View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What advice does the narrator give to the “dear son” in Section 46?
(a) “Imagine the future.”
(b) “Face the east.”
(c) “Buck up and get ready.”
(d) “Shoulder your duds.”

2. What Norse god does Whitman describe in Section 41?
(a) Odin.
(b) Belus.
(c) Brahma.
(d) Osiris.

3. To whom does the narrator say the sentries have left him helpless in Section 28?
(a) “God.”
(b) “A cutthroat gambler.”
(c) “A red marauder.”
(d) “The devil.”

4. What “send their old heat against my approach,” according to the poet in Section 31?
(a) “The grains of sand.”
(b) “The vacant air.”
(c) “The plutonic rocks.”
(d) “The willowy trees.”

5. The poet claims in Section 38, “I troop forth replenish'd with” what?
(a) “Gained knowledge.”
(b) “Supreme power.”
(c) “Nutritious food.”
(d) “Infinite energy.”

Short Answer Questions

1. The narrator tells “the tale of the murder in cold blood of” how many young men in Section 34?

2. The narrator claims in Section 32, “I think I could turn and live with animals, they’re so placid and” what?

3. The narrator offers “biscuits to eat” and what to drink to the “dear son” in Section 46?

4. What does the poet say he opens at night to “see the far-sprinkled systems” in Section 45?

5. The narrator describes the judge in Section 26 as “with hands tight to the desk, his pallid lips pronouncing” what?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the poet relate truth and nature in Sections 30 and 31?

2. How are time and eternity defined in Section 44 of the poem?

3. What is the purpose of the religious allusion in Sections 41 and 42 of the poem?

4. How are the Native Americans depicted in Section 39?

5. How does Whitman address the vastness of the world in Section 33?

6. With what individuals does the poet relate in Section 33?

7. What does the poet tell the world’s “priests” in Section 43?

8. How is the motif of the journey described in Section 46 of the poem?

9. With what “characters” does the poet relate in Sections 47 and 48 of the poem?

10. What conclusions does the poet reach in Section 31?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 835 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample