The following text is adapted from Gwendolyn Bennett's 1926 poem Street Lamps in Early Spring.Night wears a garmentAll velvet soft,...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
The following text is adapted from Gwendolyn Bennett's 1926 poem Street Lamps in Early Spring.
Night wears a garment
All velvet soft, all violet blue...
And over her face she draws a veil
As shimmering fine as floating dew...
And here and there
In the black of her hair
The subtle hands of Night
Move slowly with their gem-starred light.
Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "Night wears a garment / All velvet soft, all violet blue..." |
|
| "And over her face she draws a veil / As shimmering fine as floating dew..." |
|
| "And here and there / In the black of her hair" |
|
| "The subtle hands of Night / Move slowly with their gem-starred light." |
|
Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: The poem presents night as an elegant woman adorning herself with clothing and jewelry.
Argument Flow: The poem opens by describing night wearing clothing, then develops this personification by giving her a face with a veil, hair, and finally hands that move with starlight. Each element builds the extended comparison of night to a human being.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
What's being asked? The overall structure of the text
What type of answer do we need? How the poem is organized or what technique it uses throughout
Any limiting keywords? "overall structure" means we need to consider the entire poem's approach, not just individual parts
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- Looking at our analysis, we can see that every single line of the poem treats night as if she's a person
- She wears clothes, has a face that she covers with a veil, has hair, and has hands that move
- This isn't just a quick comparison - it's sustained throughout the entire poem
- The structure is built around this one extended technique of making night into a human being, specifically a woman getting dressed or adorned
- So the right answer should identify that the poem uses personification consistently throughout to compare night to a human being
- Claims the poem alternates between rural and city descriptions
- Nothing in the poem distinguishes between different locations
- The poem focuses entirely on personifying night, not contrasting settings
- Says the poem shows nightfall then sunrise
- The entire poem describes night imagery - no sunrise or dawn elements appear
- Accurately identifies the extended comparison of night to a human being
- Matches our analysis showing personification throughout: wearing garments, drawing veil, having hair and hands
- This is exactly the consistent structural technique the poem uses from start to finish
- Suggests the poem shows seasonal changes
- No seasonal indicators appear in the text - all imagery focuses on one moment of night
- The poem describes night's appearance, not changes over time