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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 of the following most clearly communicates the speaker's admiration for the reaper's singing ability?
(a) The metaphors in the second stanza.
(b) The repeated use of exclamation points.
(c) The poem's nature imagery.
(d) The poem's elevated diction.

2. The characterization of the woman as a "Highland Lass" indicates that she is a young woman from what area?
(a) The Hebrides.
(b) Wales.
(c) Scotland.
(d) Ireland.

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. In the second stanza, to whom is the nightingale depicted singing?

3. What is the "sickle" in line 28?

4. What is subtly appropriate about the meter in lines 25 and 26, "Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sang / As if her song could have no ending"?

5. What technique is used in phrases like "the Vale profound" (line 7) and "A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard" (line 13)?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

5. 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?

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

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

8. 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.

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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