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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 stanza could be reasonably called the most positive in tone?
(a) The fourth.
(b) The third.
(c) The second.
(d) The first.

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

3. In the lines "Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow / For old, unhappy, far-off things," what does "plaintive numbers" refer to (lines 18-19)?
(a) Time and history.
(b) The reaper's tears.
(c) The reaper's personal experience.
(d) The song.

4. What is the stanzaic form of "The Solitary Reaper"?
(a) Octave.
(b) Octet.
(c) Ballade.
(d) Ottava rima.

5. In which stanza does the speaker make it clear that this event happened some time in the past?
(a) The first.
(b) The second.
(c) The third.
(d) The fourth.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is subtly appropriate about the meter in lines 25 and 26, "Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sang / As if her song could have no ending"?

2. What do the metaphors in lines 9-12 and 13-16 have in common?

3. What reasonable inference can be made about the reaper from line 17, "Will no one tell me what she sings?"?

4. What technique is evident in the poem's opening line, "Behold her, single in the field" (line 1)?

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

(see the answer key)

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