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

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) "Him."
(b) "Rolling."
(c) "Level."
(d) "Air."

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What does line 10 say "Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume" do "here" (line 9)?

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

3. What is the bird the "dauphin" of (line 2)?

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

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

Short Essay Questions

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

2. 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)?

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

4. 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"?

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

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

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

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

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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