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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. In context, the word "fearful" in line 1 indicates that the trip was which of the following?
(a) The cause of the captain's death.
(b) A bad idea from the beginning.
(c) Full of frightening obstacles.
(d) A metaphor for an internal struggle.

2. Line 6, "O the bleeding drops of red," is an example of which technique?
(a) Conceit.
(b) Imagery.
(c) Oxymoron.
(d) Metonymy.

3. The poem's title and first line contain an example of which technique?
(a) Personification.
(b) Simile.
(c) Synechdoche.
(d) Apostrophe.

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

5. Which is the best interpretation of line 9, when the speaker urges "O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells"?
(a) The speaker is addressing the captain's spirit or ghost.
(b) The speaker is having trouble accepting what has happened.
(c) The speaker realizes that the captain is not actually dead yet.
(d) The speaker is not yet aware that the captain has died.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the most accurate way to describe the poem's stanza form?

2. What is the rhyme pattern of the first four lines of each stanza?

3. Who is the speaker of the poem?

4. What type of rhyme is employed in line 20, "From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won"?

5. Which technique is evident in line 10, "Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills"?

(see the answer key)

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