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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. The narrator asserts in Section 20, “In all people I see” what?
2. The narrator makes a statement equating stoutness with what animal in Section 3?
3. From where does the narrator describe following the movements of the men with sledges and hammers in the end of Section 12?
4. Who does the “red girl” marry in Section 10?
5. The narrator says in Section 20, “Having pried through the strata, analyzed to a hair, counsel'd with doctors and calculated close, I find no sweeter fat than sticks to my own” what?
Short Essay Questions
1. Over what elements does the poet describe Earth reigning in Section 21?
2. What is Whitman’s “advice” to the reader in Section 11 of the poem?
3. What is the poet’s implication with the following lines from Section 4: “There was never any more inception than there is now, Nor any more youth or age than there is now”?
4. What motif reappears in Section 17? Why does the poet use this motif here?
5. What motif returns to the narrative in Section 6? How is this motif examined here?
6. What foreshadowing is exhibited in Section 1 of the poem? How is the universal “I” set up in this section?
7. Whom does the poet invite to eat the meal in Section 19?
8. What does the “twenty-ninth bather” represent metaphorically in Section 11?
9. What comparison of women and men is made by the poet in Section 21?
10. What new journey does the poet embark upon beginning in Section 8 of the poem?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Discuss the elements of “realism” in lines such as the following from Section 15: “The lunatic is carried at last to the asylum a confirm'd case, (He will never sleep any more as he did in the cot in his mother's bedroom).” How and why do lines such as these stand out amongst popular poetry of the 1850s? What does this line signify metaphorically?
Essay Topic 2
Discuss the poet’s references to the Texas War of Independence. What were Whitman’s political views regarding the war? How many soldiers died in the battles? How does Whitman describe the Battle of the Alamo in this section of the poem? What central battle is his focus?
Essay Topic 3
Discuss Whitman’s exploration of the sense of touch in “Song of Myself.” How does the poet describe the touch of others? What symbols and motifs examine touch? What sexual descriptions does Whitman use regarding the sense of touch?
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This section contains 929 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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