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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 stanza could be reasonably called the most positive in tone?
(a) The first.
(b) The second.
(c) The third.
(d) The fourth.

2. Where are "the farthest Hebrides" (line 16)?
(a) Australia.
(b) Chile.
(c) Scotland.
(d) Russia.

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

4. 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) Modern political events.
(d) Love and romance.

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

Short Answer Questions

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

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

3. In the second stanza, to whom is the nightingale depicted singing?

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

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

(see the answer key)

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