Read the excerpt below from “the lake of the dismal swamp” by thomas moore and complete the instruction that follows.

“they made her a grave, too cold and damp
for a soul so warm and true;
and she’s gone to the lake of the dismal swamp,
where, all night long, by a fire-fly lamp,
she paddles her white canoe.

“and her fire-fly lamp i soon shall see,
and her paddle i soon shall hear;
long and loving our life shall be,
and i’ll hide the maid in a cypress tree,
when the footstep of death is near.”

identify the rhyme scheme and metrical pattern of this poem.

a. the rhyme pattern is abbab and the meter is trochaic.
b. the rhyme pattern is abaab, and the meter is iambic.
c. the rhyme pattern is abaab and there is no meter.
d. the poem is written in free verse without rhyme or meter.

B. The rhyme pattern is ABAAB, and the meter is iambic.

Explanation:

We can find the rhyme pattern by placing the same letter on the side of the rhyming lines and different letters on the side of the non-rhyming lines.

So we have:

“They made her a grave, too cold and damp  A

For a soul so warm and true  B

And she’s gone to the Lake of the Dismal Swamp,  A

Where, all night long, by a fire-fly lamp,  A

She paddles her white canoe.   B

And her fire-fly lamp I soon shall see,    A

And her paddle I soon shall hear;    B

Long and loving our life shall be,    A

And I’ll hide the maid in a cypress tree,    A

When the footstep of death is near.”  B

We can conclude that the meter is iambic because the poem has versoa composed of five pairs of short / long syllables.

the words "slavery," "devils," and "murderer" evoke a sense of disgust.