Assignment:
Poetry
1. Which poet, who seems be using iambic pentameter, bends the meter most?
A. Gerard Manley Hopkins
B. Emily Dickinson
C. Emma Lazarus
D. John Donne
2. What type of poem is "Death, Be Not Proud"?
A. Discursive
B. Descriptive
C. Narrative
D. Reflective
3. A tercet is a
A. complex rhyme scheme.
B. figure of speech.
C. literary genre.
D. three-line stanza.
4. Which one of the following lines is written in iambic pentameter?
A. "I lift my lamp beside the golden door"
B. "Not that the pines are darker there"
C. "When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me"
D. "And sorry I could not travel both"
5. In the poem "God's Grandeur," we find the words reck and rod. By analysis we can determine that the word rod probably comes from the Bible and means
A. God's power.
B. a tool of correction.
C. God's wrath.
D. a principle of ethics.
6. Beyond tone, a poet's attitude toward his or her subject reveals to us a poem's
A. structure.
B. subject.
C. theme.
D. diction.
7. In the poem "God's Grandeur," the phrase "nor can foot feel, being shod" means
A. humans are out of touch with nature.
B. the earth is home for humans.
C. God cures all pain.
D. the poet can sense God from head to toe.
8. In Donne's sonnet, what does the phrase "one short sleep past" mean?
A. Death is unavoidable.
B. Death comes sooner than expected.
C. Death is more permanent than sleep.
D. Death, like a nap, isn't permanent.
9. To paraphrase a poem means to
A. determine the rhyme scheme.
B. summarize its theme.
C. analyze the meter.
D. rewrite it in one's own words.
10. Which one of the following poems is written in free verse?
A. "There Is No Frigate Like a Book"
B. "Grass"
C. "God's Grandeur"
D. "Death, Be Not Proud"
11. The theme of Sandburg's poem "Grass" is
A. forgetfulness.
B. war.
C. peace.
D. freedom.
12. In "The New Colossus," the Statue of Liberty is compared to a/an
A. European queen.
B. immigrant.
C. mother.
D. door.
13. Which one of the following elements is characteristic of the poem "Richard Cory"?
A. Sonnet form
B. Surprise ending
C. Lack of rhyme scheme
D. Blank verse
14. Hopkins's use of "seared," "bleared," and "smeared" is an example of
A. assonance.
B. simile.
C. metaphor.
D. alliteration.
15. A villanelle is
A. a narrative poem written in blank verse.
B. a formal poem using extensive repetition.
C. a favorite technique of John Donne.
D. a type of complex sonnet.
16. In the last line of "God's Grandeur," we see an unusual and complicated use of
A. repetition.
B. alliteration.
C. consonance.
D. assonance.
17. In "Death, Be Not Proud," what two things does Donne say give pleasure?
A. Life and death
B. Nature and travel
C. God and salvation
D. Rest and sleep
18. One difference between the English sonnet and the Italian sonnet is its
A. subject matter.
B. rhyme scheme.
C. meter.
D. theme.
This question is based on the following poem.
How Doth the Little Crocodile
How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!
How cheerfully he seems to grin,
How neatly spreads his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws!
19. What is the rhyme scheme in "How Doth the Little Crocodile"?
A. AABB CCDD
B. ABAB ABAB
C. ABAB CDCD
D. ABBA ABBA
20. The theme of the poem "Richard Cory" is that
A. Richard Cory was a victim of fate.
B. surface glitter may be fool's gold.
C. a person's inner reality is often hidden.
D. money can't buy love.
Nonfiction
1. Matthias is an example of a/an
A. cult leader.
B. typical slave owner.
C. runaway slave.
D. pagan god.
2. In "Life without Principle," Thoreau writes, "If my wants should be much increased, the labor required
to supply them would become a drudgery." What does this statement mean?
