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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. The list of ways the crowd is celebrating the arrival of the ship in lines 9-12 is an example of which technique?
(a) Accumulation.
(b) Paraprosdokian.
(c) Understatement.
(d) Periphrasis.

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

3. Which is the best interpretation of line 9, when the speaker urges "O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells"?
(a) The speaker realizes that the captain is not actually dead yet.
(b) The speaker is not yet aware that the captain has died.
(c) The speaker is having trouble accepting what has happened.
(d) The speaker is addressing the captain's spirit or ghost.

4. Where is the ship in the beginning of the poem?
(a) Just leaving the port.
(b) Just coming into port.
(c) On the open sea.
(d) Docked in the port.

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Line 6, "O the bleeding drops of red," is an example of which technique?

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

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

5. Line 5, " But O heart! heart! heart!" is an example of which technique?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 309 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample