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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Section 1: "O Captain! My Captain!" lines 1-24.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the most accurate way to describe the poem's stanza form?
(a) Double tercet.
(b) Sestet.
(c) Double quatrain.
(d) Octave.

2. Line 6, "O the bleeding drops of red," is an example of which technique?
(a) Metonymy.
(b) Conceit.
(c) Imagery.
(d) Oxymoron.

3. In context, the word "fearful" in line 1 indicates that the trip was which of the following?
(a) A bad idea from the beginning.
(b) Full of frightening obstacles.
(c) A metaphor for an internal struggle.
(d) The cause of the captain's death.

4. In context, the literal meaning of the word "rack" in line two is which of the following?
(a) A thorough sorting or sifting.
(b) A metal rod used for hanging things.
(c) Storm or upheaval.
(d) Battle or confrontation.

5. What is the rhyme pattern of the first four lines of each stanza?
(a) ABAC.
(b) ABCB.
(c) AABB.
(d) ABBA.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where is the ship in the beginning of the poem?

2. What does the phrase "swaying mass" refer to (line 12)?

3. What is a "keel" (line 4)?

4. What does it mean that the people are "exulting"?

5. By which other term, besides "Captain," does the speaker address the captain of the ship?

(see the answer key)

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