Read the lines from Robert Hayden’s poem "Monet’s ‘Waterlilies,’” then look at the detail from Claude Monet’s painting Water Lilies.

Today as the news from Selma and Saigon
poisons the air like fallout,
I come again to see
the serene, great picture that I love.

A detail from Water Lilies by Claude Monet. It shows blue-green lily pads and yellow-orange flowers on dark green water.

Why does the speaker like to view Monet’s Water Lilies?
to view art purely for art’s sake
to escape unpleasant news
to be exposed to stark reality
to escape poisonous air

Read the excerpt from frederick douglass’s speech “what to the slave is the fourth of july? ” go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the old world, travel through south america, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, america reigns without a rival. which phrase best describes the connotation of the word “reigns”? a sense of opportunity and growth a sense of fear and anxiety a sense of compassion and humanity a sense of oppression and domination