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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. Who does Whitman see eating the bread of his last supper in the midst of youths and old persons?

2. What is flying aloft as the ship begins to go out into the sea in "The Ship Starting"?

3. What is NOT a word which is used to describe the poets Whitman says are still to come in the world?

4. From Whitman's breast, he says that he has concealed confession drops. What color are these drops?

5. Whitman proposes that grass is the ___________ of the Lord, when he contemplates it as a child.

Short Essay Questions

1. What parts of the United States structure does Whitman have a lot of respect for?

2. What does Whitman have to say about the pain of loving a man or a woman in great excess?

3. What does the author feel about the idea of being present in the here and in the now?

4. What is so strange about the idea that Whitman is so fervently patriotic in the poems he has written? When was Whitman born in relation to the 'birth' of the United States?

5. What does Whitman reveal about a lover who spoke of acceptance within one of his poems?

6. What does Whitman describe his understanding of Adam's first experience when walking in the Garden of Eden?

7. How does Whitman describe the touches of the lover as they are making love in the grass with each other?

8. What are some of the poet's feelings about the idea of mortality, according to the poems he writes?

9. Where was Whitman born, and how does that place affect him?

10. What are some of the similar points of religions which Whitman points out for the reader?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Whitman talks a lot about the idea of democracy and how it differs today from the way it began.

Part 1: How do you see democracy working in today's world?

Part 2: Do you think democracy is an effective system of making decisions and governing people?

Part 3: Why do you think Whitman wants to talk about democracy in his poems?

Essay Topic 2

The author is also sure that the wonderful United States is prosperous now, but that it will encounter a time of problems.

Part 1: Why do you think Whitman wants to point out that the U.S. is going to have troubles in the future?

Part 2: Do you think that Whitman was correct in his prediction?

Part 3: Why do you think Whitman wanted to discuss the idea of a possible unkind fate in the future?

Essay Topic 3

People are not always what they seem, according to Whitman, and few would disagree.

Part 1: Why do you think Whitman wanted to be clear that no one is what they seem?

Part 2: Do you think you would tell a lover or friend that you are not what you appear?

Part 3: How would you react if someone told you that not all is what it seems to be?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 757 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample