View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the meaning of the word "Yon" in line 2, "Yon solitary Highland Lass"?
(a) Over there, that one.
(b) My.
(c) Nearby, this one.
(d) You.

2. What do all three sentences in the third stanza have in common?
(a) They are all periodic sentences.
(b) They are all fragments.
(c) They are all questions.
(d) They are all run-ons.

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

4. 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 working on a farm.
(b) He is out walking.
(c) He is delivering supplies.
(d) He is there to confess his love for the woman.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Besides that the reaper may be singing about some terrible moment in history, what else does the speaker guess she might be singing about?

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

3. What technique is used in the line "A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard" (line 13)?

4. Which stanza could be reasonably called the most positive in tone?

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

(see the answer key)

This section contains 254 words (approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample