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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. Line 66, “loaned, on land. I will never believe,” offers an example of which of the following?
(a) End-stop.
(b) Enthrallment.
(c) Ensorcellment.
(d) Enjambment.

2. The narrator describes how many people as fearless (ll. 39-43)?
(a) Some.
(b) All.
(c) One.
(d) None.

3. How does the narrator describe a brother's soul (l. 100)?
(a) Empty of meaning.
(b) Empty of sin.
(c) Full of food.
(d) Full of sin.

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

5. Who remains to rule the world (l. 87)?
(a) The adventurous.
(b) The stay-at-home.
(c) The weak.
(d) The strong.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. In l. 85, “and lived in most lordly fame,” how many relatively stressed / emphasized syllables are present?

3. To which of the following does "the greybeard" refer (l. 92)?

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

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

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

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

3. 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?

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. 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?

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 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?

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

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 tone is conveyed in the assertion, and how?

9. 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?

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?

(see the answer keys)

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