Longing
by Paul Laurence Dunbar
If you could sit with me beside the sea to-day,
And whisper with me sweetest dreamings o’er and o’er;
I think I should not find the clouds so dim and gray,
And not so loud the waves complaining at the shore.
If you could sit with me upon the shore to-day,
And hold my hand in yours as in the days of old,
I think I should not mind the chill baptismal spray,
Nor find my hand and heart and all the world so cold.
If you could walk with me upon the strand to-day,
And tell me that my longing love had won your own,
I think all my sad thoughts would then be put away,
And I could give back laughter for the Ocean’s moan!
Use the poem to answer the question.
How does the use of the word complaining affect meaning in the first stanza?
(1 point)
Responses
It connects the sea to the speaker’s feelings.
It shows that a storm is about to happen.
It indicates that the sea is an important character.
It makes the sea a negative force in the poem.