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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 details in the second stanza evoke a patriotic occasion?
(a) The flag and bugle.
(b) The bouquets and wreaths.
(c) The captain and the bells.
(d) The crowd and the shore.

2. 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) Full of frightening obstacles.
(c) A metaphor for an internal struggle.
(d) A bad idea from the beginning.

3. Line 5, " But O heart! heart! heart!" is an example of which technique?
(a) Paradox.
(b) Aphorism.
(c) Apostrophe.
(d) Euphemism.

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

5. 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.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. By which other term, besides "Captain," does the speaker address the captain of the ship?

3. Which technique is evident in the phrase "for you the flag is flung" (line 10)?

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

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

(see the answer key)

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