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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In the sentence “And so he who has tasted life’s joy in towns, / suffered few sad journeys, scarcely believes, / proud and puffed up with wine, what I, weary, / have often had to endure in my seafaring” (ll. 27-30), which of the following does NOT describe the “he” upon whom the narrator remarks?
(a) Proud and puffed up with wine.
(b) Has tasted life's joy in towns.
(c) Suffered few sad journeys.
(d) Weary.

2. Which of the following does the narrator remark happened when he "wretched with care, dwelt all winter” (ll. 14-17)?
(a) Hail flew in showers.
(b) He took hot showers.
(c) Hot chocolate was served.
(d) The field filled with flowers.

3. In line 29, the description “proud and puffed up with wine” offers an example of which of the following?
(a) Antithesis.
(b) Anaphora.
(c) Allegory.
(d) Alliteration.

4. The narrator remarks that “no sheltering family / could bring consolation to” which of the following (ll. 25-26)?
(a) My exceptional skill.
(b) My desolate soul.
(c) My brave voyager.
(d) My chemical romance.

5. The narrator claims to be doubted by which of the following (ll. 27-30)?
(a) He who furnished commencement gowns.
(b) His own heart and mind.
(c) She who knows the old wisdom.
(d) He who has tasted life’s joy in towns.

Short Answer Questions

1. In line 32, “frost bound the ground, hail fell on the earth,” how many relatively stressed / emphasized syllables are present?

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

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

4. What musician does the narrator claim to have heard (ll. 19-20)?

5. The narrator remarks that “Storms beat the stone cliffs where the tern answered them, / icy-feathered” (ll. 23-24). The passage offers an example of which of the following?

Short Essay Questions

1. The opening passages of the poem has the narrator state that “in days of toil / I’ve often suffered troubled times, / hard heartache” (ll. 2-4). What rhetorical appeal/s does the narrator make in doing so?

2. Consider the symbolism of the seabirds the narrator catalogs (ll. 20-23). What rhetorical appeal/s does the narrator make in evoking it?

3. The narrator remarks that “he who has tasted life’s joy in towns, / suffered few sad journeys, scarcely believes, / proud and puffed up with wine, what I, weary, / have often had to endure in my suffering” (ll. 27-30). What rhetorical appeal/s does the narrator make in doing so?

4. The narrator remarks that “he who has tasted life’s joy in towns, / suffered few sad journeys, scarcely believes, / proud and puffed up with wine, what I, weary, / have often had to endure in my suffering” (ll. 27-30). What tone is conveyed in the passage?

5. What tone is set by the first 26 lines of the poem? How do they do so?

6. The narrator comments that “they compel me now, / my heart-thoughts, to try for myself / the high seas, the tossing salt streams; / my heart’s desire urges my spirit / time and again to travel, so that I might seek / far from here a foreign land” (ll. 33-38). What rhetorical appeal/s does the narrator make in the comment?

7. The narrator states that “The night-shadow darkened; snow came from the north, / frost bound the ground, hail fell on earth, / coldest of grains” (ll. 31-33). What rhetorical appeal/s does the narrator make in the statement?

8. 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). Three things are put into juxtaposition. What are they, and what effect does the juxtaposition have?

9. Consider the symbolism of the swan-song the narrator mentions (ll. 19-20). What rhetorical appeal/s does the narrator make in evoking it?

10. 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). What rhetorical appeal/s does the narrator make in doing so?

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