Lxv [once, i knew a fine song] by stephen crane

once, i knew a fine song,
—it is true, believe me,—
it was all of birds,
and i held them in a basket;
when i opened the wicket, 5
heavens! they all flew away.
i cried, “come back, little thoughts! ”
but they only laughed.
they flew on
until they were as sand 10
thrown between me and the sky.

1. the shift in syntax in lines 9-11 is likely designed to
a) provide a parallel structure to the lines 1-3
b) mimic the fleeting nature of thoughts with informal open form poetry
c) imitate the rhyme scheme found in a sonnet
d) illustrate the growing distance of the birds with lines that grow in length
e) show the speaker's loss through lack of meter

2. what types of rhymes does the poet use in this poem?
a) couplets
b) end rhymes
c) half rhymes
d) identical rhymes
e) internal rhymes

3. which of the following sound devices is most evident in line 2?
a) alliteration
b) assonance
c) cacophony
d) consonance
e) onomatopoeia