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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) Indicative.
(c) Imperative.
(d) Interrogative.

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?
(a) The beauty of the Highlands.
(b) Ordinary, everyday troubles.
(c) Love and romance.
(d) Modern political events.

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

4. Where in the Highlands is the field where the woman is standing?
(a) On the hillside.
(b) By a river in the foothills.
(c) At the top of a mountain.
(d) In a valley.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the meaning of the word "Yon" in line 2, "Yon solitary Highland Lass"?

2. What technique is employed in lines 7 and 8, "O listen! for the Vale profound / Is overflowing with the sound"?

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

4. Which line uses deliberate redundancy for emphasis?

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

(see the answer key)

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