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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

7. In the second quatrain of the second stanza, what becomes clear about the speaker's state of mind?
(a) He is actually asleep and only dreaming of 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 afraid that he is in some way responsible for the captain's death.

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

9. 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) A thorough sorting or sifting.
(c) Battle or confrontation.
(d) Storm or upheaval.

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

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

12. What does it mean that the people are "exulting"?
(a) They are quietly watchful.
(b) They are cheering excitedly.
(c) They are crying out in grief.
(d) They are drinking and celebrating.

13. Where is the ship in the beginning of the poem?
(a) Just leaving the port.
(b) Just coming into port.
(c) On the open sea.
(d) Docked in the port.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the phrase "swaying mass" refer to (line 12)?

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

3. Which details in the second stanza evoke a patriotic occasion?

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

5. Line 5, " But O heart! heart! heart!" is an example of which technique?

(see the answer keys)

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