MY NOVEMBER GUEST
My Sorrow, when she's here with me,
Thinks these dark days of autumn rain
Are beautiful as days can be;
She loves the bare, the withered tree;
She walks the sodden pasture lane.
Her pleasure will not let me stay.
She talks and I am fain to list:
She's glad the birds are gone away,
She's glad her simple worsted grey
Is silver now with clinging mist.
The desolate, deserted trees,
The faded earth, the heavy sky,
The beauties she so truly sees,
She thinks I have no eye for these,
And vexes me for reason why.
Not yesterday I learned to know
The love of bare November days
Before the coming of the snow,
But it were vain to tell her so,
And they are better for her praise.
The main idea of the poem is that sorrow:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → allows people to appreciate beauty.
The poet's Sorrow finds the dark, rainy days of autumn "beautiful as days can be". She loves the bare tree and the faded earth, and she is glad when her grey dress turns "silver" with mist. In a sad mood one notices the quiet beauty of a dull season that a cheerful person would pass by. The poet admits that he too loves bare November days, and says "they are better for her praise". Sorrow, then, opens the eyes to beauty.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: makes you cry always. — Incorrect. Contradicted: there is no weeping in the poem; Sorrow is shown as glad and full of pleasure in the season.
Option 3: laments for what has gone. — Incorrect. Contradicted: to lament is to express grief over a loss. Sorrow does not grieve for the birds that have left; she is "glad the birds are gone away".
Option 4: does not allow people to appreciate beauty. — Incorrect. Contradicted: in the poem Sorrow sees beauty where others see none.