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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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) Verse.
(b) Refrain.
(c) Conceit.
(d) Chorus.

2. 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) Periphrasis.
(d) Paraprosdokian.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

10. What is the rhyme pattern of the first four lines of each stanza?
(a) ABCB.
(b) AABB.
(c) ABBA.
(d) ABAC.

11. What is the most accurate way to describe the poem's stanza form?
(a) Double quatrain.
(b) Sestet.
(c) Double tercet.
(d) Octave.

12. 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 not yet aware that the captain has died.
(b) The speaker realizes that the captain is not actually dead yet.
(c) The speaker is having trouble accepting what has happened.
(d) The speaker is addressing the captain's spirit or ghost.

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

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

15. Line 4, "While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring," contains examples of which techniques?
(a) Simie and alliteration.
(b) Personification and simile.
(c) Synecdoche and personification.
(d) Alliteration and synecdoche.

Short Answer Questions

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

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

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

4. What feature of the Captain's face does line 17 focus on?

5. In context, the literal meaning of the word "rack" in line two is which of the following?

(see the answer keys)

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