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AP Success - AP English Literature: Advice to a Prophet

When you come, as you soon must, to the streets of our city,   
Mad-eyed from stating the obvious,
Not proclaiming our fall but begging us
In God’s name to have self-pity,
5
Spare us all word of the weapons, their force and range,   
The long numbers that rocket the mind;
Our slow, unreckoning hearts will be left behind,   
Unable to fear what is too strange.
10
Nor shall you scare us with talk of the death of the race.   
How should we dream of this place without us?—
The sun mere fire, the leaves untroubled about us,   
A stone look on the stone’s face?
15
Speak of the world’s own change. Though we cannot conceive   
Of an undreamt thing, we know to our cost
How the dreamt cloud crumbles, the vines are blackened by frost,   
How the view alters. We could believe,
20
If you told us so, that the white-tailed deer will slip   
Into perfect shade, grown perfectly shy,
The lark avoid the reaches of our eye,
The jack-pine lose its knuckled grip
25
On the cold ledge, and every torrent burn
As Xanthus once, its gliding trout
Stunned in a twinkling. What should we be without   
The dolphin’s arc, the dove’s return,
30
These things in which we have seen ourselves and spoken?   
Ask us, prophet, how we shall call
Our natures forth when that live tongue is all
Dispelled, that glass obscured or broken
35
In which we have said the rose of our love and the clean   
Horse of our courage, in which beheld
The singing locust of the soul unshelled,
And all we mean or wish to mean.
40
Ask us, ask us whether with the worldless rose   
Our hearts shall fail us; come demanding   
Whether there shall be lofty or long standing   
When the bronze annals of the oak-tree close.
45
Source 1: Richard Wilbur, “Advice to a Prophet” from Collected Poems 1943-2004. Copyright © 2004 by Richard Wilbur. Reprinted with the permission of Harcourt, Inc. This material may not be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher.

1
The speaker in the poem uses the phrase "Mad-eyed from stating the obvious" (line 2) to suggest that the addressed figure is:
  • frustrated by the ignorance of others
  • enlightened by basic truths
  • deranged by the simplicity of their revelations
  • obsessed with clarity
  • angered by societal denial
2
In lines 6-9, the speaker's request to "Spare us all word of the weapons" implies a desire to:
  • emphasize spiritual over physical defense
  • focus on peace rather than conflict
  • preserve innocence about the dangers they face
  • avoid confronting uncomfortable truths
  • remain ignorant of external threats
3
The use of "In God’s name" (line 4) primarily serves to:
  • question the role of divinity in their plight
  • contrast spiritual values with their current state
  • invoke a divine authority for their plea
  • highlight the religious nature of their appeal
  • emphasize the desperation of their request
4
The imagery in lines 11-14 suggests a world without humans is one that is:
  • vibrant and self-sustaining
  • desolate and barren
  • peaceful and harmonious
  • chaotic and disordered
  • indifferent and unchanging
5
The rhetorical question in lines 12-14 ("How should we dream of this place without us?—") serves to:
  • illustrate the difficulty of imagining a world without humans
  • underscore the fear of extinction
  • question the significance of human existence
  • criticize the anthropocentric view of the world
  • highlight humanity's centrality to the world
6
In lines 21-24, the depiction of animals behaving unnaturally (e.g., deer becoming "perfectly shy") most likely symbolizes:
  • an idyllic state of nature
  • a warning about environmental change
  • the unpredictability of nature
  • a metaphor for human vulnerability
  • the impact of human absence on wildlife
7
The phrase "the dreamt cloud crumbles" (line 18) metaphorically signifies:
  • the dissolution of illusions
  • the transient nature of existence
  • the fragility of human aspirations
  • the unpredictability of weather
  • the destruction of the environment
8
The reference to "the dolphin’s arc, the dove’s return" (lines 29) symbolically emphasizes:
  • beauty and grace in nature
  • isolation and solitude
  • survival and adaptation
  • freedom and hope
  • cyclicality and renewal
9
In lines 36-39, the "rose of our love and the clean horse of our courage" are examples of:
  • classical allusions
  • literal descriptions of cherished objects
  • symbols of cultural heritage
  • naturalistic imagery
  • metaphorical representations of human emotions and virtues
10
The overall tone of the poem can best be described as:
  • cynical and despairing
  • urgent and pleading
  • didactic and authoritative
  • optimistic and uplifting
  • contemplative and introspective
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