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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. 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. 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 reclining position.
(c) A narrative poem written in couplets.
(d) A plan or pattern.

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Which stanza could be reasonably called the most positive in tone?

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

5. Who is the author of "The Solitary Reaper"?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

5. 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.

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

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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