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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 5 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. Which is the best interpretation of line 9, when the speaker urges "O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells"?
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. Which technique is evident in line 10, "Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills"?
4. What is the rhyme pattern of the first four lines of each stanza?
5. In context, the literal meaning of the word "rack" in line two is which of the following?
Short Essay Questions
1. What ironic contrast do the poem's images highlight?
2. Explain the allegorical nature of the poem's central conceit.
3. What elements of the poem's diction establish a warm and personal relationship between the speaker and the captain?
4. What evidence is there that the speaker is struggling to understand and process the captain's death?
5. Describe the form of "O Captain! My Captain!"
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Write an essay that considers the following: what message does the poem's central conceit send about the necessity of any one individual--even a president--to a collective effort like the preservation of the Union? Offer evidence from the poem to support your claims, and if you use outside sources for information related to the poem's historical background, be sure to cite these in MLA format.
Essay Topic 2
Go online and read Whitman's poem "When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom’d." This poem was also written to memorialize President Lincoln. Write an essay that compares and contrasts the themes of this poem and that of "O Captain! My Captain!" Support your assertions about each poem's theme with evidence from the text of both poems.
Essay Topic 3
Write an essay that analyzes Whitman's use of synecdoche and metonymy in "O Captain! My Captain!" Identify where these techniques are used in the poem and explain the meaning of each instance. Then, explore the relationship these techniques assert between individuals and groups and tie this to the poem's overall meaning.
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This section contains 738 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) |
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