The following text is from Edgar Allan Poe's 1848 poem "To Helen."
Was it not Fate, that, on this July midnight—
Was it not Fate, (whose name is also Sorrow,)
That bade me pause before that garden-gate,
To breathe the incense of those slumbering roses?
No footstep stirred: the hated world all slept,
Save only thee and me. (Oh, Heaven!—oh, God!
How my heart beats in coupling those two words!)
Save only thee and me. I paused—I looked—
—And in an instant all things disappeared.
(Ah, bear in mind this garden was enchanted!)
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
Correct
Incorrect
Poems may seem intimidating, but they have a main idea just like non-poetry passages. The main idea of a poem is unlikely to appear in a single line; rather, the main idea will likely reflect the poem's meaning as a whole. Here, the poem's speaker discusses how fate guided their midnight walk, leading the speaker to a garden gate. There, the speaker's eyes encountered another person-possibly Helen, given the title of the poem-who provoked a strong emotional response in them. The speaker felt that "all things disappeared" save this one person, despite the garden being "enchanted," which is to say it was magical itself, underlining the power of the person the speaker saw. From all this, we can conclude the poem likely describes someone falling in love at first sight.
Evaluate the answer choices and eliminate any that fail to summarize the entire poem. Choice (A) is correct, as it accurately summarizes the poem as a random encounter with another person, one with whom the speaker instantly falls in love. On test day, you can select (A) and move on, but for reference: (B) is incorrect because it presumes the speaker is walking around at midnight due to an inability to sleep, something which is not discussed in the quoted text; (C) references the speaker marrying this person he meets, but there is nothing in the poem that states that they eventually marry; (D) misuses a detail from the poem, as "the incense of those slumbering roses" is a poetic reference to the sweet smell of the roses in the garden, and it is not a main idea.
