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

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

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

4. In the lines "Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow / For old, unhappy, far-off things," what does "plaintive numbers" refer to (lines 18-19)?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay in which you analyze the symbolic value of the nightingale in Wordsworth's poem. Be sure to research how this bird is traditionally used in Western literature, and support your assertions with evidence from the text and from your research. Cite all sources in MLA format.

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 music to ideas about memory and history in "The Solitary Reaper." Support your ideas with evidence from the text.

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