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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Which technique is evident in line 10, "Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills"?

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

3. What is the most common type of metrical foot in "O Captain! My Captain!"?

4. What is the most accurate way to describe the poem's stanza form?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. What elements of the poem's diction establish a warm and personal relationship between the speaker and the captain?

2. Explain the allegorical nature of the poem's central conceit.

3. Describe the form of "O Captain! My Captain!"

4. What ironic contrast do the poem's images highlight?

5. What evidence is there that the speaker is struggling to understand and process the captain's death?

(see the answer keys)

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