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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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) Hyperbole.
(d) Cacophony.

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

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Besides that the reaper may be singing about some terrible moment in history, what else does the speaker guess she might be singing about?

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

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

5. What reasonable inference can be made about the reaper from line 17, "Will no one tell me what she sings?"?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the tense shift in "The Solitary Reaper" and explain what it reveals about the poem's narrative present.

2. Summarize the action of "The Solitary Reaper."

3. Describe the meter of "The Solitary Reaper."

4. In what way do the places associated with the two birds create a dramatic contrast with one another?

5. To which two birds does the speaker compare the reaper, and what area of the world does the speaker associate with each?

6. How does the speaker's line 26 description of the reaper singing "As if her song could have no ending" reinforce the meaning of the poem's ending?

7. Describe the rhyme scheme of "The Solitary Reaper."

8. What are the names of the two forms of poetry that are combined in this poem, and how are they combined?

9. Explain how the mention of "spring-time" in line 14's description of the cuckoo enhances the contrast between this image and the image of the nightingale.

10. What question does the speaker ask in the third stanza, and what two contrasting answers does he speculate about?

(see the answer keys)

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