Unit 4
TEST A
Reading Comprehension
Directions Read the following poems. Then answer the questions that follow.
London, 1802
William Wordsworth
Copyright © Holt McDougal, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Milton!1 thou should’st be living at this hour:
England hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,2
5 Have forfeited their ancient English dower
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;
Oh! raise us up, return to us again;
And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power.
Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart:
10 Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea:
Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free,
So didst thou travel on life’s common way,
In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart
The lowliest duties on herself did lay.
1. Milton: well-known seventeenth-century English poet, 1608–1674.
2. bower: a shelter or garden enclosed by boughs or vines.
Assessment File
British Literature
Unit and Benchmark Tests
Unit 4, Test A
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UNIT 4, TEST A CONTINUED
On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer3
John Keats
Copyright © Holt McDougal, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Much have I travell’d in the realms of gold,
And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;
Round many western islands have I been
Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
5 Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
That deep-brow’d Homer ruled as his demesne4;
Yet did I never breathe its pure serene
Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold:
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
10
When a new planet swims into his ken;
Or like stout Cortez5 when with eagle eyes
He star’d at the Pacific—and all his men
Look’d at each other with a wild surmise—
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.
3. Chapman’s Homer: Homer’s epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, as translated from the ancient Greek
by George Chapman (1559–1634), an English classical scholar, dramatist, poet, and translator.
4. demesne: realm.
5. Cortez: It was actually the Spanish explorer Vasco Nùñez de Balboa (1475–1519), not Cortez, who first saw
the Pacific from the heights of Darien.
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Unit and Benchmark Tests
Unit 4, Test A
Assessment File
British Literature
UNIT 4, TEST A CONTINUED
COMPREHENSION
Directions Answer the following questions about “London, 1802.”
1. The poet’s addressing Milton in line 1 is an
example of which poetic technique?
5. Which phrase is an example of assonance?
A. she is a fen (line 2)
A. metaphor
C. personification
B. sword and pen (line 3)
B. simile
D. apostrophe
C. selfish men (line 6)
2. Which image in line 3 symbolizes the English
church?
D. soul was like a Star (line 9)
6. Which image is an example of metaphor?
A. waters
C. sword
B. altar
D. pen
3. The phrase “Thy soul” is a form of apostrophe
A. she is a fen of stagnant waters (lines 2–3)
B. altar, sword, and pen (line 3)
C. Oh! raise us up (line 7)
D. soul was like a Star (line 9)
addressed to
A. England
C. Milton
B. nature
D. the author
4. Which words in line 10 are examples of
7. A key difference between lines 1–8 and lines
9–14 is that
A. they address completely different subjects
B. they have different rhyme schemes
alliteration?
A. Thou, voice
C. voice, sea
B. sound, sea
D. sea, was
C. only one group of lines uses apostrophe
D. one is serious and the other is playful
8. Which characteristic of Romanticism appears
Copyright © Holt McDougal, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
in lines 9–14?
A. an emphasis on the commonplace
B. a language resembling natural speech
C. a love of nature
D. the prizing of individual freedom
Assessment File
British Literature
Unit and Benchmark Tests
Unit 4, Test A
77
UNIT 4, TEST A CONTINUED
COMPREHENSION
Directions Answer the following questions about “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer.”
pronoun I illustrates which element of
Romanticism?
A. a love of nature
B. the importance of the commonplace
C. use of everyday language
D. an emphasis on personal experience
10. Which of the following is a simile?
A. in the realms of gold (line 1)
B. deep-brow’d Homer ruled (line 6)
C. a new planet swims (line 10)
D. like stout Cortez (line 11)
11. Which sentence is the best paraphrase of
line 8?
A. until I attended a reading by Chapman of
his own poetry
B. until I went to see Chapman for advice
about writing poetry
C. until I was struck by the force of Chapman’s
writing
D. until I was inspired by hearing Chapman’s
voice in my head
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Unit and Benchmark Tests
Unit 4, Test A
12. The consonance in line 8 of helps emphasize
A. the strong impact of Chapman’s writing
on Keats
B. the forceful quality of Chapman’s speaking
voice
C. Keats’s excitement at the prospect of
hearing Chapman speak
D. Keats’s disappointment at the harsh quality
of Chapman’s writing
13. Line 13 contains an example of which poetic
technique?
A. metaphor
C. assonance
B. simile
D. consonance
14. The simile in line 9 helps communicate the
author’s sense of
A. despair
C. caution
B. fear
D. awe
Copyright © Holt McDougal, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. The poet’s repeated use of the personal
Assessment File
British Literature
UNIT 4, TEST A CONTINUED
COMPREHENSION
Directions Answer the following questions about both poems.
15. The imagery of line 8 of “On First Looking
into Chapman’s Homer” and line 10 of
“London, 1802” appeal primarily to which
sense?
A. sight
C. taste
B. hearing
D. touch
16. Both poems express
A. despair at the state of England
B. admiration for the work of another poet
C. the authors’ reflections on their travels
D. a devotion to the beauties of nature
Written Response
SHORT RESPONSE
Directions Write two or three sentences to answer each question on a separate sheet
of paper.
17. What do “altar, sword, and pen” symbolize in “London, 1802”?
18. Paraphrase lines 5–8 of “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer.”
Copyright © Holt McDougal, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
19. Give two examples of similes in “London, 1802.”
EXTENDED RESPONSE
Directions Answer the following question. Write two or more paragraphs on a separate
sheet of paper.
20. Compare and contrast the use of metaphors and symbols in “London, 1802” and “On First
Looking into Chapman’s Homer.”
Assessment File
British Literature
Unit and Benchmark Tests
Unit 4, Test A
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