George Gray
Edgar Lee Masters

I have studied many times
The marble which was chiseled for me--
A boat with a furled sail at rest in a harbor.
In truth it pictures not my destination
But my life. 5

For love was offered me and I shrank from its disillusionment;
Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was afraid;
Ambition called to me, but I dreaded the chances.
Yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my life.
And now I know that we must lift the sail 10

And catch the winds of destiny
Wherever they drive the boat.
To put meaning in one's life may end in madness,
But life without meaning is the torture
Of restlessness and vague desire-- 15
It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.

Line 10 in the poem
A) marks a shift in the speaker's realization of the value of his work.
B) marks a shift in the speaker's understanding of how to live one's life.
C) marks a shift to the speaker's early life as a young and restless man.
D) marks a shift in the imagery from statues and art to boating and the sea.