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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 of the following most clearly communicates the speaker's admiration for the reaper's singing ability?
(a) The repeated use of exclamation points.
(b) The poem's elevated diction.
(c) The poem's nature imagery.
(d) The metaphors in the second stanza.

2. Who is the author of "The Solitary Reaper"?
(a) William Blake.
(b) Percy Shelley.
(c) William Wordsworth.
(d) John Keats.

3. What is the "sickle" in line 28?
(a) A handle used to pull a cart.
(b) A tied sheaf of grain.
(c) A mark dyed into wool to track sheep.
(d) A sharp cutting tool.

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

5. How does line 3, "Reaping and singing by herself," interrupt the poem's dominant metrical pattern?
(a) It begins with a spondee.
(b) It ends with a spondee.
(c) It ends with a trochee.
(d) It begins with a trochee.

Short Answer Questions

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

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

3. The characterization of the woman as a "Highland Lass" indicates that she is a young woman from what area?

4. In the lines "Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow / For old, unhappy, far-off things," what does "plaintive numbers" refer to (lines 18-19)?

5. In the fourth stanza, when the speaker finally places himself in the scene, what is it clear he is there to do?

(see the answer key)

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