Reread "Sonnet 55."

Which responses clearly support the inference that the speaker's lover might be dead or near death?

(Select all that apply.)

"Sonnet 55"

A. The speaker writes only about how he will ensure that his lover is remembered, an unusual way for someone in a current relationship to think.

B. The speaker says that his lover will live in this poem and in lovers' eyes until entering heaven, which implies that his lover is already dead.

C. When the speaker describes war, fire, and decay, it becomes clear that his lover died in a violent conflict of the sort that was common during this time period.

D. When the speaker says the monuments and masonry will eventually be destroyed, he may be describing a tombstone for someone who has died.

The correct answers are B. The speaker says that his lover will live in this poem and in lovers' eyes until entering heaven, which implies that his lover is already dead and D. When the speaker says the monuments and masonry will eventually be destroyed, he may be describing a tombstone for someone who has died.

Explanation:

Sonnet 55 was written by English poet William Shakespeare. Letter B is correct because the speaker uses setting to create an atmosphere close to the end of the world (the war, gods like Mars fighting there); death, in a certain way, could be understood as something very close to the end of the world, at least personally and for people around the object in the poem.

Letter D is also correct. The excerpt mentioned in that options is at the very beginning of the poem and there, the speaker describes "marble" and gilded monuments", and two verses later he compares those things to "these contents", where the object is.