Read the following poem. Answer the question that follow:
At the Museum
But in 2500 B.C. Harappa,
who cast in bronze a servant girl?
No one keeps records
of soldiers and slaves,
The sculptor knew this,
polishing the ache
off her fingers stiff
from washing the walls
and scrubbing the floors,
from stirring the meat
and the crushed asafoetida
in the bitter gourd.
But I'm grateful she smiled
at the sculptor,
as she smiles at me
in bronze,
a child who had to play women
to her lord
when the warm June rains
came to Harappa.
What is the poet grateful about according to the poem?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → The poet is grateful that the servant girl smiled at the sculptor while he was casting her
The poet says plainly: "But I'm grateful she smiled at the sculptor, as she smiles at me in bronze". Her smile, captured in the statue, lets the poet feel the girl's warmth and childhood despite her hard life.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: The poet is grateful that the servant girl was cast in bronze — Incorrect. Wrong focus: the casting is the occasion, but the gratitude the poet names is for her smile.
Option 2: The poet is grateful for having encountered a relic from the past — Incorrect. Wrong reason: a relic is an object surviving from an earlier time. The poet meets such an object, but does not express gratitude for it.
Option 4: The poet is grateful that the sculptor polished the ache off the servant girl's fingers — Incorrect. Misread: "Polishing the ache off her fingers" shows the sculptor's sympathy for her labour; the poet's gratitude is attached to the smile, not to this.