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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 1: "Harlem Shadows," Lines 1-18.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In line 1, "footsteps of a lass" is an example of which technique?
(a) Onomatopoeia.
(b) Sibilance.
(c) Alliteration.
(d) Synesthesia.

2. In line 16, what word does the speaker use to describe the feet of his own race?
(a) Prideful.
(b) Sacred.
(c) Fearful.
(d) Aching.

3. What ideas are associated with the snow in this poem?
(a) Circumstance, poverty, and innocence.
(b) Punishment, corruption, and justice.
(c) Prejudice, indifference, and suffering.
(d) Heaven, purity, and nature.

4. In lines 2 and 3, the expression "when the night lets fall/ Its veil" is an example of which technique?
(a) Personification.
(b) Antithesis.
(c) Simile.
(d) Paradox.

5. What does the expression "feet of clay" in line 15 refer to?
(a) A hidden character flaw.
(b) Stubbornness and selfishness.
(c) Cowardice and fear.
(d) A delicate, easily-fractured nature.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which two lines of each stanza create a kind of refrain in this poem?

2. Which techniques are evident in line 4, "To bend and barter at desire's call"?

3. Which line most clearly echoes the tension between "little girls" (line 5) and "prowling" (line 6)?

4. What is being referred to with the expression "silver break" (line 7)?

5. What are the sex workers wearing on their feet?

(see the answer key)

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