SAT II Lit: poem analysis help

Archive SAT Subject Test Preparation
1

<p>Somewhere or other there must surely be
The face not seen, the voice not heard,
The heart that not yet - never yet - ah me !
Made answer to my word.</p>

<p>Somewhere or other, may be near or far ;
Past land and sea, clean out of sight ;
Beyond the wandering moon, beyond the star
That tracks her night by night. [line 8]</p>

<p>Somewhere or other, may be far or near ;
With just a wall, a hedge, between ;
With just the last leaves of the dying year
Fallen on a turf grown green.</p>

<p>In its context, “tracks” (line 8) implies that the star
A. marks the sky at night
B. is a sportsman
C. is hunting
D. is seeking the speaker’s love
E. leads the way</p>

<p>The correct answer is C, but how can you really tell? The wording is very unclear, especially since the sentence isn’t in the same line as the line about the moon. I put D. I automatically assumed the “her” was the owner of the face, voice, and heart.</p>

2

<p>This one is definitely a little ambiguous and tricky.</p>

<p>However, the speaker makes a reference to someone who he does not know yet. Thus, he cannot possibly love her specifically (the love is not yet crystallized, he merely imagines a possibility with someone out there).</p>

<p>Thus, the star can not be seeking his love, because he doesn’t have a definitive love yet. This is my reasoning for it, anyway.</p>

<p>Edit: Also, the poem only strongly implies that the speaker is talking about a future love. It never uses the word love itself. This is the thing I’ve found for lit tests. Always go for the safe answer, and don’t over imply, even if it’s strongly there.</p>

3

<p>^thanks. That makes sense; the speaker has never met the person. </p>

<p>on a side note, I found out after I took the practice test that the author of this published poem is a woman. “Somewhere or Other” by Christina Rossetti.</p>