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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. What are described as “making a rush for my veins” in Section 28?

2. Who is described as the son of Kronos in Section 41?

3. The poet says in Section 46, “No friend of mine takes his ease” where?

4. The narrator asserts in Section 31 that “the narrowest hinge in my hand puts to scorn all” what?

5. The poet asks the reader in the opening of Section 35, “Would you hear of an old-time” what?

Short Essay Questions

1. What setting does the narrator take the reader to in Section 34?

2. What does the poet remark about animals in the opening of Section 32?

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

4. To what are flames compared in Section 28? Why?

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

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

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

8. Which of the five senses is introduced in Section 27? What animal is cited in this section?

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

10. What events take place in the battle described in Section 34 of the poem?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss Walt Whitman’s explorations of sound and speech in “Song of Myself.” What are examples of onomatopoeia? How does Whitman’s depiction of sound affect the reader? What animal and human sounds does he describe?

Essay Topic 2

Define “religious allusion” in literature and give examples of religious allusion in the poem. Where does the poet’s wording borderline upon Christian or other religious texts? Why does Whitman choose to incorporate religious allusion in the poem?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the setting of the country barn and the poet’s depiction of harvest time in Section 9. What is being loaded on the wagon and how what symbolism does this crop imply? How is the crop related to the other symbolic motifs in the poem?

(see the answer keys)

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