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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

3. In the lines "Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow / For old, unhappy, far-off things," what does "plaintive numbers" refer to (lines 18-19)?
(a) Time and history.
(b) The song.
(c) The reaper's personal experience.
(d) The reaper's tears.

4. What technique is employed in lines 7 and 8, "O listen! for the Vale profound / Is overflowing with the sound"?
(a) Antanaclasis.
(b) Metonymy.
(c) Cacophony.
(d) Hyperbole.

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

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

7. 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"?
(a) The feminine ending of line 26 emphasizes the idea of something that does not end when it is expected to.
(b) The contraction in line 25 creates a second line of trimeter in this stanza, emphasizing the musicality of the song.
(c) Line 25 begins with a dactyl, emphasizing the importance of the content of the reaper's song.
(d) Line 26 has four metrical feet instead of the expected three, creating a feeling of "lingering."

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

9. 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) Symbolism.
(c) Inversion.
(d) Simile.

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

11. 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 delivering supplies.
(c) He is out walking.
(d) He is working on a farm.

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) Indicative.
(d) Subjunctive.

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Where in the Highlands is the field where the woman is standing?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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