View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Which word in lines 15-18 is meant to contrast the impermanent nature of life outside the lovers' relationship with the eternal nature of their love?

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

3. In lines 2 and 3, what does the speaker compare himself and his lover to, before their relationship began?

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

5. What does the speaker say is "waking" in line 8?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. Describe the structure of this poem.

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

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

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

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

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

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 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 2

Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about the poem's use of rhetorical questions. Where do they occur, and what significance does their placement have? What effect do they have on tone, and what larger purpose does this serve? 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 motif of discovery and exploration in "The Good Morrow." How do language and detail choices create this motif? What different aspects of discovery and exploration are invoked? How does this motif support 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.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 939 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample