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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 8 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which term describes the use of the word "beauty" in line 6?

2. Line 11, "And makes one little room an everywhere," contains an example of which technique?

3. What imperfection does line 18 suggest exists in the real northern hemisphere?

4. In line 14, "Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one," what two things are being compared?

5. What kind of fear is the speaker referring to in line 9?

Short Essay Questions

1. What element of hyperbole is contained in the poem's allusion to the Seven Sleepers?

2. Explain how the conceit of exploration is incorporated into the speaker's argument in stanza two.

3. Where is this poem set, and what is happening there?

4. Describe the structure of this poem.

5. Explain how the conceit of dreaming unifies the first stanza.

6. Explain the poem's allusion to the Seven Sleepers.

7. Explain the rhetorical purpose of the image that begins the third stanza.

8. Explain the poem's final conceit about the hemispheres of a planet.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about the poem's religious overtones. What diction choices have religious connotations? How do the allusion to the Seven Sleepers and the poem's motif of awakenings support the poem's religious aspect? How is the rising sun related to Christian religious symbolism? Be sure to make clear how the religious overtones in the poem support its overall meaning. Support your ideas with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the poem's text. Cite your evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about the impact of Donne's choice to frame his poem as an apostrophe to the beloved. What is an apostrophe? How does the reader recognize that the poem is an apostrophe to the beloved? What impact does this choice have on tone? How does this choice support the poem's claims about an all-consuming love? Support your ideas with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the poem's text. Cite your evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about the poem's tone. How would you describe the tone? Does it shift? What techniques create it? How does it contribute to the poem's overall meaning? Support your ideas with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the poem's text. Cite your evidence in MLA format.

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