Dire poverty is -

a. extreme poverty

b. poverty in money but not in spirit

c. temporary poverty

d. unexpected poverty

explanation:

the silver bells of the sleds are merry and keep time in the winter nights while the sky twinkles happily. the golden bells of weddings are delightful in their peaceful happiness, foretelling a rapturous future. meanwhile, the brazen alarm bells scream frightfully in the night, with a discordant and desperate sound. in their clamor, these bells convey terror, horror, and anger. finally, the iron bells are solemn and melancholy, while those in the church steeple are like ghouls who feel happiness. the king of the ghouls, who rings the bells, cheerfully keeps time with the moaning and groaning bells.

the answer is mary made mudpies on monday.

remember alliteration is the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.  

d. murder of a son and cooking the son for a feast

procne murdered her son and served him to tereus, her husband and her son's father. she did this out of revenge. tereus raped her sister, philomela, and cut her tongue out to keep her from talking. philomela managed to communicate it to procne and procne sought revenge.

tantalus murdered his son and fed him to the gods because he was angry with the gods. the gods punished him by putting him in a pool of water that evaporates when he tries to drink and having fruit hang just out of his reach.

in what passage i'm sorry but i don't see anything there.