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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. From context, what is is likely meaning of "single" in line 1, "Behold her, single in the field"?
(a) Honest.
(b) Alone.
(c) Unmarried.
(d) Simple.

2. In which stanza does the speaker make it clear that this event happened some time in the past?
(a) The fourth.
(b) The first.
(c) The third.
(d) The second.

3. In the second stanza, to whom is the nightingale depicted singing?
(a) The reaper.
(b) Travelers.
(c) Shepherds.
(d) The speaker.

4. What is the meaning of the word "lay" in the line "Or is it some more humble lay" (line 21)?
(a) Tune or song.
(b) A reclining position.
(c) A narrative poem written in couplets.
(d) A plan or pattern.

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

Short Answer Questions

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

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

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

4. In the fourth stanza, when the speaker finally places himself in the scene, what is it clear he is there to do?

5. What is the meaning of the word "Yon" in line 2, "Yon solitary Highland Lass"?

(see the answer key)

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