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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 7 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What techniques are used in the lines "She was ours/ In Massachusetts, in Virginia" (lines 3-4)?
(a) Asyndeton and apostrophe.
(b) Synecdoche and asyndeton.
(c) Apostrophe and antithesis.
(d) Antithesis and synecdoche.

2. Which term most accurately describes the meter of "The Gift Outright"?
(a) Free verse.
(b) Ballad meter.
(c) Blank verse.
(d) Heroic verse.

3. Who is the author of "The Gift Outright"?
(a) Galway Kinnell.
(b) Robert Lowell.
(c) Robert Frost.
(d) Donald Hall.

4. According to the poem's second sentence, how did "we" find "salvation"?
(a) By fully surrendering ourselves to the land.
(b) By realizing our own weakness.
(c) By dedicating ourselves to the Christian God.
(d) By finding the courage to fight England.

5. What is the implied antecedent of "our" and "we" in lines 1 and 2?
(a) Revolutionaries.
(b) Farmers.
(c) Colonists.
(d) Americans.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is alluded to in the phrase "the land vaguely realizing westward" (line 14)?

2. What does line 12 make clear is the "Gift" in the title "The Gift Outright"?

3. In line 15, what is the speaker calling "unstoried, artless, unenhanced"?

4. What technique is used in the phrase "unstoried, artless, unenhanced" (line 15)?

5. The repetition of the word "deed" in line 13 is an example of which technique?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the speaker mean by "the land vaguely realizing westward" (line 14)?

2. What is implied by the diction the speaker uses to describe the lands yet to be conquered by American settlers: "unstoried, artless, unenhanced" (line 15)?

3. Explain the synecdoche in line 4, "In Massachusetts, in Virginia."

4. Describe the form of "The Gift Outright."

5. Explain the poem's title.

6. What does the speaker claim makes the colonists "weak," and what is the solution to this weakness (line 8)?

7. To whom is it implied the pronouns "our" and "we" refer in this poem?

(see the answer keys)

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