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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the title of the poem which begins "forms, qualities, lives, humanity, language, thoughts...."?
(a) Germs.
(b) Notions.
(c) Ideas.
(d) Truths.

2. Who does Whitman say that he does not forget, not in the summer or in the winter?
(a) Heroes.
(b) Words.
(c) Departed.
(d) Children.

3. For what time of the year does Whitman write a warble, in the form of a poem for in the "Autumn Rivulets" section?
(a) Lilac.
(b) Autumn.
(c) Spring.
(d) Winter.

4. Who does Whitman beckon to toil on, to harvest the products even though they are not alone in the fields?
(a) Women.
(b) Children.
(c) Heroes.
(d) Presidents.

5. The child and her father are looking in the _____ at the autumn skin in "On the Beach at Night."
(a) South.
(b) North.
(c) West.
(d) East.

Short Answer Questions

1. Whitman asks in his poems who may have learned the ______________ of the lessons that he has to teach.

2. Even those, Whitman says, that know unrequited ________ can sleep, as do prisoners.

3. Whitman says that he often looks up at the perfect __________ of the stars during walks in the night.

4. Though Whitman says he paints myriads of heads, he also says that he paints head without a ________.

5. What is the powerful machine which is moving through the snow with its vapor-pennants tinged with delicate purple?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is the plowman used in reference and as a metaphor for death in Whitman's poem?

2. To what are the tides of the ocean compared to in life, according to the poems of Whitman?

3. Why is it sad when one of the birds in a couple dies and the other one does not know it?

4. How does Whitman describe Paumanok in the spring when he writes the poem "Sea-Drift"?

5. Why does Whitman pay homage to the young pioneers who forged ahead to find homes for themselves?

6. To whom does Whitman appear to give his spirit to, though this person is never mentioned by name in a poem?

7. What is an endless source of inspiration for poetry, according to the poems which the poet has created?

8. Who are the phantoms to which Whitman refers in his poems about love being lost?

9. How is the meteor used as a metaphor in the poem called, "Year of Meteors," which Whitman has written?

10. Whose philosophies does Whitman respect without any exceptions, according to the writing?

(see the answer keys)

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