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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the stanzaic form of "The Solitary Reaper"?
(a) Octet.
(b) Ottava rima.
(c) Octave.
(d) Ballade.

2. How does line 3, "Reaping and singing by herself," interrupt the poem's dominant metrical pattern?
(a) It ends with a trochee.
(b) It begins with a trochee.
(c) It begins with a spondee.
(d) It ends with a spondee.

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

4. Which is the best interpretation of line 6's reference to "a melancholy strain"?
(a) Hard work.
(b) Persistent pain.
(c) A sad song.
(d) A difficult burden.

5. Where are "the farthest Hebrides" (line 16)?
(a) Australia.
(b) Russia.
(c) Chile.
(d) Scotland.

6. In the fourth stanza, when the speaker finally places himself in the scene, what is it clear he is there to do?
(a) He is delivering supplies.
(b) He is out walking.
(c) He is working on a farm.
(d) He is there to confess his love for the woman.

7. The characterization of the woman as a "Highland Lass" indicates that she is a young woman from what area?
(a) Scotland.
(b) Ireland.
(c) Wales.
(d) The Hebrides.

8. What is the meaning of the word "Yon" in line 2, "Yon solitary Highland Lass"?
(a) My.
(b) You.
(c) Over there, that one.
(d) Nearby, this one.

9. What is the meaning of the word "lay" in the line "Or is it some more humble lay" (line 21)?
(a) A plan or pattern.
(b) A reclining position.
(c) A narrative poem written in couplets.
(d) Tune or song.

10. What technique is evident in the poem's opening line, "Behold her, single in the field" (line 1)?
(a) Apostrophe.
(b) Apology.
(c) Analogy.
(d) Allusion.

11. What do all three sentences in the third stanza have in common?
(a) They are all questions.
(b) They are all fragments.
(c) They are all periodic sentences.
(d) They are all run-ons.

12. In the second stanza, to whom is the nightingale depicted singing?
(a) Travelers.
(b) The speaker.
(c) The reaper.
(d) Shepherds.

13. What technique is used in phrases like "the Vale profound" (line 7) and "A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard" (line 13)?
(a) Simile.
(b) Inversion.
(c) Imagery.
(d) Symbolism.

14. Which line uses deliberate redundancy for emphasis?
(a) "For old, unhappy, far-off things" (line 19).
(b) "Stop here, or gently pass" (line 4).
(c) "I listened, motionless and still" (line 29).
(d) "Behold her, single in the field" (line 1).

15. What technique is used in the line "A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard" (line 13)?
(a) Paradox.
(b) Litotes.
(c) Verbal irony.
(d) Contraction.

Short Answer Questions

1. In which stanza does the speaker make it clear that this event happened some time in the past?

2. Besides that the reaper may be singing about some terrible moment in history, what else does the speaker guess she might be singing about?

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

4. 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"?

5. What is the "sickle" in line 28?

(see the answer keys)

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