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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What do the metaphors in lines 9-12 and 13-16 have in common?
(a) They both compare the speaker to a traveler.
(b) The both compare music to a geographical location.
(c) They both compare traveling to a specific time of year.
(d) They both compare the reaper to a bird.

2. In the second stanza, to whom is the nightingale depicted singing?
(a) Shepherds.
(b) The reaper.
(c) Travelers.
(d) The speaker.

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

4. What is the meaning of the word "Yon" in line 2, "Yon solitary Highland Lass"?
(a) Over there, that one.
(b) You.
(c) My.
(d) Nearby, this one.

5. 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"?
(a) The feminine ending of line 26 emphasizes the idea of something that does not end when it is expected to.
(b) Line 25 begins with a dactyl, emphasizing the importance of the content of the reaper's song.
(c) Line 26 has four metrical feet instead of the expected three, creating a feeling of "lingering."
(d) The contraction in line 25 creates a second line of trimeter in this stanza, emphasizing the musicality of the song.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do all three sentences in the third stanza have in common?

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

3. Which line uses deliberate redundancy for emphasis?

4. What technique is used in the line "A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard" (line 13)?

5. Which is the best interpretation of line 6's reference to "a melancholy strain"?

(see the answer key)

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