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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

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

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

5. Which details in the second stanza evoke a patriotic occasion?
(a) The crowd and the shore.
(b) The captain and the bells.
(c) The flag and bugle.
(d) The bouquets and wreaths.

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

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

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

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

10. What type of rhyme is employed in line 20, "From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won"?
(a) Near rhyme.
(b) Internal rhyme.
(c) Identical rhyme.
(d) Eye rhyme.

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

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

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

14. 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) Periphrasis.
(c) Understatement.
(d) Paraprosdokian.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the rhyme pattern of the first four lines of each stanza?

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

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

4. Who is the speaker of the poem?

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)?

(see the answer keys)

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