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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 what does the narrator exclaim “Hurrah!” for in Section 23?

2. Section 17 ends with the line, “This is the common air that bathes” what?

3. With whom does the narrator describe spending “that day round the chowder-kettle” in Section 10?

4. The narrator claims in Section 7, “I pass death with the dying and birth with the new-wash’d babe, and am not contain’d between my” what?

5. Of what does the narrator say in Section 23, “it alone rounds and completes all, that mystic baffling wonder alone completes all”?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the poet relate the quality of “aroma” and of the air in Section 2?

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

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

4. How does the poet define “I” and “you” in response to his own questions in Section 20?

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

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

7. What foreshadowing is exhibited in Section 1 of the poem? How is the universal “I” set up in this section?

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

9. What is Whitman’s “advice” to the reader in Section 11 of the poem?

10. What symbolism and metaphor are illustrated in Section 9 of the poem?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and discuss the marriage of the trapper to the “red girl” in Section 10. What is the implied cultural history of the bride and her family? How does the poet describe the customs of the Native Americans in this section of the poem?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the sexual and sensual qualities of the poem “Song of Myself.” Where was the poem and the collection Leaves of Grass banned for its explicit depiction of human sexuality? When were these bans lifted? How did Whitman respond to his work being banned?

Essay Topic 3

Define “assonance” and “alliteration” and give examples of each in the poem. Why does the poet choose to employ these techniques? What effect to the commonality of the sounds have on the reader?

(see the answer keys)

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