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

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

3. What feature of the Captain's face does line 17 focus on?
(a) His brow.
(b) His chin.
(c) His eyes.
(d) His mouth.

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

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

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

7. What is the most common type of metrical foot in "O Captain! My Captain!"?
(a) The iamb.
(b) The spondee.
(c) The dactyl.
(d) The trochee.

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

9. 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) Understatement.
(c) Periphrasis.
(d) Accumulation.

10. What is a "keel" (line 4)?
(a) A part of a ship's steering mechanism, found at the back of the ship.
(b) A flat structure at the bottom of a ship, designed to add stability.
(c) A measurement of the speed a ship is traveling.
(d) The central and largest sail on a three-masted ship.

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

12. In context, the literal meaning of the word "rack" in line two is which of the following?
(a) Battle or confrontation.
(b) Storm or upheaval.
(c) A thorough sorting or sifting.
(d) A metal rod used for hanging things.

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

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

15. 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.

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

4. What does it mean that the people are "exulting"?

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

(see the answer keys)

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