“O Captain! My Captain!” Unit Exam
Part I. Multiple Choice
For each question choose the best answer, and fill in the chosen answer for the
corresponding question on your scantron. Some questions must be answered using
new texts. The test directions will specify whether the poems you need to use are
found directly above its questions or if the poem you need is on a handout. Before
beginning the exam, make sure you have two handouts. Do not write on the test!
Question in this section are worth 2 points each.
1. Which of the following is the best definition of ekphrastic poetry?
a. poetry that is a result of a collaboration between an artist and poet
b. poetry that prompts a strong emotional response from the reader
c. poetry that vividly expresses several emotions
d. poetry that is inspired by a piece of art
2. Which of the following is not a characteristic of ballads?
a. contains dialogue between characters
b. is a narrative about a historical figure
c. uses elevated, sophisticated language
d. uses incremental repetition
3. All sonnets have which of the following characteristics?
a. are about love or death
b. end in a couplet
c. have fourteen lines
d. have the same rhyme scheme
4. What is the best reason for creating a block quotation in a paper?
a. to get the reader’s attention
b. to quote more than four lines of poetry
c. to show emphasis to quoted material
d. to signal a new idea in the paper
5. An octet is a stanza that has which of the following?
a. eight ideas
b. eight lines
c. eight sentences
d. eight words
6. Which of the following is the best definition of blank verse?
a. iambic pentameter that does not rhyme
b. lines that end only in near rhymes
c. minimal use of punctuation in the lines
d. the absence of rules and structure
7. Which of the following is least likely to be a reason why a group of lines is identified
as a stanza?
a. one central idea
b. same meter
c. same rhyme scheme
d. use of enjambment
8. Which of the following best describes the purpose of ekphrastic poetry?
a. to describe in writing what viewers see when looking at a painting
b. to put into writing an individual interpretation of a painting
c. to understand what the artist intended the viewer to see
d. to write a poem that correctly interprets the painting
9. When applied to poetry, the term foot indicates_______________.
a. the number and lengths of a poem’s stanzas
b. the number of times a pattern of syllables is repeated
c. the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables
d. the scope or extent that a poem addresses a subject
10. Which of the following is the best definition of alliteration?
a. multiple words in a single line of poetry that begin with the same letter
b. multiple words in a single line of poetry that have the same rhyming sounds
c. the repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds at the beginning of words
d. the repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds at the end of words
2
Use the following excerpt to answer questions 11-12.
O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,
Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,
Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou,
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed
The wingèd seeds, where they lie cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave,until
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow
Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill
(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)
With living hues and odours plain and hill:
Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;
Destroyer and Preserver; hear, O hear!
11. Which of the following terms best describes this excerpt?
a. elegy
b. lyric poem
c. ode
d. sonnet
12. Which of the following is most likely the theme of this excerpt?
a. death/dying
b. heroism
c. loss of innocence
d. loyalty
Use the handout titled “Ups and Downs” to answer questions 13-19.
13. The first line of “Ups and Downs” is an example of___________________.
a. a metaphor
b. onomatopoeia
c. personification
d. a simile
3
14. Which of the following is most likely the speaker in this poem?
a. a person who lives near a river
b. different people at different times of the year
c. the author of the poem
d. the river that needs water
15. Which of the following are in lines four and five of the poem?
a. consonance and metaphor
b. internal rhyme and irony
c. personification and allusion
d. simile and alliteration
16. Which of the following best describes the poem’s meter?
a. blank verse
b. free verse
c. iambic pentameter
d. trochaic tetrameter
17. Line 9 contains ______________.
a. a metaphor
b. a simile
c. imagery
d. personification
18. Which of the following is found in line 18?
a. assonance
b. consonance
c. eye rhyme
d. internal rhyme
19. Lines 22-24 provide examples of _______________________.
a. consonance
b. enjambment
c. hyperbole
d. simile
4
20. One of the characteristics of dramatic poetry is______________________.
a. conversation between several characters
b. divisions that separate the poems into acts
c. melodramatic themes and subjects
d. the overuse of hyperbole and excited language
21. A poem written in trochaic tetrameter will have which of the following?
a. one stressed syllable and one unstressed syllable repeated four times
b. one stressed syllable and one unstressed syllable repeated three times
c. one unstressed syllable and one stressed syllable repeated four times
d. one unstressed syllable and one stressed syllable repeated three times
22. If a poem is divided into three sections of four lines, six lines, and two lines, what
kinds of stanzas appear from the beginning to the end of the poem?
