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

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

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

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 would it mean to have "Rebuffed the big wind" (line 7)?
(a) To have abruptly and rudely responded to it.
(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 stood up to and turned away its advance.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What device is evident in line 10's "the fire that breaks from thee then"?

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

4. Who is being referred to in line 10's "thee"?

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

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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. 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)?

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

(see the answer keys)

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