I Sit and Look Out

1. B. The poem’s title, along with lines 1 and 17, states that the speaker is sitting.

2. D. The “secret convulsive sobs” (3) described by the speaker indicate tears from the young men.

3. C. The speaker uses the term “misused” in lines 5 and 7 to describe both women; while the mother is misused by her children, the wife is misused by her husband.

4. D. Lines 15-16 describe the oppression of “laborers, the poor, upon negroes, and the like” by “arrogant” people.

5. A. In the poem’s final line, the speaker says he is “silent” (19), yet the poem itself contradicts him. By writing the poem, he does not remain completely silent.