Read the following poem by Alexander Pope before you choose your answer.
Time was, a sober Englishman wou'd knock
His servants up, and rise by five a clock,
Instruct his Family in ev'ry rule,
And send his Wife to Church, his Son to school.
(5) To worship like his Fathers was his care;
To teach their frugal Virtues to his Heir;
To prove, that Luxury could never hold;
And place, on good Security, his Gold.
Now Times are chang'd, and one Poetick Itch
(10) Has seiz'd the Court and City, Poor and Rich:
Sons, Sires, and Grandsires, all will wear the Bays,
Our Wives read Milton, and our Daughters Plays,
To Theatres, and to Rehearsals throng,
And all our Grace at Table is a Song.
(15) I, who so oft renounce the Muses, lye,
Not—'s self e'er tells more Fibs than I;
When, sick of Muse, our follies we deplore,
And promise our best Friends to ryme no more;
We wake next morning in a raging Fit,
(20) And call for Pen and Ink to show our Wit.
He serv'd a 'Prenticeship, who sets up shop;
Ward try'd on Puppies, and the Poor, his Drop;
Ev'n Radcliff's Doctors travel first to France,
Nor dare to practise till they've learn'd to dance.
(25) Who builds a Bridge that never drove a pyle?
(Should Ripley venture, all the World would smile)
But those who cannot write, and those who can,
All ryme, and scrawl, and scribble, to a man.
Yet Sir, reflect, the mischief is not great;
(30) These Madmen never hurt the Church or State:
Sometimes the Folly benefits mankind;
And rarely Av'rice taints the tuneful mind.
Allow him but his Play-thing of a Pen,
He ne'er rebels, or plots, like other men:
(35) Flight of Cashiers, or Mobs, he'll never mind;
And knows no losses while the Muse is kind.
To cheat a Friend, or Ward, he leaves to Peter;
The good man heaps up nothing but mere metre,
Enjoys his Garden and his Book in quiet;
(40) And then—a perfect Hermit in his Diet.
Of little use the Man you may suppose,
Who says in verse what others say in prose;
Yet let me show, a Poet's of some weight,
And (tho' no Soldier) useful to the State.
(45) What will a Child learn sooner than a song?
What better teach a Foreigner the tongue?
What's long or short, each accent where to place,
And speak in public with some sort of grace.
I scarce can think him such a worthless thing,
(50) Unless he praise some monster of a King,
Or Virtue, or Religion turn to sport,
To please a lewd, or un-believing Court.
Which best describes the overall tone of the poem?
Group of answer choices
Altogether obsequious
Mostly candid
Playfully ironic
Slightly reserved
Somewhat somber
SECOND QUESTION
The speaker begins to qualify his previously established position in which line?
Group of answer choices
Line 9
Line 19
Line 20
Line 29
Line 35
THIRD QUESTION In line 30, "These Madmen" refers to
Group of answer choices
bridge builders
doctors
poets
the Muses
the general public
FOURTH The speaker views poetry as
Group of answer choices
a self-absorbed and presumptuous art form
a waste of time for a writer otherwise skilled in rhetoric
an esteemed and challenging form of self-expression
essential as a tool to understand the human experience
FIFTH
somewhat frivolous but with cultural and educational value
In lines 17 and 18 ("When new desires...thy will"), the speaker uses
Group of answer choices
anachronism
euphemism
hyperbole
metaphor
personification
20 plus points please help
