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

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

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

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

5. 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) Love and romance.
(c) The beauty of the Highlands.
(d) Ordinary, everyday troubles.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 traveling to a specific time of year.
(d) They both compare the reaper to a bird.

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. In line 4, "Stop here, or gently pass!" what is the grammatical mood of the words "stop" and "pass"?

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

4. Which line uses deliberate redundancy for emphasis?

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

(see the answer keys)

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