“Mutability” and “A Defence of Poetry” by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Question 3 • *HSA 26-27 English IV A -IC
Read the excerpt from "A Defence of Poetry.”These and corresponding conditions of being are experienced principally by those of the most delicate sensibility and the most enlarged imagination; and the state of mind produced by them is at war with every base desire. The enthusiasm of virtue, love, patriotism, and friendship, is essentially linked with such emotions; and whilst they last, self appears as what it is, an atom to a universe. Poets are not only subject to these experiences as spirits of the most refined organization, but they can colour all that they combine with the evanescent hues of this ethereal world; a word, a trait in the representation of a scene or a passion, will touch the enchanted chord, and reanimate, in those who have ever experienced these emotions, the sleeping, the cold, the buried image of the past.
Answer
A
Poets are members of an elite organization designed to help those who have lost all sense of hope.
B
Poets are capable of effectively capturing and preserving moments of beauty and pleasure in life.
C
Poets are among the most intelligent of humans because they possess enlarged imaginations.
D
Poets are known for being enthusiastic, virtuous, and patriotic people who clearly express emotion.
Explanation
The passage says poets can “colour” what they describe with the delicate feelings of an “ethereal world.” Even a word or detail can bring back a powerful, buried memory for readers who have felt those emotions. This supports the idea that poets can capture and preserve moments of beauty and pleasure. The passage does not say poets belong to an organization or that they are necessarily more intelligent or virtuous than other people.
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