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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. Who does the author say “embody themselves in me and I am embodied in them” at the end of Section 37?

2. The poet proclaims in Section 44, “What is known I” do what to?

3. What is described as “the cataract falling like a veil over my countenance” in Section 33?

4. Section 45 begins, “O span of youth! Ever-push’d” what?

5. What archaic word in Section 31 refers to an ant?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What is implied of “the journey” of life in Section 44?

4. How are “youth” and “age” described in Section 45?

5. How does Whitman address the faults of mankind in Section 32?

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

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

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

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

10. How does Whitman address the vastness of the world in Section 33?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

Discuss Walt Whitman’s depictions of nature versus modernization, science, and technology. Do you think Whitman perceived science as being akin to spirituality? How did his viewpoints in the poem coincide with traditional thought?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

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