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

2. What animal is “searching for roots or honey” in Section 33?

3. The narrator says in Section 34 that he will now tell what he knew in what location in early youth?

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

5. Three of what are “whizzing in a row from three lusty angels with shirts bagg'd out at their waists” in Section 41?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. With what “characters” does the poet relate in Sections 47 and 48 of the poem?

5. How are the Native Americans depicted in Section 39?

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

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

8. What sense and expression is discussed in the opening of Section 25?

9. What conclusions does the poet reach in Section 31?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Define and discuss “metaphor” and “simile” in literature and poetry. Using an excerpt from “Song of Me,” show the different metaphors and similes in the poem. How does the poet use these comparisons as a way to explain? How do the metaphors and similes in the early parts of the poem help to establish the poem’s mood and tone?

Essay Topic 2

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?

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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