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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Line 4, "While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring," contains examples of which techniques?

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

4. In the second quatrain of the second stanza, what becomes clear about the speaker's state of mind?

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

(see the answer keys)

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