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

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

3. What reasonable inference can be made about the reaper from line 17, "Will no one tell me what she sings?"?
(a) She is too far away to be heard clearly.
(b) She is singing a song that she has made up herself.
(c) She is singing in a language the speaker does not understand.
(d) She is singing an old folk song that the speaker does not know the title of.

4. 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 song.
(c) The reaper's tears.
(d) The reaper's personal experience.

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Besides that the reaper may be singing about some terrible moment in history, what else does the speaker guess she might be singing about?

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

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

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

(see the answer key)

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