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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 line 28, “suffered few sad journeys, scarcely believes,” relative stress / emphasis falls on the first or only syllable of which of the following?
(a) Sad.
(b) Journeys.
(c) Few.
(d) Believes.

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

3. In the phrase “to try for myself” (l. 34), relative stress / emphasis falls on the first or only syllable of which of the following?
(a) Myself.
(b) For.
(c) To.
(d) Try.

4. The narrator describes the "salt streams" as which of the following (l. 35)?
(a) Seething.
(b) Churning.
(c) Flowing.
(d) Tossing.

5. In line 32, “frost bound the ground, hail fell on the earth,” how many relatively stressed / emphasized syllables are present?
(a) 3.
(b) 5.
(c) 4.
(d) 2.

Short Answer Questions

1. In line 29, the description “proud and puffed up with wine” offers an example of which of the following?

2. The phrase “frost bound the ground, hail fell on the earth” (l. 32) offers an example of which of the following?

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. 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?

5. The narrator notes a lack of which of the following (ll. 25-26)?

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

2. Consider the kenning for hail, “coldest of grains” (l. 33). How does the kenning construct meaning?

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

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

5. The narrator remarks that “no sheltering family / could bring consolation to my desolate soul” (ll. 25-26). What rhetorical appeal/s does the narrator make in doing 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 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 tone is conveyed in the passage?

9. 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?

10. The poem opens with the narrator saying “I sing a true song of myself, / tell of my journeys” (ll. 1-2). What rhetorical appeal/s does the narrator make in doing so?

(see the answer keys)

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