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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 7 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which is the primary definition of "still" being used in the expression "still colonials" in line 5?

2. What techniques are used in the lines "She was ours/ In Massachusetts, in Virginia" (lines 3-4)?

3. To what event does the phrase "more than a hundred years/ Before we were her people" obliquely refer?

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

5. What is the antecedent of "it" in the phrase "it was ourselves" (line 9)?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. 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)?

4. Explain the poem's title.

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What other patriotic poems have you read or heard? Do these, like "The Gift Outright," skirt past painful facts in order to celebrate a nation's achievements? Are there patriotic poems that are able to acknowledge a nation's faults, or would this make them no longer "patriotic"? Choose a poem that is widely considered to be "patriotic" and compare it to "The Gift Outright," analyzing the extent to which either poem is able to present a balanced and realistic picture of the nation it celebrates. In your conclusion, comment on the purposes of patriotic poetry and whether "balance" and "realism" are desirable qualities in this genre of poetry. Support your assertions with evidence from both poems, and cite all sources in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

Read Frost's poem "Mending Wall" (widely available online). What is the speaker's attitude toward order, rules, and the uncritical acceptance of tradition? What does his neighbor seem to believe about the possession of land, and how does the speaker react to this belief? What is he really suggesting to his neighbor when he says that it might be elves who have broken the wall? Is the attitude of the speaker of "The Gift Outright" similar or different? What does this speaker's use of legal language convey about his belief in "law and order"? What does he seem to believe about the uncritical acceptance of tradition? What does he seem to believe about the possession of land? How is this related to the poem's hidden premises and the beliefs suggested by the poem's final two lines? Write an essay in which you make and defend a claim about a significant similarity or difference in the attitudes of these two speakers towards traditional notions of order, land ownership, or some other concept central to the argument advanced by "The Gift Outright." Support your assertions with evidence drawn from both poems; cite all sources in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

Is it possible to make the argument that "The Gift Outright" acknowledges that the conquest of the land through war has contributed something unsavory to the American character? Consider the complex construction of line 13 in this light. Then, think about the possible meanings of "Such as we were" in line 12. When Frost ends the poem with "Such as she was, such as she would become," does this imply that "we" would also "become" something new, as human beings? On the other hand, even if this is implied, is the poem really saying that what "we" would become is something negative? Does the land become something negative? Does the idea of finding "salvation" completely negate the possibility that the transformation of the American character has unsavory elements? Write an essay in which you affirm, refute, or qualify the following statement: "Robert Frost's poem "The Gift Outright" celebrates the formation and expansion of the United States while still acknowledging that the violence required to create and expand the nation has left an unpleasant imprint on the American character." Support your assertions with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from the poem; cite all borrowed language in MLA format.

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