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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 7 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. 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)?

2. According to the poem's second sentence, how did "we" find "salvation"?

3. The repetition of the word "deed" in line 13 is an example of which technique?

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

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. 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)?

4. Explain the poem's title.

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Alabama poet laureate Ashley M. Jones begins her poem "Friendly Skies, or, Black Woman Speaks Herself into God" with the following verse paragraph:

"—we’re taxiing at an airport named after american president ronald reagan. people tell me he was an american hero. sometimes, labels are jumbled in the big dark bag we call manifest destiny. sometimes, things get lost in its velvet mouth."

What do you suppose Jones means when she refers to the "velvet mouth" of manifest destiny? How does skillful rhetoric--evocative diction, rhythmic language, carefully chosen detail, etc.--help to create that "velvet mouth"? Write an essay in which you analyze the "velvet mouth" of "The Gift Outright," demonstrating how Frost's skillful use of language creates an emotional appeal that obscures some of the less appealing facts of American history. Support your assertions with evidence from "The Gift Outright." Cite any borrowed language in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

What other patriotic poems have you read or heard? Do these, like "The Gift Outright," skirt past painful facts in order to celebrate a nation's achievements? Are there patriotic poems that are able to acknowledge a nation's faults, or would this make them no longer "patriotic"? Choose a poem that is widely considered to be "patriotic" and compare it to "The Gift Outright," analyzing the extent to which either poem is able to present a balanced and realistic picture of the nation it celebrates. In your conclusion, comment on the purposes of patriotic poetry and whether "balance" and "realism" are desirable qualities in this genre of poetry. Support your assertions with evidence from both poems, and cite all sources in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

Is it possible to make the argument that "The Gift Outright" acknowledges that the conquest of the land through war has contributed something unsavory to the American character? Consider the complex construction of line 13 in this light. Then, think about the possible meanings of "Such as we were" in line 12. When Frost ends the poem with "Such as she was, such as she would become," does this imply that "we" would also "become" something new, as human beings? On the other hand, even if this is implied, is the poem really saying that what "we" would become is something negative? Does the land become something negative? Does the idea of finding "salvation" completely negate the possibility that the transformation of the American character has unsavory elements? Write an essay in which you affirm, refute, or qualify the following statement: "Robert Frost's poem "The Gift Outright" celebrates the formation and expansion of the United States while still acknowledging that the violence required to create and expand the nation has left an unpleasant imprint on the American character." Support your assertions with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the poem; cite all borrowed language in MLA format.

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