a. couplet, octave, triad
b. quatrain, sestet, couplet
c. quartet, sestet, duo
d. triplet, quatrain, duet
5
Use the following poem to complete questions 23-25.
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
5
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
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Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
23. Based on what you know about the characteristics of different forms of poetry, what
kind of poem is this?
a. ballad
b. dramatic poem
c. ode
d. sonnet
24. Based on the structure of this poem, who is most likely the author?
a. Frost
b. Keats
c. Shakespeare
d. Whitman
25. What figurative language is used by the author in line 7?
a. enjambment
b. hyperbole
c. metaphor
d. personification
6
26. Which of the following does not describe an elegy?
a. expresses the personal emotions of the author
b. is concerned with death or the loss of someone
c. is one of the different forms of lyric poems
d. is written as an octet followed by a couplet
27. Which kind of lyric poem expresses a feeling of admiration for a serious subject?
a. ballad
b. dramatic
c. ode
d. sonnet
28. When quoting poetry in a paper, the line numbers are____________________.
a. enclosed by parentheses
b. placed before the quotation
c. surrounded by quotation marks
d. unnecessary and don’t need to be indicated
29. When a poet uses words that imitate sounds, he or she is
using______________________.
a. description
b. literal language
c. onomatopoeia
d. personification
Use the handout titled “Where the Sidewalk Ends” to answer questions 30-33.
30. What is the rhyme scheme of the second stanza?
a. abcccb
b. aabbbc
c. abbccc
d. abcbcc
31. Which of the following are found in lines 7-8?
a. alliteration and assonance
b. alliteration and consonance
c. assonance and personification
d. consonance and assonance
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32. Which of the following is a plausible interpretation of the phrase “the place where the
sidewalk ends” in line 1?
a. acquisition of knowledge
b. a state of transition
c. escape from life
d. return to home
33. The tone of the speaker is best described as____________________.
a. ironic
b. outraged
c. playful
d. serene
34. The Italian sonnet is also called a_________________.
a. Balboan sonnet
b. Boccacioan sonnet
c. Dantean sonnet
d. Petrarchan sonnet
35. In a quotation, which of the following symbols surrounds a line of poetry?
a. […]
b. <…>
c. /…/
d. \...\
8
Use the following excerpt to answer questions 36-38.
Fair ship, that from the Italian shore
Sailest the placid ocean-plains
With my lost Arthur's loved remains,
Spread thy full wings, and waft him o'er.
So draw him home to those that mourn
In vain; a favourable speed
Ruffle thy mirror'd mast, and lead
Thro' prosperous floods his holy urn.
36. Based on these two stanzas, what is the rhyme scheme of the poem?
a. abba
b. abbc
c. abab
d. abcc
37. Which of the following terms describes what kind of poem this is?
a. ballad
b. dramatic
c. elegy
d. ode
38. Which best describes the structure of the excerpt?
a. four couplets
b. one octet
c. two quatrains
d. two sestets
9
Use the following except to answer questions 39-40.
John Henry was a bachelor,
His age was thirty-three or four.
Two maids for his affection vied,
And each desired to be his bride,
And bravely did they strive to bring
Unto their feet John Henry King.
John Henry liked them both so well,
To save his life he could not tell
Which he most wished to be his bride,
Nor was he able to decide.
