “Niagara Falls”” as printed (pages 134–135)
