Which line(s) from the poem, “An Ancient Gesture,” MOST create(s) a tone of remorse and regret?

1 I thought, as I wiped my eyes on the corner of my apron:
2 Penelope did this too.
3 And more than once: you can't keep weaving all day
4 And undoing it all through the night;
5 Your arms get tired, and the back of your neck gets tight;
6 And along towards morning, when you think it will never be light,
7 And your husband has been gone, and you don't know where, for years.
8 Suddenly you burst into tears;
9 There is simply nothing else to do.

10 And I thought, as I wiped my eyes on the corner of my apron:
11 This is an ancient gesture, authentic, antique,
12 In the very best tradition, classic, Greek;
13 Ulysses did this too.
14 But only as a gesture,—a gesture which implied
15 To the assembled throng that he was much too moved to speak.
16 He learned it from Penelope...
17 Penelope, who really cried.

A. Lines 2-3 because the speaker expresses many sorrows for repeating mistakes made in the past
B. Lines 3-4 because the speaker acknowledges the absurdity of not applying lessons learned from the past
C. Line 7 because the speaker’s longing to change the past causes excessive mourning
D. Lines 8-9because the speaker’s lack of repentance from making mistakes leads to meaningless excuses

EdnaSt. Vincent Millay was born in 1892 in Maine. She grew up to become one of the premier twentieth-century lyric poets. She was also an accomplished playwright and speaker who often travelled around giving readings of her poetry. All of that was in her public life, but her private life was equally interesting. An unconventional childhood led into an unconventional adulthood.

Edna St. Vincent Millay's “An Ancient Gesture” gives the reader a glimpse into a world of personal suffering and a reflection on a tradition related to that distress. While the exact nature of the distress is never revealed, the poem's meditation on a motif from a classical story suggests its outlines.

The line of the poem that creates a tone of remorse and regret most efficiently is:

C. Line 7 because the speaker’s longing to change the past causes excessive mourning