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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through The Solitary Reaper.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What reasonable inference can be made about the reaper from line 17, "Will no one tell me what she sings?"?
(a) She is singing in a language the speaker does not understand.
(b) She is too far away to be heard clearly.
(c) She is singing a song that she has made up herself.
(d) She is singing an old folk song that the speaker does not know the title of.

2. Which of the following most clearly communicates the speaker's admiration for the reaper's singing ability?
(a) The poem's nature imagery.
(b) The metaphors in the second stanza.
(c) The repeated use of exclamation points.
(d) The poem's elevated diction.

3. What is the young woman doing in the field?
(a) Harvesting a grain crop.
(b) Watching the speaker from the hillside.
(c) Pushing a cart down a path.
(d) Watching over grazing sheep.

4. In which stanza does the speaker make it clear that this event happened some time in the past?
(a) The second.
(b) The first.
(c) The third.
(d) The fourth.

5. What is subtly appropriate about the meter in lines 25 and 26, "Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sang / As if her song could have no ending"?
(a) Line 26 has four metrical feet instead of the expected three, creating a feeling of "lingering."
(b) Line 25 begins with a dactyl, emphasizing the importance of the content of the reaper's song.
(c) The feminine ending of line 26 emphasizes the idea of something that does not end when it is expected to.
(d) The contraction in line 25 creates a second line of trimeter in this stanza, emphasizing the musicality of the song.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where in the Highlands is the field where the woman is standing?

2. What technique is evident in the poem's opening line, "Behold her, single in the field" (line 1)?

3. What is the stanzaic form of "The Solitary Reaper"?

4. From context, what is is likely meaning of "single" in line 1, "Behold her, single in the field"?

5. In line 4, "Stop here, or gently pass!" what is the grammatical mood of the words "stop" and "pass"?

(see the answer key)

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