Question the-fo
The following text is from H.D.’s 1916 poem “Mid-Day.” In the poem, the speaker is on a path in an outdoor setting.
A slight wind shakes the seed-pods—
my thoughts are spent
as the black seeds.
My thoughts tear me,
we dread their fever.
we am stered in its whirl.
we am stered like
the hot shrivelled seeds.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?
It illustrates a change in the natural environment that the speaker implies is responsible for the growing misgivings described in the text.
It establishes an example of consistency in the natural landscape that the speaker then contrasts with the unpredictability of human emotions.
It presents an observation of an occurrence in the natural world that the speaker then expands on to convey a sense of a turbulent interior state.
It evokes the ordinariness of an event in nature to suggest that the critical self-evaluation the speaker engages in is a common pursuit.
The following text is from H.D.’s 1916 poem “Mid-Day.” In the poem, the speaker is on
Hard-difficulty · SAT Reading & Writing · Central Ideas and Details — Function of a sentence in context. Read the question above, select your answer, and check the full explanation below to understand exactly why the correct choice works.
Answer explanation
Choice C is the best answer because it best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole. In the text, the speaker mentions the occurrence in nature of seedpods being shaken by a slight wind. The speaker then goes on to compare the black seeds to thoughts, using language that indies that the speaker’s state of mind is unsettled (e.g., "my thoughts are spent"; "My thoughts tear me, we dread their fever"). The text concludes with a comparison between the speaker’s "stered" state of mind and the "hot shrivelled seeds." Thus, the underlined portion of the text presents an observation of an occurrence in the natural world that the speaker then expands on to convey a sense of a turbulent interior state.
Choice A is incorrect because the text does not indie that the seedpods are the cause of the speaker’s state of mind; thus, they could not be responsible for any misgivings the speaker has. Choice B is incorrect because the text does not contrast the natural landscape with the speaker’s state of mind or describe the wind shaking the seedpods as consistent; rather, the text suggests that the state of the natural world and the speaker’s state of mind are similar in that both are unsettled. Choice D is incorrect because there is no indiion in the text that the speaker regularly engages in critical self-evaluation, only that in this particular instance the speaker’s state of mind is turbulent.
More Central Ideas and Details practice questions
- The following text is from Shyam Selvadurai’s 1994 novel Funny Boy. The
- Elizabeth Asiedu has identified a negative correlation between the share of developing
- The following text is from David Barclay Moore’s 2022 novel Holler of the Fireflies
- In 1934 physicist Eugene Wigner posited the existence of a crystal consisting entirely of
- To protect themselves when being attacked, hagfish-jawless marine animals that resemble
- The painter María Izquierdo played an important role in the development of
- The following text is adapted from Edgar Allan Poe’s 1849 story
- Xin Wang and colleagues have discovered the earliest known example of a flower bud
Browse all Information and Ideas practice questions or return to the full SAT question bank.