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

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

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What is a "chevalier" (line 11)?

2. In line 5, what does the speaker claim the bird is feeling?

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

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

5. Between which lines does the poem use "light rhyme"?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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 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)?

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

7. 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"?

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

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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