“A Nocturnal Reverie” by Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea
In such a night, when every louder wind
Is to its distant cavern safe confined;
And only gentle Zephyr fans his wings,
And lonely Philomel, still waking, sings;
Or from some tree, famed for the owl’s delight,
She, hollowing clear, directs the wand’rer right:
In such a night, when passing clouds give place,
Or thinly veil the heav’ns’ mysterious face;
When in some river, overhung with green,
The waving moon and the trembling leaves are seen;
When freshened grass now bears itself upright,
And makes cool banks to pleasing rest invite,
Whence springs the woodbind, and the bramble-rose,
And where the sleepy cowslip sheltered grows;
Whilst now a paler hue the foxglove takes,
Yet checkers still with red the dusky brakes
When scatter’d glow-worms, but in twilight fine,
Shew trivial beauties, watch their hour to shine;
Whilst Salisb’ry stands the test of every light,
In perfect charms, and perfect virtue bright:
When odors, which declined repelling day,
Through temp’rate air uninterrupted stray;
When darkened groves their softest shadows wear,
And falling waters we distinctly hear;
When through the gloom more venerable shows
Some ancient fabric, awful in repose,
While sunburnt hills their swarthy looks conceal,
And swelling haycocks thicken up the vale:
When the loosed horse now, as his pasture leads,
Comes slowly grazing through th’ adjoining meads,
Whose stealing pace, and lengthened shade we fear,
Till torn-up forage in his teeth we hear:
When nibbling sheep at large pursue their food,
And unmolested kine rechew the cud;
When curlews cry beneath the village walls,
And to her straggling brood the partridge calls;
Their shortlived jubilee the creatures keep,
Which but endures, whilst tyrant man does sleep;
When a sedate content the spirit feels,
And no fierce light disturbs, whilst it reveals;
But silent musings urge the mind to seek
Something, too high for syllables to speak;
Till the free soul to a composedness charmed,
Finding the elements of rage disarmed,
O’er all below a solemn quiet grown,
Joys in th’ inferior world, and thinks it like her own:
In such a night let me abroad remain,
Till morning breaks, and all’s confused again;
Our cares, our toils, our clamors are renewed,
Or pleasures, seldom reached, again pursued.
Use the poem to answer the question.
Lines 47–48 (“In such a night . . . again.”) of the poem are best understood to mean
A.
the speaker enjoys traveling to other countries, especially when she can relax in the evenings.
B.
the speaker normally finds nighttime unpleasant, but this evening is different.
C.
the speaker is escaping from the drudgery she has experienced at home and is seeking a new life.
D.
the speaker would like to retain the peaceful feelings she has outdoors at night.
E.
the speaker is contemplating her own death, sensing that the end of her life is approaching.
D. the speaker would like to retain the peaceful feelings she has outdoors at night.
D. the speaker would like to retain the peaceful feelings she has outdoors at night.
To answer the question, we need to analyze lines 47-48 of the poem. These lines state, "In such a night let me abroad remain, / Till morning breaks, and all's confused again."
Based on these lines, it can be inferred that the speaker wishes to remain outside during such a night until morning comes and everything returns to chaos. This suggests that the speaker wants to hold on to the peaceful feelings and atmosphere of the night.
Therefore, the best interpretation is that the speaker would like to retain the peaceful feelings she experiences outdoors at night.
So the correct answer is option D.