Read the excerpt below from “The Lake of the Dismal Swamp” by Thomas Moore and complete the instruction that follows. “They made her a grave, too cold and dampFor a soul so warm and true;And she’s gone to the Lake of the Dismal Swamp,Where, all night long, by a fire-fly lamp,She paddles her white canoe. “And her fire-fly lamp I soon shall see,And her paddle I soon shall hear;Long and loving our life shall be,And I’ll hide the maid in a cypress tree,When the footstep of death is near.” Identify the rhyme scheme and metrical pattern of this poem.
Answer
A
The rhyme pattern is ABBAB and the meter is trochaic.
B
The rhyme pattern is ABAAB, and the meter is iambic.
C
The rhyme pattern is ABAAB and there is no meter.
D
The poem is written in free verse without rhyme or meter.
Explanation
The end words in each stanza rhyme in the pattern ABAAB: “damp” rhymes with “Swamp” and “lamp,” while “true” rhymes with “canoe.” The rhythm is iambic, with a generally unstressed-then-stressed beat, as in “for a SOUL so WARM and TRUE.” So the correct choice is “The rhyme pattern is ABAAB, and the meter is iambic.”
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