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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 employed in lines 7 and 8, "O listen! for the Vale profound / Is overflowing with the sound"?
(a) Metonymy.
(b) Cacophony.
(c) Hyperbole.
(d) Antanaclasis.

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

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

4. Who is the author of "The Solitary Reaper"?
(a) Percy Shelley.
(b) William Wordsworth.
(c) John Keats.
(d) William Blake.

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

Short Answer Questions

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

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

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

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

5. The characterization of the woman as a "Highland Lass" indicates that she is a young woman from what area?

(see the answer key)

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