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

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

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

4. What is alluded to in the phrase "the land vaguely realizing westward" (line 14)?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Explain the poem's title.

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

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

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 claim makes the colonists "weak," and what is the solution to this weakness (line 8)?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How is Amanda Gorman's poem similar to and different from "The Gift Outright"? How do the poems' similarities reflect the cultural significance of presidential inaugurations? How do their differences reflect changing times? Write an essay in which you analyze what the similarities and differences in the meaning and tone of these poems convey about what changes and what remains the same in the meaning and tone of presidential inaugurations. Support your assertions with evidence drawn from both poems; cite all sources in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

What is the theme of "The Gift Outright"? What is the poem's subject matter, and what claim about Americans and the land does it advance? What is the poem's tone, and how is it created? How do the poem's diction and its use of chiasmus, parallelism, and repetition contribute to its meaning? How does line 13 impact the poem's overall meaning? To what extent does "The Gift Outright" either acknowledge or elide the violence integral to the nation's foundation and expansion? Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about the theme of this poem. Support your assertions with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the poem; cite all borrowed language in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

What spiritual claims does "The Gift Outright" make about the foundation and expansion of the American nation? How does diction like "surrender" and "salvation" advance its spiritual claim? What hidden premises are introduced into Frost's argument by the implied spiritual claims being made in this poem? If these hidden premises are disputed, does this weaken the overall effect of the argument being made in "The Gift Outright"? Write an essay that analyzes the poem's spiritual claims and considers how these claims impact the poem's overall argument. Support your assertions with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the poem; cite all borrowed language in MLA format.

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