Use the poem to answer the question. Longing by Paul Lawrence Dunbar if you could sit with me beside the sea to-day, and whisper with me sweetest dreamings o'er and o'er, I think I should not find the clouds so dim and gray, and not so loud the waves complaining at the shore. If you could sit with me upon the shore today, and hold my hand in yours as in the days of old, I think I should not mind the chill baptismal spray, nor find my hand and heart and all the world so cold. If you could walk with me upon the strand to-day, and tell me that my longing love had won your own, I think all my sad thoughts would be put away, and I could give back laughter to the ocean's moan!

Use the poem to answer the question how does the use of the word complaining affect meaning in the first stanza? A. It indicates that the sea is an important character b. It connects the Sea to the speaker's feelings. C. It shows that a storm is about to happen. D. It makes the C a negative force in the poem

1 answer

The correct answer is B. It connects the sea to the speaker's feelings.

In the first stanza, the use of the word "complaining" suggests that the waves reflect the speaker's own emotions of sadness and longing. This connection emphasizes how the external environment, represented by the sea, mirrors the speaker's internal state, reinforcing the theme of longing and emotional turmoil.