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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What do the metaphors in lines 9-12 and 13-16 have in common?
(a) They both compare the reaper to a bird.
(b) They both compare the speaker to a traveler.
(c) The both compare music to a geographical location.
(d) They both compare traveling to a specific time of year.

3. Besides that the reaper may be singing about some terrible moment in history, what else does the speaker guess she might be singing about?
(a) Love and romance.
(b) Modern political events.
(c) Ordinary, everyday troubles.
(d) The beauty of the Highlands.

4. In the lines "Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow / For old, unhappy, far-off things," what does "plaintive numbers" refer to (lines 18-19)?
(a) The song.
(b) Time and history.
(c) The reaper's personal experience.
(d) The reaper's tears.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. 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"?

2. What do all three sentences in the third stanza have in common?

3. Which stanza could be reasonably called the most positive in tone?

4. Which of the following most clearly communicates the speaker's admiration for the reaper's singing ability?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the rhyme scheme of "The Solitary Reaper."

2. Explain how the mention of "spring-time" in line 14's description of the cuckoo enhances the contrast between this image and the image of the nightingale.

3. What are the names of the two forms of poetry that are combined in this poem, and how are they combined?

4. Describe the tense shift in "The Solitary Reaper" and explain what it reveals about the poem's narrative present.

5. To which two birds does the speaker compare the reaper, and what area of the world does the speaker associate with each?

6. Describe the meter of "The Solitary Reaper."

7. How does the speaker's line 26 description of the reaper singing "As if her song could have no ending" reinforce the meaning of the poem's ending?

8. In what way do the places associated with the two birds create a dramatic contrast with one another?

9. Summarize the action of "The Solitary Reaper."

10. What question does the speaker ask in the third stanza, and what two contrasting answers does he speculate about?

(see the answer keys)

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