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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Three of what are “whizzing in a row from three lusty angels with shirts bagg'd out at their waists” in Section 41?

2. The poet describes taking himself “the exact dimensions of” whom, in Section 41?

3. The poet tells the dying in Section 40, “I dilate you with” what?

4. The narrator claims in Section 73, “Not a youngster is taken for” what, “but I go up too, and am tried and sentenced”?

5. The poet claims in Section 38, “I troop forth replenish'd with” what?

Short Essay Questions

1. How are time and eternity defined in Section 44 of the poem?

2. What does the poet remark about animals in the opening of Section 32?

3. What war is described in Sections 35 and 36? How does the poet describe the aftermath of the battle?

4. How does Whitman address the vastness of the world in Section 33?

5. How are the Native Americans depicted in Section 39?

6. How are “youth” and “age” described in Section 45?

7. How does the poet relate truth and nature in Sections 30 and 31?

8. What reaction does the poet have to his circumstances in the opening of Section 38?

9. With what “characters” does the poet relate in Sections 47 and 48 of the poem?

10. How is the motif of the journey described in Section 46 of the poem?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe, analyze, and discuss the sense of “self” and the omniscient “I” presented in “Song of Myself.” How did Whitman’s perception of self in this poem relate to common public perception of the self at this time historically and culturally? How does Whitman’s “self” compare with the Holy Trinity, for example?

Essay Topic 2

Define the following literary terms: rhyme, meter, and form. Using an excerpt from the poem, identify the lines and stanzas as well as analyzing its rhyme and meter (or lack thereof). How does this poem compare to traditional, lyrical poetry? Why do you think Walt Whitman chose to write in this style?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the issues of slavery and race relations in 1855 when the poem was first published. What were Walt Whitman’s political views regarding slavery and the dissention between the North and South at this time? What elements of racial relations have been seen in “Song of Myself”?

(see the answer keys)

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