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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 line uses deliberate redundancy for emphasis?
(a) "Behold her, single in the field" (line 1).
(b) "For old, unhappy, far-off things" (line 19).
(c) "Stop here, or gently pass" (line 4).
(d) "I listened, motionless and still" (line 29).

2. The characterization of the woman as a "Highland Lass" indicates that she is a young woman from what area?
(a) The Hebrides.
(b) Scotland.
(c) Ireland.
(d) Wales.

3. In the second stanza, to whom is the nightingale depicted singing?
(a) The speaker.
(b) Travelers.
(c) The reaper.
(d) Shepherds.

4. 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 in a language the speaker does not understand.
(c) She is singing an old folk song that the speaker does not know the title of.
(d) She is singing a song that she has made up herself.

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. How does line 3, "Reaping and singing by herself," interrupt the poem's dominant metrical pattern?

3. 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"?

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

5. What is the young woman doing in the field?

(see the answer key)

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