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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 2-3, "in his riding/ Of the rolling level underneath him steady air," which word tells what the bird is "riding"?
(a) "Rolling."
(b) "Air."
(c) "Level."
(d) "Him."

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

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

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

5. What technique is employed in the line 9 phrase "oh, air, pride, plume, here"?
(a) Antithesis.
(b) Atanaclasis.
(c) Asyndeton.
(d) Anaphora.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. What technique is employed in the poem's final two lines, "blue-bleak embers, ah my dear/ Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion"?

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

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

5. What type of rhyme is seen in the poem's "A" lines?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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