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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. The narrator remarks that “That man does not know, / he whose lot is fairest on land, / how I, wretched with care, dwelt all winter / on the ice-cold sea in the paths of exile, / deprived of dear kinsmen, / hung with icicles of frost while hail flew in showers” (ll. 12-17). The sentence offers an example of which of the following?
(a) Curling.
(b) Cunning.
(c) Kenning.
(d) Künstlerroman.

2. To which genre does “The Seafarer” belong?
(a) Elegy.
(b) Euphemism.
(c) Epic.
(d) Exegesis.

3. In line 29, “proud and puffed up with wine, what I, weary,” how many relatively stressed / emphasized syllables are present?
(a) 2.
(b) 4.
(c) 3.
(d) 5.

4. In line 29, the description “proud and puffed up with wine” is a descriptor meaning which of the following?
(a) Obtuse.
(b) Heavyset.
(c) Intoxicated.
(d) Exultant.

5. In line 17, “hung with icicles of frost while hail flew in showers,” how many relatively stressed / emphasized syllables are present?
(a) 3.
(b) 5.
(c) 2.
(d) 4

6. In line 37, “time and again to travel, so that I might seek,” how many times is the DOMINANT alliteration iterated?
(a) 5.
(b) 2.
(c) 3.
(d) 4.

7. In the phrase “were my feet, bound by frost” (l. 9), which of the following words receives relative stress / emphasis?
(a) Were.
(b) Feet.
(c) Bound.
(d) My.

8. The narrator notes suffering in which of the following (ll. 27-30)?
(a) Ceasing.
(b) Shackling.
(c) Sunbathing.
(d) Seafaring.

9. The second sentence of the poem reads “Pinched with cold / were my feet, bound by frost / in cold fetters, while cares seethed / hot around my heart, hunger tore from within / my sea-weary mind” (ll. 8-12). The sentence offers an example of which of the following?
(a) Pointillism.
(b) Paradox.
(c) Passant.
(d) Parallelism.

10. Which of the following does the narrator link to the noise of the sea (ll. 18-19)?
(a) The rolling tide.
(b) The leaping dolphins.
(c) The surging surf.
(d) The ice-cold waves.

11. The narrator remarks that “the wild swan’s song / sometimes served as my music, the gannet’s call / and the curlew’s cry for the laughter of men, / the seagull’s singing for mead-drink” (ll. 19-22). The passage offers an example of which of the following?
(a) Juxtaposition.
(b) Carcinization.
(c) Justification.
(d) Superposition.

12. In which collection does “The Seafarer” appear?
(a) The Exeter Book.
(b) The Voynich Manuscript.
(c) The Winchester Manuscript.
(d) The Vercelli Book.

13. The narrator remarks that “Storms beat the stone cliffs where the tern answered them, / icy-feathered; often the eagle screamed, / dewy-feathered” (ll. 23-25). The passage offers an example of which of the following?
(a) Aphorism.
(b) Anaphora.
(c) Allegory.
(d) Anagram.

14. The narrator suggests that the seafarer of the title is which of the following (ll. 35-38)?
(a) His spirit.
(b) The man in town.
(c) The narrator.
(d) God.

15. Which of the following does the narrator “come to know / on the keel of a ship” (ll. 5-6)?
(a) Car selling.
(b) Care's dwellings.
(c) Coarse dwellings.
(d) Care's swellings.

Short Answer Questions

1. To what end does the narrator note he is driven (ll. 36-38)?

2. The narrator describes hail as which of the following (ll. 32-33)?

3. The phrase “in days of toil / I’ve often suffered troubled times, / hard heartache” (ll. 2-4) offers examples of which of the following?

4. How many stressed / emphasized syllables occur in the opening comment of the poem, “I sing a true song of myself” (l. 1)?

5. The narrator remarks that none “could bring consolation to my desolate soul” (l. 26). How many relatively stressed / emphasized syllables are in the line?

(see the answer keys)

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