Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow by selecting…
2023
Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow by selecting the correct/most appropriate option.
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.
The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he's to setting.
That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.
Then be not coy, but use your time,
And while ye may, go marry;
For having lost but once your prime,
You may forever tarry.
The poem is addressed to a/an __________.
Answer: C. young woman — Concept: In poetry comprehension, the person being addressed is identified from the speaker's direct commands, appeals, and the overall argument the poem…
- A.
old unmarried woman
- B.
gardener
- C.
young woman
- D.
old friend
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Concept: In poetry comprehension, the person being addressed is identified from the speaker's direct commands, appeals, and the overall argument the poem builds -- not from any single word read in isolation.
Application: This poem, Robert Herrick's "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time", builds its whole argument around urging someone to act "while ye may" -- "Then be not coy, but use your time, / And while ye may, go marry." The warning is that missing this one chance means the person will "forever tarry" -- so the person addressed still has a prime left to lose, that is, is presently young and still unmarried. The floral imagery ("Gather ye rosebuds", "this same flower that smiles today") is a metaphor for that same fleeting youth, reinforcing the same audience.
Contrast:
old unmarried woman: the poem's warning only makes sense for someone who still HAS a prime left to lose ("having lost but once your prime, you may forever tarry"); it does not fit someone whose youth has already passed.
gardener: the rosebuds and flowers are a figure of speech for fleeting youth and beauty, not a literal reference to plants or to someone who tends them; the poem never mentions any gardening task or profession.
old friend: nothing in the poem casts the address as one between friends; the appeal is entirely about the addressee's own youth, marriage prospects, and fleeting prime.
Hence the poem addresses a young woman: someone who still has her prime to spend and is urged to seize it and marry before time takes it away.