PART A: Which of the following best describes a central theme of the text?
A Loss and grief can have powerful
effects on the mind.
B The supernatural is proof that death is
not the end.
O c Fear is only a state of mind, and
cannot significantly harm anyone.
OD Evil deeds will always come back to
haunt us.

A. Loss and grief can have powerful effects on the mind.

Explanation:

The given question refers to The Raven, a narrative poem written by Edgar Allan Poe. It's one of Poe's best-known works. It tells of a talking raven's visit to a distraught lover, who is grieving over the loss of his beloved, Lenore, and falling into madness.

This poem can be called a poetical study of grief. The speaker attempts to prevent his sorrow caused by Lenore's passing from taking over him. He does this by rational means, but he doesn't succeed as grief is not rational. As the poem progresses, rational thought seems to be leaving him more and more. At some point, a talking raven appears. It repeats the word Nevermore. The longer the bird speaks, the more agitated the speaker grows. He begins to break down, as he finds himself unable to rationally deal with the raven. He obsesses over his reunion with Lenore, losing his hold on rationality.

Based on this, we can see that the central theme of the text is that loss and grief can have powerful effects on the mind.

source text: from the sketch here given it will be seen, that our good grandmothers differed considerably in their ideas of a fine figure, from their scantily dressed descendants of the present day. a fine lady, in those times, waddled under more clothes even on a fair summer's day, than would have clad the whole bevy of a modern ball room. nor were they the less admired by the gentlemen in consequence thereof. on the contrary, the greatness of a lover's passion seemed to increase in proportion to the magnitude of its object—and a voluminous damsel, arrayed in a dozen of petticoats, was declared by a low-dutch sonnetteer of the province, to be radiant as a sunflower, and luxuriant as a full blown cabbage. certain it is, that in those days, the heart of a lover could not contain more than one lady at a time; whereas the heart of a modern gallant has often room enough to accommodate half a dozen - - the reason of which i conclude to be, either that the hearts of the gentlemen have grown larger, or the persons of the ladies smaller — this however is a question for physiologists to determine. add punctuation to the following excerpt. writing under the name of diedrich knickerbocker washington irving aimed his potent satire at as diverse topics as political rivals such as thomas jefferson to the very ideal of looking back on the past affectionately: a fine lady, in those times, waddled under more clothes even on a fair summer's day, than would have clad the whole bevy of a modern ball room. a voluminous damsel, arrayed in a dozen of petticoats, was declared by a low-dutch sonnetteer of the province, to be radiant as a sunflower, and luxuriant as a full blown cabbage. in those days, the heart of a lover could not contain more than one lady at a time; whereas the heart of a modern gallant has often room enough to accommodate half a dozen

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explanation: