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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. 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) Periphrasis.
(d) Understatement.

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

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

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

6. Who is the speaker of the poem?
(a) A soldier.
(b) A writer.
(c) A doctor.
(d) A sailor.

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

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

9. 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) A metaphor for an internal struggle.
(c) The cause of the captain's death.
(d) Full of frightening obstacles.

10. Which technique is evident in line 10, "Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills"?
(a) Antithesis.
(b) Antimetabole.
(c) Antistrophe.
(d) Anaphora.

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

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

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

14. What type of rhyme is employed in line 20, "From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won"?
(a) Identical rhyme.
(b) Eye rhyme.
(c) Internal rhyme.
(d) Near rhyme.

15. 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 is actually asleep and only dreaming of the captain's death.
(c) He hopes to hide the captain's death from the crowd.
(d) He has not fully accepted the captain's death.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. 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)?

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

4. Line 4, "While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring," contains examples of which techniques?

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

(see the answer keys)

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