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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is "sillion" (line 12)?
(a) The sparkling of a diamond.
(b) A type of soil.
(c) An uncountable amount.
(d) Sunshine.

2. What is a "chevalier" (line 11)?
(a) A horse.
(b) A falconer.
(c) A bird.
(d) A knight.

3. In lines 10 and 11, the speaker says that the fire "that breaks from thee" is a billion times "lovelier" and more what?
(a) Sanctified.
(b) Rapturous.
(c) Hypnotic.
(d) Dangerous.

4. What device is evident in line 10's "the fire that breaks from thee then"?
(a) Verbal irony.
(b) Apostrophe.
(c) Hyperbole.
(d) Personification.

5. What type of rhyme is seen in the poem's "A" lines?
(a) Feminine.
(b) Eye.
(c) Slant.
(d) Masculine.

6. What does "shéer plód" mean (line 12)?
(a) Clumsy and random movement.
(b) Slow, boring, repetitive work.
(c) Keen and attentive determination.
(d) A heavy feeling of apathy.

7. In line 5, what does the speaker claim the bird is feeling?
(a) Anticipation.
(b) Awe.
(c) Pride.
(d) Ecstasy.

8. What technique is employed in the poem's final two lines, "blue-bleak embers, ah my dear/ Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion"?
(a) Metaphor.
(b) Imagery.
(c) Euphemism.
(d) Oxymoron.

9. Where is the volta of "The Windhover"?
(a) Between lines 12 and 13.
(b) Between lines 4 and 5.
(c) Between lines 11 and 12.
(d) Between lines 8 and 9.

10. Between which lines does the poem use "light rhyme"?
(a) A and B.
(b) B and C.
(c) A and C.
(d) B and D.

11. What does line 10 say "Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume" do "here" (line 9)?
(a) Buckle.
(b) Soar.
(c) Stir.
(d) Break.

12. What would it mean to have "Rebuffed the big wind" (line 7)?
(a) To have abruptly and rudely responded to it.
(b) To have used rapid movements to shine or polish it.
(c) To have stood up to and turned away its advance.
(d) To have brushed against its force and been knocked back.

13. To whom is the poem dedicated?
(a) Matthew Arnold.
(b) A Victorian minister.
(c) Christ.
(d) The poet's spouse.

14. Who is being referred to in line 10's "thee"?
(a) Christ.
(b) The air.
(c) The speaker.
(d) The windhover.

15. What is the common name of the titular bird?
(a) Osprey.
(b) Kestrel.
(c) Hawk.
(d) Kite.

Short Answer Questions

1. In lines 2-3, "in his riding/ Of the rolling level underneath him steady air," which word tells what the bird is "riding"?

2. Who is the author of "The Windhover"?

3. Which techniques are evident in the phrase "dapple-dawn-drawn" (line 2)?

4. Which word is enjambed at the end of line 1 and the beginning of line 2?

5. What does the word "wimpling" literally mean in the context of line 4?

(see the answer keys)

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