Question

My country is Kiltartan Cross,

My countrymen Kiltartan's poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.

What does the parallelism in this excerpt emphasize?

The parallelism emphasizes the speaker's Irish nationality.
The parallelism emphasizes the speaker's wish to die.
The parallelism emphasizes the speaker's fear of death.
The parallelism emphasizes the speaker's lack of patriotism.

Answer 1

Answer: The parallelism emphasizes the speaker's Irish nationality.

This is a poem by W. B. Yeats, an Irish poet, and it describes the feelings of an Irish soldier fighting during WWI. The poem uses parallelism in the phrases "My country is Kiltartan Cross" and "My countrymen Kiltartan's poor." Kiltartan Cross is a place in Western Ireland, and the poet uses this parallelism in order to highlight how strongly the speaker feels about his Irish nationality.

Answer 2

The answer is A. The parallelism emphasizes the speaker's Irish nationality.