What is the definition for gerund phrase

That time of year thou mayst in me behold when yellow leaves, or none, or few do hang upon those boughs which shake against the cold, bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang in me thou sees the twilight of such day as after sunset fadeth in the west; which by and by black night doth take away, death's second self that seals up all in rest. in me thou seest the glowing of such fire that on the ashes of his youth doth lie, as the deathbed whereon it must expire, consumed with that which it was nourished by. this thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong, to love that well, which thou must leave ere long. the first stanza compares the leafless limbs of a tree to a. yellow leaves b. sweet birds c. bare choirs d. summer

Twenty years gone, and i am back again on my own island. as for my change of skin, that is a charm athena, hope of soldiers, uses as she will; she has the knack to make me seem a beggar man sometimes and sometimes young, with finer clothes about me. it is no hard thing for the gods of heaven to glorify a man or bring him low. —the odyssey, homer based on what odysseus says in the passage, what has he learned? humans can become like gods. humans are under the gods’ control. humans can change from beggars to soldiers.

Which is it? the desert is than the mountains? 1. drier 2. more dry