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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 1: "O Captain! My Captain!" lines 1-24.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which technique is evident in the phrase "for you the flag is flung" (line 10)?
(a) Sibilance.
(b) Alliteration.
(c) Cacophony.
(d) Assonance.

2. Who is the speaker of the poem?
(a) A soldier.
(b) A sailor.
(c) A doctor.
(d) A writer.

3. Who is the author of "O Captain! my Captain!"?
(a) Walt Whitman.
(b) Ralph Waldo Emerson.
(c) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
(d) William Cullen Bryant.

4. 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)?
(a) Conceit.
(b) Chorus.
(c) Refrain.
(d) Verse.

5. What is a "keel" (line 4)?
(a) A flat structure at the bottom of a ship, designed to add stability.
(b) A measurement of the speed a ship is traveling.
(c) A part of a ship's steering mechanism, found at the back of the ship.
(d) The central and largest sail on a three-masted ship.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What does the phrase "swaying mass" refer to (line 12)?

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

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

5. The poem's title and first line contain an example of which technique?

(see the answer key)

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