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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 poet says in Section 31, “In vain the buzzard houses herself with” what?

2. The poet claims in Section 47, “I swear I will never again mention” what “inside a house”?

3. What creature “is whistling betwixt the woods and the wheatlot” in Section 33?

4. The narrator states in Section 46, “My signs are a rain-proof coat, good shoes, and” what?

5. The poet asserts in Section 25, “Come now I will not be tantalized, you conceive too much of” what?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the central message in Section 29 of the poem?

2. What reaction does the poet have to his circumstances in the opening of Section 38?

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

4. Why and how does Whitman turn to the sense of sound in Section 26?

5. What have the “sentries” done, according to the narrator in Section 28?

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

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

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

9. What does the poet question and attempt to answer in Section 40 of the poem?

10. In what way is the concept of “rebirth” illustrated in Section 38?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Discuss the symbolism of the blade of grass that Whitman uses throughout “Song of Myself.” What have critics and scholars associated this motif with symbolically? How many times does the poet refer to the blade of grass in the poem? How does the grass relate to human existence?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss Walt Whitman’s comparisons of those things that appear minute and/or mundane with those that appear vast and overshadowing. What is the poet’s point in these illustrations in Section 31? What conclusions does the poet reach?

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