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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. For how long does the narrator say the runaway slave stayed with him in Section 10?

2. The narrator says in Section 24, “I speak the pass-word primeval, I give the sign of” what?

3. How is the girl described that accompanies the youngster “up the bushy hill” in Section 8?

4. The narrator describes “the little one” as sleeping where in the opening of Section 8?

5. To what does the narrator say “I resign myself to you also” in the beginning of Section 21?

Short Essay Questions

1. What comparison of women and men is made by the poet in Section 21?

2. What new journey does the poet embark upon beginning in Section 8 of the poem?

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

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

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

6. For whom does Whitman describe playing victory marches in Section 18?

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

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

9. What does Walt Whitman praise and celebrate in Section 23 of the poem?

10. What imagery is the focus of Section 11 of the poem?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the Native American experience, its culture, and its idealization in the poem. How does the poet refer to the American Indians? What viewpoints does he imbue on tribal belief systems? How are their customs depicted?

Essay Topic 2

Describe and discuss the humanist, realist, and transcendentalist movements in literary history and Walt Whitman’s relationship to each of these movements. How can elements of these literary styles be seen in “Song of Myself”?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Walt Whitman’s depictions of nature versus modernization, science, and technology. Do you think Whitman perceived science as being akin to spirituality? How did his viewpoints in the poem coincide with traditional thought?

(see the answer keys)

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