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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The narrator describes “the little one” as sleeping where in the opening of Section 8?
(a) “The bed.”
(b) “The bathtub.”
(c) “A basket.”
(d) “Its cradle.”

2. For how long does the narrator say the runaway slave stayed with him in Section 10?
(a) A month.
(b) A day.
(c) A week.
(d) A year.

3. The narrator asserts in Section 21, “I am not the poet of goodness only, I do not decline to be the poet of” what also?
(a) “Destruction.”
(b) “Lies.”
(c) “Wickedness.”
(d) “Deceit.”

4. The narrator claims in Section 2 that the atmosphere “has no taste of” what?
(a) “The concentration.”
(b) “The reconciliation.”
(c) “The emancipation.”
(d) “The distillation.”

5. What character is “sold at the auction-stand” in Section 15?
(a) The Polish boy.
(b) The Mexican girl.
(c) The quadroon girl.
(d) The Asian girl.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the opening of Section 20, the narrator says, “Who goes there? Hankering, gross, mystical” and what?

2. What color shirt is “the negro” wearing in Section 13?

3. The narrator claims “I do not trouble my spirit to vindicate itself or” what, in Section 20?

4. The narrator claims in Section 15, “The married and unmarried children ride home to their” what?

5. Which word from Section 12 means “limber” or “flexible”?

Short Essay Questions

1. After calling out to the Earth in Section 21, what does Whitman address in Section 22?

2. How is “the lunatic” described in Section 15 of the poem?

3. What is Whitman’s conclusion regarding “failure” in Section 18?

4. What does the “twenty-ninth bather” represent metaphorically in Section 11?

5. What is the metaphorical meaning in the following lines from Section 7: “Has any one supposed it lucky to be born? / I hasten to inform him or her it is just as lucky to die, and I know it.”?

6. What does Whitman conclude of the quality of “presence” in Section 3?

7. How does the poet relate with the “wild gander” in Section 14?

8. What “characters” does the poet embody in Section 10?

9. What Christian allusion can be seen in the opening of Section 21?

10. With whom does the poet relate in the beginning of Section 16?

(see the answer keys)

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