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:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → (C) Only
Withered means dried up, shrunken and faded, as a plant becomes when it loses its life and moisture. Sorrow loves "the bare, the withered tree" of November, a tree that has lost its leaves.
Example: The flowers in the vase had withered by the end of the week.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: (A) Only — Incorrect. Green describes a plant that is fresh and full of life, the opposite of withered.
Option 2: (B) Only — Incorrect. To flourish is to grow well and be healthy. A withered plant has stopped flourishing.
Example: Roses flourish in this cool climate.
Option 4: (D) Only — Incorrect. Growing means becoming bigger. A withered tree is dying, not growing. (E) bloom, to produce flowers, is also the opposite of withered.
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