Read the following extract from Maya Angelou's poem, 'When Great Trees Fall', and answer the questions that follow: When great trees fall, rocks on distant hills shudder, lions hunker down in tall grasses, and even elephants lumber after safety.
What, 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?
Topic: Memory and regret
Answer
We remember and regret their words unsaid and their promised walks never taken — the things left undone and unspoken between us and them. ("Our memory, suddenly sharpened, examines, / gnaws on kind words unsaid, / promised walks / never taken.")
Our souls, she says, are dependent upon their nurture, and when great souls die they shrink: the mind that had been formed by them falters, and reality seems to recede. We are diminished, our senses dulled, until at last peace blooms and our restored senses whisper to us, "They existed."
Name both regrets precisely — unsaid kind words and untaken promised walks — as each carries a mark. For the second part, do not stop at "we feel sad": trace the movement from shrinking and numbness to the final restoration, because the poem’s consolation lies in that turn and examiners look for it.