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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

3. What is a "keel" (line 4)?
(a) A part of a ship's steering mechanism, found at the back of the ship.
(b) The central and largest sail on a three-masted 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

15. In the second quatrain of the second stanza, what becomes clear about the speaker's state of mind?
(a) He has not fully accepted the captain's death.
(b) He is actually asleep and only dreaming of the captain's death.
(c) He is afraid that he is in some way responsible for the captain's death.
(d) He hopes to hide the captain's death from the crowd.

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

4. The poem's title and first line contain an example of which technique?

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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