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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. Whence does the narrator's thought fly out (l. 58)?
(a) His ears.
(b) His breast.
(c) His belly.
(d) His head.

2. To what does "be on his way" refer (l. 74)?
(a) Life.
(b) Death.
(c) Vacation.
(d) Commuting.

3. The narrator states that “Joy is laid low, / the earth’s nobility grows old and withers, / just like every man throughout this middle-earth” (ll. 88-90). The sentence offers an example of which of the following?
(a) Simile.
(b) Metaphor.
(c) Conceit.
(d) Analogy.

4. Which of the following does the narrator exclude from the mind of one who seeks to sail (ll. 44-47)?
(a) The harp.
(b) The drum.
(c) The horn.
(d) The pipe.

5. What happens to the earth's nobility (l. 89)?
(a) It increases.
(b) It goes away.
(c) It withers.
(d) It eats.

Short Answer Questions

1. Whom does the narrator state might have something in store for a person (l. 43)?

2. To which of the following does "his fleshly cloak" (l. 94) refer?

3. What “hangs in the balance before its due time" (ll. 68-69)?

4. Where do they walk whom the narrator says endure things unknown by those blessed with ease (ll. 55-57)?

5. Which of the following does the narrator exclude from the mind of one who seeks to sail (ll. 44-47)?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. 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?

3. In ll. 55-57, the narrator returns to something of a motif in the poem, stating that “He does not know, / the man blessed with ease, what those endure / who walk most widely in the paths of exile.” What tone is conveyed by the motif? What purpose does it serve as it follows the previous few sentences that speak to longing for the sea?

4. 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?

5. Consider ll. 64-66, “because hotter to me / are the joys of the Lord than this dead life, / loaned, on land.” Given the physical and historical context of the poem, as well as its content, why might “the joys of the Lord” be described favorably as “hotter” by the narrator?

6. 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?

7. 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?

8. 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 rhetorical appeal/s does the narrator make in the assertion?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 rhetorical appeal/s does the narrator make in the assertion?

9. Consider the narrator’s assertion that “Always, for everyone, one of three things / hangs in the balance before its due time: / illness or age or attack by the sword / wrests life away from one doomed to die” (ll. 68-71). What tone is conveyed by the passage, and how is it conveyed?

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 rhetorical appeal/s does the narrator make in the comment?

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