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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

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

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

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

Short Answer Questions

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

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

3. Which technique is evident in line 10, "Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills"?

4. Which details in the second stanza evoke a patriotic occasion?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. What evidence is there that the speaker is struggling to understand and process the captain's death?

2. Describe the form of "O Captain! My Captain!"

3. What elements of the poem's diction establish a warm and personal relationship between the speaker and the captain?

4. Explain the allegorical nature of the poem's central conceit.

5. What ironic contrast do the poem's images highlight?

(see the answer keys)

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