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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

9. 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.

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay in which you compare and contrast the explicit treatment of music with the implicit treatment of poetry in "The Solitary Reaper." Support your claims with evidence from the text.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay in which you make and defend a claim about the significance of comparing the reaper to birds in the poem's second stanza. Defend your ideas with textual evidence.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay in which you make and defend a claim about the relationship of past and present in "The Solitary Reaper." Be sure to defend your assertions with evidence from the text.

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