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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What technique is used in phrases like "the Vale profound" (line 7) and "A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard" (line 13)?
(a) Imagery.
(b) Symbolism.
(c) Simile.
(d) Inversion.

2. What is the stanzaic form of "The Solitary Reaper"?
(a) Octave.
(b) Ottava rima.
(c) Octet.
(d) Ballade.

3. What technique is used in the line "A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard" (line 13)?
(a) Verbal irony.
(b) Paradox.
(c) Contraction.
(d) Litotes.

4. What technique is evident in the line "Breaking the silence of the seas" (line 15)?
(a) Sibilance.
(b) Synesthesia.
(c) Onomatopoeia.
(d) Aphorismus.

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. In the lines "Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow / For old, unhappy, far-off things," what does "plaintive numbers" refer to (lines 18-19)?

3. From context, what is is likely meaning of "single" in line 1, "Behold her, single in the field"?

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

5. Where are "the farthest Hebrides" (line 16)?

(see the answer key)

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