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

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

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

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

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

5. 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)?

6. Explain the poem's title.

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

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

How do repetition and alliteration support the tone of "The Gift Outright"? Do they serve other purposes, such as creating emphasis or clarifying the relationships among ideas? Write an essay in which you describe how these two techniques are used in the poem and analyze how they contribute to both tone and meaning. Support your assertions with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the poem; cite all borrowed language in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

Read Frost's poem "Mending Wall" (widely available online). What is the speaker's attitude toward order, rules, and the uncritical acceptance of tradition? What does his neighbor seem to believe about the possession of land, and how does the speaker react to this belief? What is he really suggesting to his neighbor when he says that it might be elves who have broken the wall? Is the attitude of the speaker of "The Gift Outright" similar or different? What does this speaker's use of legal language convey about his belief in "law and order"? What does he seem to believe about the uncritical acceptance of tradition? What does he seem to believe about the possession of land? How is this related to the poem's hidden premises and the beliefs suggested by the poem's final two lines? Write an essay in which you make and defend a claim about a significant similarity or difference in the attitudes of these two speakers towards traditional notions of order, land ownership, or some other concept central to the argument advanced by "The Gift Outright." Support your assertions with evidence drawn from both poems; cite all sources in MLA format.

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