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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In line 4, "Stop here, or gently pass!" what is the grammatical mood of the words "stop" and "pass"?
(a) Subjunctive.
(b) Interrogative.
(c) Imperative.
(d) Indicative.

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

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) The song.
(b) The reaper's tears.
(c) The reaper's personal experience.
(d) Time and history.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Which stanza could be reasonably called the most positive in tone?

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

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

4. What is the "sickle" in line 28?

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"?

(see the answer key)

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