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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

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

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

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

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

5. Who is the author of "O Captain! my Captain!"?

(see the answer keys)

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