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

2. What is the meaning of the word "lay" in the line "Or is it some more humble lay" (line 21)?
(a) A reclining position.
(b) Tune or song.
(c) A narrative poem written in couplets.
(d) A plan or pattern.

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

4. 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 contraction in line 25 creates a second line of trimeter in this stanza, emphasizing the musicality of the song.
(b) Line 26 has four metrical feet instead of the expected three, creating a feeling of "lingering."
(c) The feminine ending of line 26 emphasizes the idea of something that does not end when it is expected to.
(d) Line 25 begins with a dactyl, emphasizing the importance of the content of the reaper's song.

5. 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 fourth.
(d) The second.