Question

Read the poem "Monet’s ‘Waterlilies’” by Robert Hayden.

Today as the news from Selma and Saigon
poisons the air like fallout,
I come again to see
the serene, great picture that I love.

Here space and time exist in light
the eye like the eye of faith believes.
The seen, the known
dissolve in iridescence, become
illusive flesh of light
that was not, was, forever is.

O light beheld as through refracting tears.
Here is the aura of that world
each of us has lost.
Here is the shadow of its joy.

What evidence supports the conclusion that the poem is written in free verse? Select two options.

There are three stanzas.
There is no rhyme scheme.
The lines are unequal in length.
There is a regular rhyme scheme.
There is a pattern of stressed syllables.

Answer 1

Correct choices:
- There is no rhyme scheme.
- The lines are unequal in length.

Brief justification: Free verse typically lacks a regular rhyme or metrical pattern and often uses lines of varying length. The poem shows no consistent rhyme and its lines vary in length, so these two options support that it is free verse.