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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 7 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which is the primary definition of "still" being used in the expression "still colonials" in line 5?
(a) Nevertheless.
(b) Quiet.
(c) Unmoving.
(d) Continuing to be.

2. According to the poem's second sentence, how did "we" find "salvation"?
(a) By realizing our own weakness.
(b) By fully surrendering ourselves to the land.
(c) By finding the courage to fight England.
(d) By dedicating ourselves to the Christian God.

3. What technique is used in the line "Such as she was, such as she would become" (line 16)?
(a) Anaphora.
(b) Symbolism.
(c) Chiasmus.
(d) Anadiplosis.

4. What techniques are used in the lines "She was ours/ In Massachusetts, in Virginia" (lines 3-4)?
(a) Asyndeton and apostrophe.
(b) Synecdoche and asyndeton.
(c) Apostrophe and antithesis.
(d) Antithesis and synecdoche.

5. What technique is used in the lines "She was our land more than a hundred years/ Before we were her people" (lines 2-3)?
(a) Symbolism.
(b) Personification.
(c) Alliteration.
(d) Metonymy.

Short Answer Questions

1. What technique is used in line 10, "We were withholding from our land of living"?

2. In line 15, what is the speaker calling "unstoried, artless, unenhanced"?

3. Which technique is used in the first line, "The land was ours before we were the land’s"?

4. What is the antecedent of "it" in the phrase "it was ourselves" (line 9)?

5. Who is the author of "The Gift Outright"?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the form of "The Gift Outright."

2. Explain the synecdoche in line 4, "In Massachusetts, in Virginia."

3. Explain the poem's title.

4. What does the speaker claim makes the colonists "weak," and what is the solution to this weakness (line 8)?

5. To whom is it implied the pronouns "our" and "we" refer in this poem?

6. What is implied by the diction the speaker uses to describe the lands yet to be conquered by American settlers: "unstoried, artless, unenhanced" (line 15)?

7. What does the speaker mean by "the land vaguely realizing westward" (line 14)?

(see the answer keys)

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