a. The first short line tells the fact that the “buffaloes are gone.” Then the next lines increase in length to show that the people who lived with the buffaloes are also gone, as well as the magnificent sight of the “buffaloes by thousands,” which created a scene like a “pageant.“ Then the lines shorten again to echo the passing away of that time.
Correct! This explanation ties the line lengths to the meaning of the poem, which is to express sadness about a way of life that no longer exists. The inference also includes text evidence as part of the explanation.
b. The first line is short because it gives only the essential information that the “buffaloes are gone.” Then the lines increase in length as the speaker adds more information about what is gone, such as “those who saw the buffaloes” and the “buffaloes by thousands.”
Try again. What is good about this explanation is that it includes text evidence, but it doesn’t clearly connect the changing line lengths with meaning. Instead it merely states that each longer line gives more information than the previous lines.