View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which of the following does the narrator exclude from the mind of one who seeks to sail (ll. 44-47)?
(a) A songbird that sings.
(b) Taking of rings.
(c) Crowns of the kings.
(d) Making of things.

2. In l. 80, “delight among heaven’s host. The days are lost,” there is an example of which of the following?
(a) Enjambment.
(b) End-stop.
(c) Euphemism.
(d) Enthrallment.

3. Line 83, “nor gold-gives as there once were,” offers an example of which of the following?
(a) Curling.
(b) Cunning.
(c) Kenning.
(d) Künstlerroman.

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

5. The phrase “that before he must be on his way, he act” (l. 74) offers an example of which of the following?
(a) Euphemism.
(b) Euphonium.
(c) Eunuch.
(d) Eucatastrophe.

Short Answer Questions

1. In l. 70, “illness or age or attack by the sword,” relative stress / emphasis falls on the first or only syllable of which of the following?

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

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

4. In line 44, “He has no thought of the harp or the taking of rings,” there is an example of which of the following?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

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 tone is conveyed in the comment, and how?

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 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?

5. 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?

6. 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?

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

8. 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)?

9. 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?

10. 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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,301 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample