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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Between which lines does the poem use "light rhyme"?
(a) B and C.
(b) B and D.
(c) A and C.
(d) A and B.

2. In lines 5 and 6, what is the bird's motion compared to?
(a) An arrow.
(b) An ice skater.
(c) A swing.
(d) A ball being thrown.

3. Where is the volta of "The Windhover"?
(a) Between lines 4 and 5.
(b) Between lines 11 and 12.
(c) Between lines 8 and 9.
(d) Between lines 12 and 13.

4. What type of rhyme is seen in the poem's "A" lines?
(a) Eye.
(b) Masculine.
(c) Slant.
(d) Feminine.

5. What does line 10 say "Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume" do "here" (line 9)?
(a) Buckle.
(b) Break.
(c) Soar.
(d) Stir.

6. Who is being referred to in line 10's "thee"?
(a) The air.
(b) The windhover.
(c) The speaker.
(d) Christ.

7. What is "sillion" (line 12)?
(a) The sparkling of a diamond.
(b) Sunshine.
(c) A type of soil.
(d) An uncountable amount.

8. What type of rhyme is seen in the poem's "B" lines"?
(a) Feminine.
(b) Eye.
(c) Slant.
(d) Masculine.

9. What would it mean to have "Rebuffed the big wind" (line 7)?
(a) To have stood up to and turned away its advance.
(b) To have abruptly and rudely responded to it.
(c) To have used rapid movements to shine or polish it.
(d) To have brushed against its force and been knocked back.

10. In line 5, what does the speaker claim the bird is feeling?
(a) Pride.
(b) Ecstasy.
(c) Anticipation.
(d) Awe.

11. In lines 2-3, "in his riding/ Of the rolling level underneath him steady air," which word tells what the bird is "riding"?
(a) "Rolling."
(b) "Him."
(c) "Level."
(d) "Air."

12. In lines 10 and 11, the speaker says that the fire "that breaks from thee" is a billion times "lovelier" and more what?
(a) Rapturous.
(b) Sanctified.
(c) Dangerous.
(d) Hypnotic.

13. What technique is employed in the poem's final two lines, "blue-bleak embers, ah my dear/ Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion"?
(a) Oxymoron.
(b) Imagery.
(c) Euphemism.
(d) Metaphor.

14. What is the bird the "dauphin" of (line 2)?
(a) Flight.
(b) Daylight.
(c) The dawn.
(d) The air.

15. What does "shéer plód" mean (line 12)?
(a) Slow, boring, repetitive work.
(b) Keen and attentive determination.
(c) A heavy feeling of apathy.
(d) Clumsy and random movement.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the common name of the titular bird?

2. What device is evident in line 10's "the fire that breaks from thee then"?

3. To whom is the poem dedicated?

4. What is a "chevalier" (line 11)?

5. What technique is employed in the line 9 phrase "oh, air, pride, plume, here"?

(see the answer keys)

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