The following text is from Charlotte Forten Grimké’s 1888 poem “At Newport.”
Oh, deep delight to watch the gladsome waves
Exultant leap upon the rugged rocks;
Ever repulsed, yet ever rushing on—
Filled with a life that will not know defeat;
To see the glorious hues of sky and sea.
The distant snowy sails, glide spirit like,
Into an unknown world, to feel the sweet
Enchantment of the sea thrill all the soul,
Clearing the clouded brain, making the heart
Leap joyous as it own bright, singing waves!
It portrays the surroundings as an imposing and intimidating scene.
It characterizes the sea’s waves as a relentless and enduring force.
It conveys the speaker’s ambivalence about the natural world.
It draws a contrast between the sea’s waves and the speaker’s thoughts.
Choice B is the best answer because it most accurately describes how the underlined portion functions in the text as a
whole. The text presents the speaker’s experience of viewing the sea. In the underlined portion, the speaker focuses on the
idea that the waves hitting rocks on the shore are a relentless and enduring force: they are constantly pushed back (“ever
repulsed”) but always return (“ever rushing on”), as though they have an energy that can’t be overcome (“a life that will not
know defeat”).
Choice A is incorrect. Although the underlined portion characterizes the waves as a relentless force (always “repulsed” but
still “rushing on” and never being defeated), the speaker doesn’t suggest that the surroundings are intimidating. Instead, the
speaker presents the scene in a positive way, describing the “deep delight” of the “gladsome,” or cheerful, waves and feeling
“the heart / Leap joyous” while viewing the sea. Choice C is incorrect because the underlined portion doesn’t suggest that
the speaker is ambivalent, or has mixed feelings about, the natural world. Instead, it presents a single view of one part of the
immediate surroundings: the speaker characterizes the sea’s waves as an unstoppable force, since they are constantly
pushed back but always return (“ever repulsed, yet ever rushing on”). Choice D is incorrect. Although the text later suggests
the speaker’s view of her own thoughts by referring to a “clouded brain” and a heart that leaps joyously, this reference neither