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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

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

4. 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.

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

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) Synecdoche and personification.
(d) Alliteration and synecdoche.

7. 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.

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

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

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

11. 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.

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

13. 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 addressing the captain's spirit or ghost.
(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 not yet aware that the captain has died.

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

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

Short Answer 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?

2. 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)?

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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