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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 technique is used in the line "Such as she was, such as she would become" (line 16)?

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

4. Which term most accurately describes the meter of "The Gift Outright"?

5. To what event does the phrase "more than a hundred years/ Before we were her people" obliquely refer?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the poem's title.

2. 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)?

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

What does diction with legal connotations add to "The Gift Outright"? How does diction with religious or sexual overtones add layers of meaning to the poem? How do these three types of diction interact with one another? What else do you observe about this poem's diction: is it formal or informal, abstract or concrete? How does the general diction of the poem create a framework for understanding the legal, sexual, and religious diction? How does the general diction itself help to create meaning? Write an essay in which you make and defend a claim about diction in "The Gift Outright." Support your assertions with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the poem; cite all borrowed language in MLA format.

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