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.

Choose the correct meaning of the word "Withered":
(A) green
(B) flourish
(C) dried
(D) growing
(E) bloom
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

(C) Only

The correct answer is Option (3) → (C) Only

Here's why:

* **Withered** means dried up or shriveled.
* In the context of the poem, "the withered tree" refers to a tree that has lost its leaves and appears dry and lifeless.
* **Green, flourish, growing, and bloom** all imply the opposite - a state of life, fullness, and growth.

Therefore, only option (C), "dried," aligns with the meaning of "withered" in the poem.