Read the extract below and answer the following questions

A little learning is a dangerous thing:

Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring

The shallow droughts intoxicate the brain

And drinking largely sobers us again

The poem is

  • A allegoric
  • B didactic
  • C metaphysical
  • D romantic

The correct answer is B. didactic

This highlights that as soon as we start having a little knowledge, it intoxicates us with pride and arrogance. However, as soon as a person becomes more knowledgeable, he becomes sober. The poet has beautifully used metaphors to convey that when a person does not get more knowledge and does not become an expert, he often becomes haughty and mislead others. Didacticism is defined as the type of literature that is meant to instruct or teach something.

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