View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What feature of the Captain's face does line 17 focus on?
(a) His eyes.
(b) His mouth.
(c) His brow.
(d) His chin.

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

3. What is the most common type of metrical foot in "O Captain! My Captain!"?
(a) The dactyl.
(b) The iamb.
(c) The trochee.
(d) The spondee.

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

5. The poem's title and first line contain an example of which technique?
(a) Apostrophe.
(b) Synechdoche.
(c) Personification.
(d) Simile.

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

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

8. 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.

9. In the second quatrain of the second stanza, what becomes clear about the speaker's state of mind?
(a) He is actually asleep and only dreaming of the captain's death.
(b) He hopes to hide the captain's death from the crowd.
(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.

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

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

12. Who is the author of "O Captain! my Captain!"?
(a) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
(b) Walt Whitman.
(c) William Cullen Bryant.
(d) Ralph Waldo Emerson.

13. Which details in the second stanza evoke a patriotic occasion?
(a) The flag and bugle.
(b) The bouquets and wreaths.
(c) The crowd and the shore.
(d) The captain and the bells.

14. 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)?
(a) Chorus.
(b) Verse.
(c) Refrain.
(d) Conceit.

15. What does the phrase "swaying mass" refer to (line 12)?
(a) The ship.
(b) The captain.
(c) The crowd.
(d) The flag.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Which technique is evident in the phrase "for you the flag is flung" (line 10)?

3. Line 6, "O the bleeding drops of red," is 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. Line 4, "While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring," contains examples of which techniques?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 571 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample