“Mutability” and “A Defence of Poetry” by Percy Bysshe Shelley — Quiz
Question 7 • British Literature and Composition
Read the passages. "A Defence of Poetry” Poetry thus makes immortal all that is best and most beautiful in the world; it arrests the vanishing apparitions which haunt the interlunations of life, and veiling them, or in language or in form, sends them forth among mankind. " Mutability ” We are as clouds that veil the midnight moon; How restlessly they speed, and gleam, and quiver, Streaking the darkness radiantly!—yet soon Night closes round, and they are lost for ever How does the first stanza of "Mutability” reflect the idea expressed in this excerpt from "A Defence of Poetry”?
Answer
A
It demonstrates poetry’s ability to portray all things as “beautiful” by taking an unpleasant image and depicting it as a lovely one.
B
It demonstrates poetry’s ability to make all things “immortal” by referring to images from nature that have existed for centuries.
C
It demonstrates poetry’s ability to “arrest the vanishing apparitions” of life by preserving an image of a fleeting moment in time.
D
It demonstrates poetry’s ability to send images “forth among mankind” by explaining in detail how this is accomplished.
Explanation
In “Mutability,” the clouds briefly streak the darkness with light, but “soon / Night closes round, and they are lost for ever.” The poem captures this short-lived image in words, preserving a moment that would otherwise vanish. This reflects the claim in “A Defence of Poetry” that poetry “arrests” fleeting apparitions; it does not suggest that the clouds themselves become immortal.
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