Poem Analysis - Love, Freewill, and Fate

XAT 2018 · VALR · Hard · Poem Comprehension

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Passage / data set

Read the following poem and answer the questions:

A spirit that lives in this world and does not wear the shirt of love, such an existence in a deep disgrace. Be foolish in love, because love is all there is. There is no way into presence except through love exchange. If someone asks, But what is love? Answer, dissolving the will. True freedom comes to those who have escaped the question of freewill and fate.

Love is an emperor. The two worlds play across him. He barely notices their tumbling game. Love and lover live in eternity. Other desires are substitute for that way of being. How long do you lay embracing a corpse? Love rather the soul, which cannot be held. Anything born in spring dies in the fall, but love is not seasonal. With wine pressed from grapes, expect a hangover. But this love path has no expectations. You are uneasy riding the body? Dismount, travel lighter. Wings will be given. Be clear like mirror holding nothing. Be clean of pictures and the worry that comes with images. Gaze into what is not ashamed or afraid of any truth. Contain all human faces in your own without any judgment of them. Be pure emptiness. What is inside of that? You ask. Silence is all I can say. Lovers have some secrets that they keep.

Question 1 of 2

How are the words "freewill", "fate" and "will" used in the poem above?

  1. A.

    All the three words are opposites of love.

  2. B.

    These words are used as a hallmark of an intelligent person.

  3. C.

    Freewill and will connote self-determination while fate connotes loss of control.

  4. D.

    These are used as something that corpses do not possess.

  5. E.

    Freewill and will are synonymous while fate is an antonym to both.

Question 2 of 2

Which of the following is the closest interpretation of "lovers have some secrets that they keep"?

  1. A.

    The secret refers to profundity of knowledge.

  2. B.

    The secret is not to have any secret.

  3. C.

    The secret refers to freedom from emptiness.

  4. D.

    The secret refers to being a fine judge of human quality.

  5. E.

    The secret is about loving someone as much as you love yourself.

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