Read the lines below and answer the question:
My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I have drunk
The metrical pattern is
- anapestic
- dactylic
-
iambic
- trochaic
The correct answer is: C
Explanation
The given lines are from John Keats' poem Ode to a Nightingale, and they follow an iambic pentameter pattern.
Breaking it down metrically:
"My heart aches, and a drow-sy numb-ness pains"
- The pattern alternates between unstressed (ห) and stressed (ยด) syllables, which is characteristic of iambic meter:
- My HEART (ห ยด)
- aches, AND (ห ยด)
- a DROW (ห ยด)
- sy NUMB (ห ยด)
- ness PAINS (ห ยด)
Since the dominant pattern is unstressed-stressed (ห ยด), it follows the iambic metrical pattern.