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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. Whom does the narrator state might have something in store for a person (l. 43)?
(a) Nobody.
(b) The Lady.
(c) The devil.
(d) The Lord.

2. Which of the following does the narrator exclude from the mind of one who seeks to sail (ll. 44-47)?
(a) Pleasures of food.
(b) Pleasures of sleep.
(c) Pleasures of woman.
(d) Pleasures of man.

3. With which of the following does the narrator note "a brother might wish to strew his brother's / grave" (ll. 97-98)?
(a) Silver.
(b) Grains.
(c) Beryl.
(d) Gold.

4. Per the narrator, what must a man do "before he must be on his way" (ll. 74-79)?
(a) Act.
(b) Pack.
(c) Eat.
(d) Sleep.

5. The descriptor “greedy and hungry” (l. 62) modifies which of the following?
(a) Me.
(b) My spirit.
(c) My breast.
(d) The sea-flood.

Short Answer Questions

1. The phrase “roams widely over the whale’s home” (l. 60) offers an example of which of the following?

2. To what does "be on his way" refer (l. 74)?

3. Which of the following does the narrator note is a favorable state (ll. 39-43)?

4. What does the narrator claim is a gift that does not help against fear?

5. In the line “my spirit moves with the sea-flood” (l. 59), how many relatively stressed / emphasized syllables are present?

Short Essay Questions

1. The narrator asserts that “And so no man on earth is so proud in spirit, / nor so gifted in grace or so keen in youth, / nor so bold in deeds, nor so beloved of his lord, / that he never has sorrow over his seafaring, / when he sees what the Lord might have in store for him” (ll. 39-43). Line 40 stands out from the surrounding lines in using the conjunction “or” instead of “nor,” implying a different relationship between “so gifted in grace” and “so keen in youth” than between “bold in deeds” and “beloved of his lord” (l. 41). What is the implied relationship, and how is it implied?

2. Consider the narrator’s comments that “When life fails [a man], his fleshly cloak will neither / taste the sweet nor touch the sore, / nor move a hand nor think with his mind” (ll. 94-96). What is the “fleshly cloak,” and what wears it? How do you know?

3. Consider the comment that “the lone flier cries out, / incites my heart irresistibly to the whale’s path / over the open sea” (ll. 62-64). What is the lone flier? How do you know?

4. The narrator asserts that “And so no man on earth is so proud in spirit, / nor so gifted in grace or so keen in youth, / nor so bold in deeds, nor so beloved of his lord, / that he never has sorrow over his seafaring, / when he sees what the Lord might have in store for him” (ll. 39-43). What tone is conveyed in the assertion, and how?

5. Consider the narrator’s statement that “And so now my thought flies out from my breast, / my spirit moves with the sea-flood. / roams widely over the whale’s home, / to the corners of the earth, and comes back to me / greedy and hungry” (ll. 58-62). What tone is conveyed by the passage, and how is it conveyed?

6. What tone is present in the following passage, and how is it conveyed? “The days are lost, / and all the pomp of this earthly kingdom; / there are now neither kings nor emperors / nor gold-givers as there once were, / when they did the greatest glorious deeds / and lived in most lordly fame” (ll. 80-85)?

7. What is the strongest pattern of alliteration in line line 42, "that he never has sorrow over his seafaring," and why?

8. Consider ll. 58-102 as a unit. What is the overall tone of the passage, and how is it conveyed?

9. The narrator comments that “He has no thought of the harp or the taking of rings, / nor the pleasures of woman or joy in the world, / nor anything else but the tumbling waves— / he always has longing who hastens to sea” (ll. 44-47). What rhetorical appeal/s does the narrator make in the comment?

10. The narrator comments that “He has no thought of the harp or the taking of rings, / nor the pleasures of woman or joy in the world, / nor anything else but the tumbling waves— / he always has longing who hastens to sea” (ll. 44-47). What tone is conveyed in the comment, and how?

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