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

2. By which other term, besides "Captain," does the speaker address the captain of the ship?
(a) Father.
(b) Brother.
(c) Leader.
(d) Master.

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 is actually asleep and only dreaming of the captain's death.
(c) He hopes to hide the captain's death from the crowd.
(d) He has not fully accepted the captain's death.

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

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) Understatement.
(b) Paraprosdokian.
(c) Periphrasis.
(d) Accumulation.

Short Answer Questions

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

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

3. 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)?

4. Line 6, "O the bleeding drops of red," is an example of which technique?

5. What is a "keel" (line 4)?

(see the answer key)

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