A. The more you have, the more you want.
B. Work is meaningful only when you think about what you'll be able to do with the money you earn.
C. If you don't want much, you don't have to spend as much time being miserable working to get it.
D. Slavery was wrong because it meant that some people worked hard to satisfy other people's wants.
3. What does Seattle say about integrating white and Native American cultures?
A. It can be prevented only if the tribes unite to fight the whites.
B. It's going to be difficult, but it's the only way both cultures can survive.
C. It will be impossible, because the two traditions are too different.
D. It will happen naturally when the railroads open the West to the whites.
4. When does the Narrative of Sojourner Truth take place?
A. Before the Civil War
B. After the Civil War
C. During the Civil War
D. Right after the Emancipation Proclamation
5. What one thing does Thoreau say stifles poetry and philosophy?
A. Laws
B. Crime
C. Goverment
D. Business
6. Tecumseh's "Let the white race perish" speech is
A. a plea to the people's reason.
B. a logical list of reasons why the whites should be resisted.
C. a satire on the white race and its traditions.
D. an appeal to the emotions of his listeners.
7. The Narrative of Sojourner Truth was written down by
A. Isabella Baumfree.
B. Charles Ardinburgh.
C. Robert Matthews (Matthias).
D. Olive Gilbert.
8. Chief Seattle contrasts the religions of the whites and of his people by saying the Native American
religion exists "in the hearts of the people," while the religion of the whites is written on tablets of stone by
A. Moses.
B. lightning atop a mountain.
C. seekers after truth.
D. an angry God.
9. The major theme of "Life without Principle" is
A. government.
B. economics.
C. freedom.
D. religion.
10. "Yonder sky has wept tears of compassion" is an example of
A. consonance.
B. alliteration.
C. personification.
D. assonance.
11. In emphasizing the importance of individual thinking and basing one's beliefs on one's own experiences,
Sojourner shows she has much in common with
A. Chief Seattle.
B. Matthias.
C. Chief Pontiac.
D. Thoreau.
12. Thoreau writes that people should be "mining themselves for gold." By this he is stating, in another
way, the ideal of Socrates, which was to
A. live and let live.
B. put first things first.
C. know thyself.
D. deny thyself to learn what is valuable.
13. At first, Sojourner Truth was happy to have many children because
A. it took her mind off her problems.
B. they could help her with her daily tasks.
C. they were the only things that gave her joy.
D. it provided more slaves for her owner.
14. Sojourner's vision of God is an example of a/an
A. exterior narrative.
B. epiphany.
C. myth.
D. simile.
15. As in Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown," the autobiographical story of Sojourner Truth is written on all of these levels, except
A. social commentary.
B. dramatic narrative.
C. exterior commentary.
D. interior narrative.
16. What is Sojourner Truth's attitude toward the Bible?
A. She accepts as true only what's true in her own experience.
B. She believes that every word in the Bible is from God.
C. She depends on professional theologians to make sense of it for her.
D. She says it's a tool of whites to explain that slavery is morally acceptable.
17. Regarding the difference between fiction and nonfiction, which statement is most accurate?
A. Nonfiction writers are free to embellish the facts.
B. Nonfiction writers are more often free to move about in time and space.
C. Writers of nonfiction have no need to express passionate opinion.
D. Literary fiction does little except inform and specify.
18. Thoreau's night in jail for tax delinquency resulted specifically from
A. the publication of his work Civil Disobedience.
B. his revulsion and disgust over the U.S. invasion of Mexico.
C. a decision to act on his belief that least government was best government.
D. having moved his place of residence from Concord to Walden Pond.
19. What did Thoreau have in common with John Thornton in The Call of the Wild?
A. A mistrust of religion
B. An enjoyment of solitude
C. A dislike of government
D. A love of hunting
20. The statement "There was snow on the ground, . . . and a large old-fashioned sleigh was seen to drive up to the door of the late Col. Ardinburgh" is an example of
A. metaphor.
B. social commentary.
C. exterior narrative.
D. interior monologue.
Drama
1. Egeus wants his daughter to
A. marry Demetrius.
B. enter a convent.
C. be executed.
D. marry Lysander.
2. In Act II, Scene 1, of A Midsummer Night's Dream, who is speaking to whom in these lines?
I will not stay thy questions; let me go
Or, if thou follow me, do not believe
But I shall do thee mischief in the wood.
