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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through The Solitary Reaper.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which line uses deliberate redundancy for emphasis?
(a) "I listened, motionless and still" (line 29).
(b) "Stop here, or gently pass" (line 4).
(c) "For old, unhappy, far-off things" (line 19).
(d) "Behold her, single in the field" (line 1).

2. Where in the Highlands is the field where the woman is standing?
(a) At the top of a mountain.
(b) By a river in the foothills.
(c) On the hillside.
(d) In a valley.

3. Besides that the reaper may be singing about some terrible moment in history, what else does the speaker guess she might be singing about?
(a) Love and romance.
(b) The beauty of the Highlands.
(c) Ordinary, everyday troubles.
(d) Modern political events.

4. What is the meaning of the word "lay" in the line "Or is it some more humble lay" (line 21)?
(a) A narrative poem written in couplets.
(b) Tune or song.
(c) A plan or pattern.
(d) A reclining position.

5. From context, what is is likely meaning of "single" in line 1, "Behold her, single in the field"?
(a) Simple.
(b) Honest.
(c) Unmarried.
(d) Alone.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following most clearly communicates the speaker's admiration for the reaper's singing ability?

2. What technique is employed in lines 7 and 8, "O listen! for the Vale profound / Is overflowing with the sound"?

3. In the second stanza, to whom is the nightingale depicted singing?

4. How does line 3, "Reaping and singing by herself," interrupt the poem's dominant metrical pattern?

5. What technique is used in phrases like "the Vale profound" (line 7) and "A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard" (line 13)?

(see the answer key)

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