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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 does it mean that the people are "exulting"?
(a) They are cheering excitedly.
(b) They are crying out in grief.
(c) They are quietly watchful.
(d) They are drinking and celebrating.

2. In the second quatrain of the second stanza, what becomes clear about the speaker's state of mind?
(a) He is afraid that he is in some way responsible for the captain's death.
(b) He hopes to hide the captain's death from the crowd.
(c) He has not fully accepted the captain's death.
(d) He is actually asleep and only dreaming of the captain's death.

3. Which technique is evident in the phrase "for you the flag is flung" (line 10)?
(a) Alliteration.
(b) Assonance.
(c) Sibilance.
(d) Cacophony.

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) Storm or upheaval.
(c) Battle or confrontation.
(d) A metal rod used for hanging things.

5. What is a "keel" (line 4)?
(a) A measurement of the speed a ship is traveling.
(b) The central and largest sail on a three-masted ship.
(c) A part of a ship's steering mechanism, found at the back of the ship.
(d) A flat structure at the bottom of a ship, designed to add stability.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the rhyme pattern of the first four lines of each stanza?

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

3. The poem's title and first line contain an example of which technique?

4. Which is the best interpretation of line 9, when the speaker urges "O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells"?

5. Which term describes the poem's repeated use of the phrases "O Captain! My Captain!" (lines 1 and 9) and "fallen cold and dead" (lines 8, 16, and 24)?

(see the answer key)

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