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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What is the young woman doing in the field?
(a) Pushing a cart down a path.
(b) Harvesting a grain crop.
(c) Watching over grazing sheep.
(d) Watching the speaker from the hillside.

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

4. What technique is used in the line "A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard" (line 13)?
(a) Litotes.
(b) Contraction.
(c) Paradox.
(d) Verbal irony.

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

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

7. Which of the following most clearly communicates the speaker's admiration for the reaper's singing ability?
(a) The repeated use of exclamation points.
(b) The poem's nature imagery.
(c) The metaphors in the second stanza.
(d) The poem's elevated diction.

8. What technique is used in phrases like "the Vale profound" (line 7) and "A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard" (line 13)?
(a) Imagery.
(b) Simile.
(c) Symbolism.
(d) Inversion.

9. The characterization of the woman as a "Highland Lass" indicates that she is a young woman from what area?
(a) The Hebrides.
(b) Wales.
(c) Scotland.
(d) Ireland.

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

11. 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 personal experience.
(c) Time and history.
(d) The reaper's tears.

12. 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 in a language the speaker does not understand.
(c) She is singing an old folk song that the speaker does not know the title of.
(d) She is singing a song that she has made up herself.

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

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

15. What is the "sickle" in line 28?
(a) A sharp cutting tool.
(b) A mark dyed into wool to track sheep.
(c) A tied sheaf of grain.
(d) A handle used to pull a cart.

Short Answer Questions

1. 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"?

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

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. Who is the author of "The Solitary Reaper"?

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

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