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

Multiple Choice 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"?
(a) "Level."
(b) "Air."
(c) "Him."
(d) "Rolling."

2. What does the word "wimpling" literally mean in the context of line 4?
(a) Like a nun's habit.
(b) Rippling.
(c) Covering.
(d) Muffling.

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

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

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

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

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

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

9. Who is the author of "The Windhover"?
(a) Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
(b) Christina Rossetti.
(c) Gerard Manley Hopkins.
(d) Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What technique is employed in the line 9 phrase "oh, air, pride, plume, here"?

2. To whom is the poem dedicated?

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

4. What techniques are evident in the phrase "Rebuffed the big wind" (line 7)?

5. In lines 10 and 11, the speaker says that the fire "that breaks from thee" is a billion times "lovelier" and more what?

(see the answer keys)

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