Punctuation, spelling, and capitalization reflect the author’s original style.
“If I should learn, in some quite casual way”
by Edna St. Vincent Millay
If I should learn, in some quite casual way,
That you were gone, not to return again—
Read from the back-page of a paper, say,
Held by a neighbor in a subway train,
How at the corner of this avenue
And such a street (so are the papers filled)
A hurrying man—who happened to be you—
At noon to-day had happened to be killed,
I should not cry aloud—I could not cry
Aloud, or wring my hands in such a place—
I should but watch the station lights rush by
With a more careful interest on my face,
Or raise my eyes and read with greater care
Where to store furs and how to treat the hair.
Millay, Edna St. Vincent. “If I should learn, in some quite casual way.” Renascence and Other Poems. New York and London: Harper Brothers Publishing, 1917. Print.
1
from “If I should learn, in some quite casual way”
Read the lines.
“A hurrying man—who happened to be you—
At noon to-day had happened to be killed”
What does the repetition of “happened to be” emphasize?
A.
that such incidents are out of our control
B.
that the speaker is not upset about the accident
C.
the speaker’s disbelief about what happened
D.
the location of the accident