With my fancy i grasped at the vague shadows straying, At the vague shadow straying where the daylight had fled;
I ascended a tower, and the stairway was swaying, And the stairway was swaying underneath my light tread.
And the higher I climbed, ever clearer were rounded, Ever clearer were rounded dreaming hilltops aglow;
And from Heaven to Earth twilight voices resounded, Twilight voices resounded from above and below
And the higher I rose, strange horizons defining, Strange horizons defining, did the summits appear, And my eyes as I looked were caressed by their shining, Were caressed by their shining, their farewell, sad and clear.
Now the night had appeared; Earth in darkness lay dreaming, Earth in darkness lay dreaming, like a slumbering star While the smoldering sun, his dim embers still gleaming.
His dim embers still gleaming, shone for me from afar.
I had learned to ensnare the vague shadows far straying, The vague shadows far straying, where the daylight had fled;
Ever higher I rose, and the stairway was swaying, And the stairway was swaying underneath my light tread.
5) What is ironic about the speaker's reference to the sun shining in lines 15-16?
A) He is supposed to be asleep.
B) The poem is filled with imagery of night
C) He is too far away to be able to see the sun.
D) He has broken his pattern of talking about the staircase.
B) The poem is filled with imagery of night
6) How do these words from line 1 affect the meaning of the poem?
"I grasped at the vague shadows straying"
A) They show the speaker's desire to reach a goal.
B) They show the joy of a person who reaches a goal.
C) They illustrate the spemker's loss as he tries to reach a goal.
D) They depict the frustration of a person who will never reach a goal.