Ihave 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. 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 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-- it is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid. which statement best expresses the theme of the poem? a) to live life fully, one must take risks. b) no matter how hard we try, our lives are ruled by fate. c) searching for meaning inevitably leads to disappointment. d) only the strong survive; the weak are destined to failure.

"the children's hour" by henry wadsworth longfellow between the dark and the daylight, when the night is beginning to lower, comes a pause in the day's occupations, that is known as the children's hour. i hear in the chamber above me the patter of little feet, the sound of a door that is opened, and voices soft and sweet. from my study i see in the lamplight, descending the broad hall stair, grave alice, and laughing allegra, and edith with golden hair. a whisper, and then a silence: yet i know by their merry eyes they are plotting and planning together to take me by surprise. a sudden rush from the stairway, a sudden raid from the hall! by three doors left unguarded they enter my castle wall! they climb up into my turret o'er the arms and back of my chair; if i try to escape, they surround me; they seem to be everywhere. they almost devour me with kisses, their arms about me entwine, till i think of the bishop of bingen in his mouse-tower on the rhine! do you think, o blue-eyed banditti, because you have scaled the wall, such an old mustache as i am is not a match for you all! i have you fast in my fortress, and will not let you depart, but put you down into the dungeon in the round-tower of my heart. and there will i keep you forever, yes, forever and a day, till the walls shall crumble to ruin, and moulder in dust away! which literary device does longfellow use most frequently in the poem? a. simile b. metaphor c. repetition d. personification