How does line 9 help develop the tone of the poem?
A. It contributes to a respectful tone.
B. It contributes to a formal tone.
C. It contributes to a resentful tone.
D. It contributes to a casual tone.
This World

By Mary Oliver

2004

Mary Oliver (1935-2019) was an American poet who won the National Book Award, as well as the Pulitzer Prize. In this poem, a speaker describes the nature that surrounds them. As you read, take notes on the figurative language the poet uses to describe nature.

[1] I would like to write a poem about the world that has

in it

nothing fancy.
But it seems impossible.
Whatever the subject, the morning sun

[5] glimmers it.
The tulip feels the heat and flaps its petals open and

becomes a star.
The ants bore into the peony1 bud and there is a dark

pinprick well of sweetness.
As for the stones on the beach, forget it.

[10] Each one could be set in gold.
So I tried with my eyes shut, but of course the birds

were singing.
And the aspen trees were shaking the sweetest music

out of their leaves.

[15] And that was followed by, guess what, a momentous2 and

beautiful silence

as comes to all of us, in little earfuls, if we’re not too

hurried to hear it.
As for spiders, how the dew hangs in their webs

[20] even if they say nothing, or seem to say nothing.
So fancy is the world, who knows, maybe they sing.
So fancy is the world, who knows, maybe the stars sing too,

and the ants, and the peonies, and the warm stones,
so happy to be where they are, on the beach, instead of being

[25] locked up in gold.



1. a type of flower

2. Momentous (adjective) of great importance or significance