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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. 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) The beauty of the Highlands.
(d) Modern political events.

2. What technique is used in the line "A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard" (line 13)?
(a) Litotes.
(b) Paradox.
(c) Contraction.
(d) Verbal irony.

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

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

5. Where in the Highlands is the field where the woman is standing?
(a) By a river in the foothills.
(b) On the hillside.
(c) At the top of a mountain.
(d) In a valley.

Short Answer Questions

1. From context, what is is likely meaning of "single" in line 1, "Behold her, single in the field"?

2. What do all three sentences in the third stanza have in common?

3. The characterization of the woman as a "Highland Lass" indicates that she is a young woman from what area?

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

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

Short Essay Questions

1. 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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

10. 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.

(see the answer keys)

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