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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. 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) "Rolling."
(d) "Him."

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

4. In lines 5 and 6, what is the bird's motion compared to?
(a) A swing.
(b) An arrow.
(c) An ice skater.
(d) A ball being thrown.

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What does "shéer plód" mean (line 12)?

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

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

5. What would it mean to have "Rebuffed the big wind" (line 7)?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the relationship of the expression "in his riding/ Of the rolling level underneath him steady air" (lines 2-3) to the later reference to "the rein of a wimpling wing" (line 4)?

2. What is a "windhover," and what characteristic of its flight is focused on in this poem?

3. Describe the relationship of the content in the poem's final six lines to the content in lines 1-8.

4. How do the images in the last three lines support the idea that there is "no wonder" in the kestrel's fight (line 9)?

5. What makes a creature like the windhover an appropriate symbol for Christ?

6. Describe the poetic form of "The Windhover."

7. What are the literal and figurative meanings of the poem's references to a "dauphin" and a "chevalier"?

8. What is the meaning of the simile contained in lines 6 and 7: " As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding/ Rebuffed the big wind"?

9. In "The Windhover," who is speaking, and what moves him to speak?

10. What Christian paradox is expressed when the speaker refers to the bird as both a "minion" and a "dauphin" (lines 1-2)?

(see the answer keys)

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