View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 5 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What feature of the Captain's face does line 17 focus on?

2. In context, the word "fearful" in line 1 indicates that the trip was which of the following?

3. What is a "keel" (line 4)?

4. The list of ways the crowd is celebrating the arrival of the ship in lines 9-12 is an example of which technique?

5. Where is the ship in the beginning of the poem?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Go online and read Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "Autumn: A Dirge." Write an essay comparing and contrasting the mournful and song-like features of this poem with those in "O Captain! My Captain!" Offer both quoted and paraphrased evidence from both poems in defense of your observations.

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

How does Whitman's use of musical devices support the poem's theme? Write an essay that identifies where Whitman uses assonance, consonance, and alliteration and explains the effect these devices create. Then, tie Whitman's use of these devices to the poem's larger thematic concerns.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 707 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample