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

2. 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.

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 fourth.
(d) The third.

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

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

6. 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) A narrative poem written in couplets.
(c) Tune or song.
(d) A plan or pattern.

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

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

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

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

11. 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 too far away to be heard clearly.
(c) She is singing a song that she has made up herself.
(d) She is singing in a language the speaker does not understand.

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

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What technique is evident in the line "Breaking the silence of the seas" (line 15)?

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"?

4. What technique is used in phrases like "the Vale profound" (line 7) and "A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard" (line 13)?

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

(see the answer keys)

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