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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

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

4. Besides that the reaper may be singing about some terrible moment in history, what else does the speaker guess she might be singing about?
(a) Modern political events.
(b) The beauty of the Highlands.
(c) Ordinary, everyday troubles.
(d) Love and romance.

5. Where are "the farthest Hebrides" (line 16)?
(a) Chile.
(b) Australia.
(c) Russia.
(d) Scotland.

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

7. Which stanza could be reasonably called the most positive in tone?
(a) The first.
(b) The second.
(c) The fourth.
(d) The third.

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

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

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

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

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

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) "Stop here, or gently pass" (line 4).
(d) "I listened, motionless and still" (line 29).

14. 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 fourth.
(d) The third.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What do all three sentences in the third stanza have in common?

2. What technique is evident in the poem's opening line, "Behold her, single in the field" (line 1)?

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

4. 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"?

5. What do the metaphors in lines 9-12 and 13-16 have in common?

(see the answer keys)

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