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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. In the fourth stanza, when the speaker finally places himself in the scene, what is it clear he is there to do?
(a) He is out walking.
(b) He is working on a farm.
(c) He is there to confess his love for the woman.
(d) He is delivering supplies.

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

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

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

Short Answer 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)?

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

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

5. What is the "sickle" in line 28?

(see the answer key)

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