Also in 2026 Practice Test A English, question 6; 2025 Practice Test A English, question 7.
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
Question
Read lines 23–26 from the poem.
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.
The personification in these concluding lines of the poem suggests that the mountains are
- Agracious hosts who are untroubled by the actions of people.
- Bunaware of their coming destruction.
- Clively entertainers who are amused by the everyday concerns of people.
- Dtoo proud to reveal their pain.
Show the answer
Correct answer: A
The question asks what the personification in the concluding lines of the poem suggests about the mountains.
A. CORRECT. Line 25’s use of the word “Welcoming” suggests that the mountains are kind hosts. Lines 23 and 26, with language such as “The mountains swing along” and “The mists that dance and drive before the sun,” imply the carefree nature of the mountains as they resist the destructive work of humanity.
B. Incorrect. The personification in the lines conveys a sense of optimism and endurance, with no language to suggest coming destruction.
C. Incorrect. Although the lines mention that “the mountains swing along” (line 23) and “the mists . . . dance” (line 26), the personification is used to describe the mountains’ perseverance, rather than to suggest that the mountains are amused by the concerns of others.
D. Incorrect. Although the second stanza develops the idea that the mountains have been mistreated by humans, which might be a source of pain, the concluding lines emphasize the joy and perseverance of the mountains as they “swing along” (line 23) despite significant adversity.
Question analysis
Students interpret the personification in the closing lines of “Snowy Mountains,” lines 23–26, and decide what it suggests about the mountains on the south horizon. They need to see which human actions the poet gives the mountains and what kind of character those actions create, and then choose among four quite different personalities.
- Grade level
- Grade 7 reading and task
- Compared with grade 7
- At grade 7 Grade 7 readers routinely interpret personification, and here the four lines are printed with the question. The images are concrete and the choices give the mountains clearly different roles and moods, so careful matching settles it.
- Estimated difficulty
- Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
- Thinking it demands
- Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly understand
- What makes it hard
- Figurative or literary language moderate
- Complex sentences minor
- Evidence
- Answered from one sentence or line
- Reading level
- Passage: 161 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 6, 77 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
The closing lines are calm and generous, and the task is to turn their personification into a character. Students who give the mists’ dancing to the mountains see performers, but the performer choice also has the mountains amused by people’s concerns, which nothing here supports, so a careful reader rejects it. The remaining losses come from carrying the second stanza’s damage into lines that show only ease and welcome.
Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question
The human traits must be sorted by who has them: the mountains “swing along” and are “Welcoming,” while the mists are the ones that “dance and drive before the sun.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
In “Welcoming with wide floors of blue-green ice / The mists,” the object of “Welcoming” comes after a long phrase and a line break, so who welcomes whom is easy to lose. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Strategy: Underline each verb or describing word in lines 23–26 that gives the mountains a human trait, then check every choice against all of them.
Traps
- Twists what the text says: Uses the text's topic and ideas but changes what it says: who did it, how much, when, or why.
- Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.
The wrong answers, classified
B Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Takes the mountains’ carefree swinging as ignorance and adds the earlier stanzas’ damage to it, but these four lines are serene and hint at no destruction to come.
C Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Gives the mists’ dancing to the mountains and so makes them performers, then adds amusement at people’s concerns, though here the mountains only swing along and welcome the mists.
D Wrong tone or attitude (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Imagines a brave face hiding the wounds of the second stanza, but the lines show the mountains at ease and welcoming, with no sign of pride or pain.
Working it out, step by step
Figure out what the question asks
This asks about personification. That is when a writer describes a thing as if it were a person, with human actions or moods. You need to decide what kind of character the mountains seem to be in lines 23 to 26.
Find who does each action
The four lines are one sentence. In line 23, “The mountains swing along” the edge of the sky. Line 25 shows them “Welcoming with wide floors of blue-green ice.” The guests arrive in line 26: “The mists that dance and drive before the sun.” The mountains do two things here, swing along and welcome. The dancing belongs to the mists.
Decide what the actions suggest
Welcoming guests is what a host does. A host invites others in and makes them comfortable. Gracious means warm and polite. To swing along is to move in a relaxed, easy way. The second stanza was full of harm, yet here the mountains seem calm. They are untroubled, or not worried or upset.
Check each choice
- A fits. The mountains welcome the mists like gracious hosts, and they move at ease.
- B does not fit. Nothing in these lines hints at harm to come. The mood is calm and bright.
- C does not fit. Line 26 gives the dancing to the mists. And nothing shows the mountains laughing at people’s daily worries.
- D does not fit. There is no sign of pride or hidden pain. The mountains seem relaxed and open.
Choose the answer
Like kind hosts, the mountains greet their guests and stay calm. So the answer is A.
Why this answer and not the closest wrong one
C may tempt you, because swinging and dancing both sound lively. But check who dances: line 26 gives the dancing to the mists. The mountains are the ones “Welcoming” them, so they are hosts, not entertainers. C also says the mountains are amused by people, and these lines never show that.
More questions like this
The original DOE question
The passage “Snowy Mountains” as printed (page 142)
