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

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

3. What is the meaning of the word "Yon" in line 2, "Yon solitary Highland Lass"?
(a) Nearby, this one.
(b) You.
(c) My.
(d) Over there, that one.

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

5. What do the metaphors in lines 9-12 and 13-16 have in common?
(a) They both compare traveling to a specific time of year.
(b) They both compare the reaper to a bird.
(c) They both compare the speaker to a traveler.
(d) The both compare music to a geographical location.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. In line 4, "Stop here, or gently pass!" what is the grammatical mood of the words "stop" and "pass"?

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

4. In which stanza does the speaker make it clear that this event happened some time in the past?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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. 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?

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

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

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

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

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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