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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. What is alluded to in the phrase "the land vaguely realizing westward" (line 14)?
(a) The Westward expansion of the United States.
(b) The American Civil War.
(c) The Louisiana Purchase.
(d) The forced resettlement of Native peoples.

2. Which term most accurately describes the meter of "The Gift Outright"?
(a) Ballad meter.
(b) Free verse.
(c) Heroic verse.
(d) Blank verse.

3. 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) Antithesis and synecdoche.
(d) Apostrophe and antithesis.

4. The repetition of the word "deed" in line 13 is an example of which technique?
(a) Anadiplosis.
(b) Antanaclasis.
(c) Epizeuxis.
(d) Epistrophe.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What does line 12 make clear is the "Gift" in the title "The Gift Outright"?

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

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

4. What techniques are used in the lines "Possessing what we still were unpossessed by,/ Possessed by what we now no more possessed" (lines 6-7)?

5. Which is the primary definition of "still" being used in the expression "still colonials" in line 5?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

5. Explain the poem's title.

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

(see the answer keys)

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