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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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) Ordinary, everyday troubles.
(b) Love and romance.
(c) The beauty of the Highlands.
(d) Modern political events.

2. Which is the best interpretation of line 6's reference to "a melancholy strain"?
(a) A difficult burden.
(b) Persistent pain.
(c) A sad song.
(d) Hard work.

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

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

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

6. In which stanza does the speaker make it clear that this event happened some time in the past?
(a) The third.
(b) The second.
(c) The fourth.
(d) The first.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the stanzaic form of "The Solitary Reaper"?

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

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

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

5. How does line 3, "Reaping and singing by herself," interrupt the poem's dominant metrical pattern?

(see the answer keys)

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