A. Hermia to Helen
B. Lysander to Demetrius
C. Demetrius to Helen
D. Demetrius to Lysdander
3. In act 3, who says the following lines to Bottom?
Out of this wood do not desire to go:
Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no.
I am a spirit of no common rate.
A. Oberon
B. Puck
C. Cobweb
D. Titania
4. Before the Renaissance, virtually all dramas focused on
A. religious themes.
B. the human condition.
C. family relationships.
D. life-and-death plots.
5. Who says "The course of true love never did run smooth"?
A. Bottom
B. Lysander
C. Titania
D. Demetrius
6. By the Renaissance theory of correspondences, the heart of the family is the
A. father
B. grandmother
C. mother
D. grandfather
7. Read the following passage from act 3, scene 2.
So we grew together,
Like to a double cherry, seeming parted,
But yet an union in partition;
In this passage, Helena is referring both to herself and to
A. Lysander.
B. Oberon.
C. Titania.
D. Hermia.
8. Regarding the nature of drama, which statement is false?
A. Modern dramas, such as films, are not structured in the manner of stage plays.
B. Drama is meant to present a story through action and dialog.
C. Drama is like poetry, in that it is meant to been seen and heard.
D. In reading drama, some elements have to be imagined by the reader.
9. "The best in this kind are but shadows" is
A. Titania talking about men.
B. Theseus talking about plays.
C. Bottom talking about his fellow craftsmen.
D. Demetrius talking about the women he has loved in the past.
10. In act 5, why does Hippolyta believe the lovers' story of their time in the forest?
A. She wants to defend the lovers.
B. She wants to oppose Egeus.
C. She believes the women because she's a queen.
D. The lovers' stories all match.
11. Which characters exchange these lines-and in what order-in Act I, Scene 1 of A Midsummer Night's
Dream?
I frown up him, yet he loves me still.
O that your frowns would teach my smiles such skill!
A. Titania followed by Oberon
B. Hermia followed by Helena
C. Helena followed by Hermia
D. Oberon followed by Titania
12. To whom is Helena speaking when she says, "If you were civil and knew courtesy,/You would not do
me thus much injury" (act 3, scene 2)?
A. Demetrius and Hermia
B. Hermia and Lysander
C. Hermia only
D. Lysander and Demetrius
13. The craftsmen in the play speak in prose because
A. Theseus would have forbidden them to use verse.
B. that kind of common language symbolizes their status in life.
C. it's the language of love.
D. too much blank verse gets tiresome.
14. Humanists believe that
A. humans and animals existed on the same level.
B. love is an illusion.
C. Shakespeare didn't actually write the plays we think he did.
D. life on earth is important in its own right.
15. In his comedies, Shakespeare is well known for
A. the device of mistaken identity.
B. fatally flawed characters.
C. an unusual use of Middle English.
D. revealing great heroes as common fools.
16. In act 4, what do the following lines mean?
Fairy King, attend, and mark:
I do hear the morning lark.
A. Theseus and Hippolyta are arriving.
B. Titania is about to fall in love with Bottom.
C. The enchantment on Bottom is about to end.
D. The sun is coming up and the fairies should leave.
17. Prior to the Renaissance, the human body was seen as
A. sacred dust.
B. proof that humans are "the paragon of animals."
C. a prison for the soul.
D. a beautiful thing.
18. In act 1, the reader learns that Hermia's father refuses to allow her to marry Lysander. What do
Hermia and Lysander plan to do to counteract his refusal?
A. Go together to talk to Hermia's mother.
B. Use a potion to convince Hermia's father.
C. Run away to be married.
D. Take their case to Theseus, Duke of Athens.
19. During the Renaissance, dramatists began writing about
A. history.
B. everyday people.
C. science.
D. religion.
20. The ability of writers to completely identify with their characters is
A. hypocrisy.
B. satire.
C. ambiguity.
D. negative capability.