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

2. What technique is evident in the poem's opening line, "Behold her, single in the field" (line 1)?
(a) Allusion.
(b) Analogy.
(c) Apostrophe.
(d) Apology.

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

4. 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 too far away to be heard clearly.
(c) She is singing in a language the speaker does not understand.
(d) She is singing an old folk song that the speaker does not know the title of.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What technique is used in the line "A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard" (line 13)?

2. What do the metaphors in lines 9-12 and 13-16 have in common?

3. Which of the following most clearly communicates the speaker's admiration for the reaper's singing ability?

4. In the lines "Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow / For old, unhappy, far-off things," what does "plaintive numbers" refer to (lines 18-19)?

5. What technique is employed in lines 7 and 8, "O listen! for the Vale profound / Is overflowing with the sound"?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. 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.

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

4. 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?

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

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

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

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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