1. The list of ways the crowd is celebrating the arrival of the ship in lines 9-12 is an example of which technique?
(a) Accumulation.
(b) Understatement.
(c) Paraprosdokian.
(d) Periphrasis.

2. What does the phrase "swaying mass" refer to (line 12)?
(a) The crowd.
(b) The flag.
(c) The ship.
(d) The captain.

3. Where is the ship in the beginning of the poem?
(a) Docked in the port.
(b) Just leaving the port.
(c) Just coming into port.
(d) On the open sea.

4. Line 4, "While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring," contains examples of which techniques?
(a) Personification and simile.
(b) Simie and alliteration.
(c) Synecdoche and personification.
(d) Alliteration and synecdoche.

5. In context, the literal meaning of the word "rack" in line two is which of the following?
(a) A thorough sorting or sifting.
(b) Battle or confrontation.
(c) A metal rod used for hanging things.
(d) Storm or upheaval.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which term describes the poem's repeated use of the phrases "O Captain! My Captain!" (lines 1 and 9) and "fallen cold and dead" (lines 8, 16, and 24)?

2. What is the most common type of metrical foot in "O Captain! My Captain!"?

3. What does it mean that the people are "exulting"?

4. Which is the best interpretation of line 9, when the speaker urges "O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells"?

5. Which details in the second stanza evoke a patriotic occasion?

(see the answer key)

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