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 (˘) and stressed (´) syllables, which is characteristic of iambic meter:
- My HEART (˘ ´)
- aches, AND (˘ ´)
- a DROW (˘ ´)
- sy NUMB (˘ ´)
- ness PAINS (˘ ´)
Since the dominant pattern is unstressed-stressed (˘ ´), it follows the iambic metrical pattern.