Read the poem given below and answer the questions that follow.
O gift of God! O perfect day:
Whereon shall no man work, but play;
Whereon it is enough for me,
Not to be doing, but to be!
Through every fibre of my brain,
Through every nerve, through every vein,
I feel the electric thrill, the touch
Of life, that seems almost too much.
I hear the wind among the trees
Playing celestial symphonies;
I see the branches downward bent,
Like keys of some great instrument.
And over me unrolls on high
The splendid scenery of the sky,
Where through a sapphire sea the sun
Sails like a golden galleon,
Towards yonder cloud-land in the West,
Towards yonder Islands of the Blest,
Whose steep sierra far uplifts
Its craggy summits white with drifts.
Blow, winds! and waft through all the rooms
The snow-flakes of the cherry-blooms!
Blow, winds! and bend within my reach
The fiery blossoms of the peach!
O Life and Love! O happy throng
Of thoughts, whose only speech is song!
O heart of man! canst thou not be
Blithe as the air is, and as free?
What does the poet long for in the last stanza of the poem?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → That the human heart could be as cheerful and free as the air
The last stanza ends with a question: “O heart of man! canst thou not be / Blithe as the air is, and as free?”
- “Canst thou not be” is an old way of saying “can you not be”. Blithe means happy and carefree.
- The poet looks at the air, which is light and free. He wishes that the heart of man could feel the same way.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: That his happy thoughts could be put into words — Incorrect. Misread: The poet speaks of happy thoughts “whose only speech is song”. He is glad that they come out as song. He does not wish to turn them into plain words.
Option 3: That the winds would bring the blossoms within his reach — Incorrect. Wrong part of the passage: He asks the winds to bend the peach blossoms “within my reach”. That wish comes in the stanza before the last one.
Option 4: That this perfect day would never come to an end — Incorrect. Not mentioned: The poet enjoys the day, but he never asks for it to last for ever.