MCQEasy1 mark
1
Choose the correct answers to the questions from the given options. (Do not copy the questions, write ONLY the correct answers.)
The mood in the poem, 'When Great Trees Fall', moves from __________.
Topic: Mood of the poem
Previous-year question practice database
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Pick an option and check your answer. The full worked answer is below either way.
Answer
Exam answer
(a) hurt to wonder.
Explanation
Track the poem’s movement. It opens in shock and pain — the shuddering rocks, the numbed senses, the "dark, cold caves" of mourning — and closes in quiet awe: "peace blooms… our senses, restored, never / to be the same, whisper to us. They existed." Grief gives way to wonder that such souls lived at all. Options (b) and (c) invert the direction; (d) misses the opening pain.
In words
hurt to wonder.
Example
Hurt to wonder.
More from When Great Trees Fall
What three images from the natural world does Angelou use to describe the effect of great trees falling?2026Angelou compares great trees to great souls.
Mention two ways in which this comparison is appropriate.
What is the mood created by the lines in the above extract?2026What words does the poet use to describe the condition of the air around us when great souls die?
What feeling is being expressed in the line, ‘We breathe, briefly’?2026What, according to the poet, are the two things we remember and regret when a great soul dies?
What happens to our souls when great souls die?2026‘Angelou’s poem is about the lasting influence of great souls.’
Explain the above statement briefly.
What aspect of the poem appeals to you?
Give one reason for your response.2026Select the option that shows the correct relationship between Statements (1) and (2) from Maya Angelou's poem, 'When Great Trees Fall':
Statement 1: When great trees fall, the world is left permanently unstable.
Statement 2: In the poem, the natural world is depicted as reacting with fear and uncertainty when great trees fall.2025