Read the poem below and answer the question that follows.
"ashes of life" by edna st. vincent millay
love has gone and left me and the days are all alike;
eat i must, and sleep i will, - and would that night were here!
but ah! - to lie awake and hear the slow hours strike!
would that it were day again! - with twilight near!
love has gone and left me and i don't know what to do;
this or that or what you will is all the same to me;
but all the things that i begin i leave before i'm through, -
there's little use in anything as far as i can see.
love has gone and left me, - and the neighbors knock and borrow,
and life goes on forever like the gnawing of a mouse, -
and to-morrow and to-morrow and to-morrow and to-morrow
there's the little street and this little house.
how do the poem and the sweet hereafter deal with loss in a similar way?

Both the poem and The Sweet Hereafter deal with the loss by seeing it as painful, but that will not stop life from continuing.

Explanation:

The poem shown above shows the process that involves an individual who has lost a loved one. This individual feels strong pain, discouragement, a certain impatience, sadness and melancholy, but he knows that tomorrow will not stop coming because of that, and tomorrow will always bring everything new allowing life to continue.

This feeling is similar in The Sweet Hereafter, where an accident on the school bus causes the death of most children, leaving a melancholy, sad and discouraged population that few overcomes this huge loss.

answer: the correct answer is b. an essay that connects the writer's experience with a topic of significance and of reader interest.

explanation: the key words are here "personal experience" since personal essays give insights about peoples' experiences in life and introduce us in their unique world that can be or not to related to our lives but interests us because we are human beings and share the same condition universally.  

alone =having no one else present.