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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 is the young woman doing in the field?

2. Which line uses deliberate redundancy for emphasis?

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

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

5. How does line 3, "Reaping and singing by herself," interrupt the poem's dominant metrical pattern?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. 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?

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

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

5. 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.

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

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

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

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

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 that makes and defends a claim about the relationship of the reaper to the land in "The Solitary Reaper." Defend your ideas with evidence from the text.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay in which you analyze how linebreak is used to support meaning in "The Solitary Reaper." Support your ideas with textual evidence.

Essay Topic 3

Write an essay that makes and defends a claim about the portrayal of the feminine in "The Solitary Reaper." Defend your assertions with textual evidence.

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