39. This poem is likely an example of what form?
a. ballad
b. dramatic
c. limerick
d. ode
40. The excerpt is broken down into _________________________.
a. five couplets
b. one octet and one couplet
c. one quatrain and two couplets
d. two quatrains and one couplet
Turn in your completed scantron and this test packet to receive
Part II. of the exam.
10
Ups
and
Downs
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
In
the
dog
days
of
August,
the
sun
beats
a
slow
drum
On
hours
dry
as
feathers,
but
we
don’t
mind.
We
loll
at
the
beach,
tanned
and
sweaty,
Cooled
by
crystal
waters,
under
skies
blue
And
perfect
as
childhood.
But
the
river
minds.
He
gives
himself
up,
drop
by
drop,
lower,
lower,
Sinks
into
himself,
sad
and
sullen,
And
scared,
I
think,
of
dying:
slower,
slower.
I
smell
the
muddy
reeds,
see
logs
we’ve
never
seen.
Rocks
appear
like
nightmares
in
August
noons.
September
brings
thunder,
lightning,
downpour
Days
of
torrents,
drizzles,
sheets,
and
showers.
The
end
of
the
dock
sinks
as
the
thirsty
river
Drinks
and
guzzles,
sloshing,
slobbering,
Rushing.
The
crooked
snake
nuzzles
the
banks,
Hugs
the
bends
he’s
whittled
over
long
years.
He’s
giddy—tumbling,
somersaulting,
rock
vaulting!
We
read
books,
tie
flies,
play
games,
bake
pies
As
the
golden
leaves
are
pelted
off
their
branches,
And
the
stiff
brown
moss
turns
green
and
lush
again.
October’s
Indian
summer
is
dry.
Crackling
leaves,
Snapping
branches.
No
campfires
allowed.
The
river
Dwindles,
shrinks.
The
bogs
dry
up
to
stinky
stones
Like
white
bones:
where
do
the
frogs
go?
The
river
Flattens,
thins,
fish
huddle
in
its
muddy
rims.
Forest
fires
in
Canada!
One
day
we
wake
to
hazy
smoke,
Shudder,
watch
our
river
choke.
We
watch
the
logs
And
rocks
poke
their
heads
again,
grinning
Cackling:
Come
and
get
us!
The
weather
station
Says
drought.
Drought.
The
beavers
wait.
The
paper
says
it’s
snowing
in
The
Country,
what
if
.
.
.
If
the
river
freezes
low,
what
will
the
beavers
do?
But
November
brings
relief,
for
just
as
the
last
red
leaf
Drops,
the
skies
open
and
cry!
Autumn
deluge,
River
refuge.
We
hear
it
on
the
roof—all
night—
All
day—We
hear
the
river
praising
rain!
Again,
it
Drinks
its
fill,
rises,
rises,
swells,
surprises.
As
we
pull
out
the
docks,
in
our
hip‐waders,
The
cold
river
is
high
and
mighty,
it
rushes
round
Our
thighs
and
screams:
AAHHEEE!
Let
winter
come!
40
R8UPS505
11
Where the Sidewalk Ends
There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.
Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.
Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.
5
10
15
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“O Captain! My Captain!” Unit Exam
Part II. Essay
Read “Eyesight,” “spring is like a perhaps hand,” and “I Wandered Lonely
as a Cloud,” and identify a theme that all three have in common. In a well-written
five-paragraph essay, explain how each of the poems relates to the chosen theme.
Make sure to include the similarities and differences between the ways the poems
discuss the theme. Be sure to include a thesis statement, topic sentences, and
conclusion in your essay. You must cite lines from each of the poems at least once to
provide support for your ideas.
Do not write on this paper. You may take notes or brainstorm on the poem
handouts. Write your essay on notebook paper (one side only) in ink. Please label
each piece of paper with your name and a page number. The essay is worth 20
points.
