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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. In line 4, "Stop here, or gently pass!" what is the grammatical mood of the words "stop" and "pass"?
(a) Imperative.
(b) Indicative.
(c) Interrogative.
(d) Subjunctive.

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

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

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

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

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

7. 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.

8. 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.

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

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

11. 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 an old folk song that the speaker does not know the title of.
(d) She is singing in a language the speaker does not understand.

12. What do the metaphors in lines 9-12 and 13-16 have in common?
(a) They both compare the speaker to a traveler.
(b) The both compare music to a geographical location.
(c) They both compare the reaper to a bird.
(d) They both compare traveling to a specific time of year.

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

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

15. 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.

Short Answer Questions

1. In which stanza does the speaker make it clear that this event happened some time in the past?

2. Which of the following most clearly communicates the speaker's admiration for the reaper's singing ability?

3. Which is the best interpretation of line 6's reference to "a melancholy strain"?

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 keys)

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