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

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

3. In the second quatrain of the second stanza, what becomes clear about the speaker's state of mind?
(a) He is afraid that he is in some way responsible for the captain's death.
(b) He hopes to hide the captain's death from the crowd.
(c) He has not fully accepted the captain's death.
(d) He is actually asleep and only dreaming of the captain's death.

4. Which technique is evident in line 10, "Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills"?
(a) Antistrophe.
(b) Antimetabole.
(c) Antithesis.
(d) Anaphora.

5. 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.

Short Answer Questions

1. Line 5, " But O heart! heart! heart!" is an example of which technique?

2. Where is the ship in the beginning of the poem?

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

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

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

(see the answer key)

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