13
Eyesight
A.R. Ammons
It was May before my
attention came
to spring and
my word I said
to the southern slopes
I've
missed it, it
came and went before
I got right to see:
don't worry, said the mountain,
try the later northern slopes
or if
you can climb, climb
into spring: but
said the mountain
it's not that way
with all things, some
that go are gone
14
spring is like a perhaps hand
e.e. cummings
Spring is like a perhaps hand
(which comes carefully
out of Nowhere)arranging
a window,into which people look(while
people stare
arranging and changing placing
carefully there a strange
thing and a known thing here)and
changing everything carefully
spring is like a perhaps
Hand in a window
(carefully to
and fro moving New and
Old things,while
people stare carefully
moving a perhaps
fraction of flower here placing
an inch of air there)and
without breaking anything.
15
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
William Wordsworth
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
10
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
20
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“O Captain! My Captain!” Exam Essay Question Rubric
Exceeds
Expectations (A)
Meets
Expectations
(B)
Developing
Unsatisfactory
(C)
(D/F)
The essay identifies
an appropriate theme
that is seen in only
two of the three
poems, which
jeopardizes the
essay’s ideas. The
similarities and
differences
identified do not
work well because
the theme is not
evident in all of the
texts. Support from
the texts is
occasionally used
effectively.
The essay’s thesis
statement contains
all of the necessary
components, but the
ideas could be
articulated better.
The topic sentences
are satisfactory, but
there is at least one
incidence where the
essay goes off on a
tangent. The
conclusion’s
language is too
similar to the rest of
the essay’s and is
boring.
The theme
identified is
inaccurate for the
texts. It is
unclear whether
the writer
understood the
poems and/or
theme. The
differences and
similarities
identified are not
well-formed, and
no support from
the texts is used.
Content
(x 2)
The essay identifies
an exceptionally
insightful theme that
is seen in each of the
three poems. It
skillfully explains
how the theme is
found in each of the
poems and uses
effective supports
from the texts. It
masterfully explains
the similarities and
differences between
the poems.
The essay identifies
an appropriate theme
that is evident in each
of the three poems. It
explains how the
theme is found in
each of the poems and
uses supports from
the texts. It
comprehensively
explains the
similarities and
differences between
the poems.
Structure
The essay’s thesis
statement
sophisticatedly
introduces the poems,
the theme, and three
main points. Each
paragraph begins
with an elegant topic
sentence, and all
paragraphs stay on
topic. In addition to
summing up the main
points, the conclusion
gracefully posits a
new idea that is not
so novel that the
essay feels
unfinished.
The essay’s thesis
statement contains all
of the necessary
components (title of
poems, the theme,
and three points).
Each of the essay’s
paragraphs is
introduced by a
strong topic sentence,
and the essay does not
contain any tangents.
The conclusion sums
up the essay without
repeating word for
word what has
already been said.
The essay flows and
makes sense.
Citations
The essay uses more
than three in-text
citations. All of the
citations are done
correctly.
Lines from each of
the poems are cited at
least once in the essay
for a total of three intext citations. All of
the citations are done
correctly.
Lines from each of
the poems are cited
at least once in the
essay for a total of
three in-text
citations. Not all of
the citations are
done correctly. The
student seems
The essay’s
thesis statement
is missing one of
the required
components, and
its style is
unsophisticated.
The paragraphs
do not being
with strong topic
sentences, and
the essay often
gets off track.
The conclusion
is unfocused.
The essay does
not have the
structure of a
five-paragraph
essay.
The essay does
not include the
required number
of citations
and/or all of the
citations in the
essay are done
incorrectly.
17
confused about a
certain component
citations.
“O Captain! My Captain!” Multiple Choice Answer Key
1. d.
2. c.
3. c.
4. b.
5. b.
6. a.
7. d.
8. b.
9. c.
10. c.
11. c.
12. a.
13. c.
14. a.
15. d.
16. b.
17. c.
18. d.
19. b.
20. a.
21. a.
22. b.
23. d.
24. c.
25. c.
26. d.
27. c.
28. a.
29. c.
30. a.
31. b.
32. b.
33. d.
34. d.
35. c.
36. a.
37. c.
38. c.
39. a.
40. a.
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