Paul Laurence Dunbar was a renowned poet, novelist, and playwright during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He was one of the first African American writers to earn national prominence for his meaningful representations of what life was like for Black Americans living during this time.

My cot was down by a cypress grove,

And I sat by my window the whole night long,

And heard well up from the deep dark wood

A mocking-bird's passionate song.

And I thought of myself so sad and lone,

And my life's cold winter that knew no spring;

Of my mind so weary and sick and wild,

Of my heart too sad to sing.

But e'en as I listened the mock-bird's song,

A thought stole into my saddened heart,

And I said, "I can cheer some other soul

By a carol's simple art."

For oft from the darkness of hearts and lives

Come songs that brim with joy and light,

As out of the gloom of the cypress grove

The mocking-bird sings at night.

So I sang a lay for a brother's ear

In a strain to soothe his bleeding heart,

And he smiled at the sound of my voice and lyre,

Though mine was a feeble art.

But at his smile I smiled in turn,

And into my soul there came a ray:

In trying to soothe another's woes

Mine own had passed away.
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Read this line from the poem.

And my life's cold winter that knew no spring;

What is the effect of the imagery in this line?

It emphasizes the struggles the speaker has experienced in life.

It highlights the changes the speaker has experienced throughout life.

It expresses the hope that the speaker has for his life to start anew.

It conveys the idea that the speaker believes his life has little meaning.