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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 young woman doing in the field?
(a) Pushing a cart down a path.
(b) Harvesting a grain crop.
(c) Watching over grazing sheep.
(d) Watching the speaker from the hillside.

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

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

4. What technique is evident in the poem's opening line, "Behold her, single in the field" (line 1)?
(a) Apostrophe.
(b) Apology.
(c) Allusion.
(d) Analogy.

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 26 has four metrical feet instead of the expected three, creating a feeling of "lingering."
(c) Line 25 begins with a dactyl, emphasizing the importance of the content of the reaper's song.
(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 the metaphors in lines 9-12 and 13-16 have in common?

2. Who is the author of "The Solitary Reaper"?

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

4. What is the stanzaic form of "The Solitary Reaper"?

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

(see the answer key)

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