View a FREE sample

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

2. What reasonable inference can be made about the reaper from line 17, "Will no one tell me what she sings?"?
(a) She is singing in a language the speaker does not understand.
(b) She is singing a song that she has made up herself.
(c) She is too far away to be heard clearly.
(d) She is singing an old folk song that the speaker does not know the title of.

3. Where in the Highlands is the field where the woman is standing?
(a) In a valley.
(b) On the hillside.
(c) By a river in the foothills.
(d) At the top of a mountain.

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

5. What technique is evident in the poem's opening line, "Behold her, single in the field" (line 1)?
(a) Allusion.
(b) Analogy.
(c) Apology.
(d) Apostrophe.

Short Answer Questions

1. What technique is evident in the line "Breaking the silence of the seas" (line 15)?

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

3. What is the meaning of the word "lay" in the line "Or is it some more humble lay" (line 21)?

4. What technique is used in phrases like "the Vale profound" (line 7) and "A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard" (line 13)?

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

(see the answer key)

This section contains 285 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample