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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. 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) Imagery.
(b) Metaphor.
(c) Euphemism.
(d) Oxymoron.

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

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

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

5. What is the bird the "dauphin" of (line 2)?
(a) Flight.
(b) Daylight.
(c) The dawn.
(d) The air.

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

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

8. Which word is enjambed at the end of line 1 and the beginning of line 2?
(a) Morning.
(b) Kingdom.
(c) Daylight.
(d) Minion.

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

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

11. In lines 2-3, "in his riding/ Of the rolling level underneath him steady air," which word tells what the bird is "riding"?
(a) "Rolling."
(b) "Level."
(c) "Air."
(d) "Him."

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

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

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

15. What technique is employed in the line 9 phrase "oh, air, pride, plume, here"?
(a) Asyndeton.
(b) Atanaclasis.
(c) Anaphora.
(d) Antithesis.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the common name of the titular bird?

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

3. Where is the volta of "The Windhover"?

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

5. What type of rhyme is seen in the poem's "B" lines"?

(see the answer keys)

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