Which line from the poem “the lake of the dismal swamp” by thomas moore is the best example of imagery? a. “his path was rugged and sore”b. "long and loving our life shall be,”c. "this lover and maid so true"d. “and the boat return’d no more.”

Imagery is a literary device that uses (you guessed it!) images to illustrate a concept or idea. Usually those concepts or ideas would be a lot harder to understand or to write about without images. That's why authors so regularly turn to imagery to help make their points.

Here, the best answer is A, because it uses an image of a rugged, sore path to illustrate what isn't really a rugged, sore path. There isn't literally a path here, right? But More wants you to imagine a path (imagine! imagine = make an image) so that you can understand the idea of a struggle a little better.

Answers B, C, and D simply lend descriptions to things that already exist in the poem. There really is a life, a maid, and a boat, and those answers simply give more information about each of those things. But those answers don't really create new images to help the reader understand the poem better.