Walt Whitman
In “A child says what is Grass” the speaker describes grass as the
a. uncut hair of graves.
b. courage of present times.
c. calmness of martyrs.
d. whiskers of Tuckahoe.
uncut hair of graves
Who shuts the door in “The Soul selects her own Society”?
a. the Chariots
b. her divine Majority
c. an Emperor
d. the Soul
Where does Thoreau live during the period described in Walden?
a. on a famous battleground
b. in the village of Concord, Massachusetts
c. on a tarn near the side of a mountain
d. in the woods near a pond
Read this passage from lines 147–151: “Nature is mouths, or maybe a single mouth. Why glamorize it, romanticize it?—well, yes, but we must, we’re writers, poets, mystics (of a sort) aren’t we, precisely what else are we to do but glamorize and romanticize and generally exaggerate the significance of anything we focus the white heat of our ‘creativity’ upon?” Which type of writing is this? a. argumentative
b. informative
c. narrative
d. a mixture of forms
argumentative
In the movie Dead Poets Society, Mr. Keating uses the term carpe diem. What does this mean?
a. Work today
b. Look to the future
c. Latin
d. Seize the day
Which sentence best describes the speaker’s ideas about the dead in “A child says what is Grass
a. They communicate through hieroglyphics.
b. They have collapsed inward.
c. They are alive and well somewhere.
d. They are the produced babes of vegetation.
They are alive and well somewhere
In the last lines of “The Soul selects her own Society,” the simile “close the Valves of her attention— / Like Stone—” conveys a sense of
a. divinity.
b. hardness.
c. permanence.
d. presence.
Thoreau chooses to lead a “Spartan-like” existence in order to
a. “glorify God and enjoy him forever.”
b. “live deliberately” and experience life more fully. c. bestow “the wealth of Croesus” upon the poor.
d. “live meanly, like ants.”
Which detail helps illustrate the author’s point that nature provides no link to spiritual truth?
a. “And the lovely blue isn’t even blue, is it? isn’t even there, is it?”
b. “To keep in motion is to keep in time, and to be stopped, stilled, is to be abruptly out of time…”
c. “Or, from another angle of vision, one vast democratic grave.”
d. “The raccoon, mad with rabies, frothing at the mouth and tearing at his own belly with his teeth.”
“The raccoon, mad with rabies, frothing at the mouth and tearing at his own belly with his teeth.”
What play did Neil want to audition (try out) for?
a. Macbeth
b. The Tempest
c. A Midsummer's Night Dream
d. Taming of the Shrew
In “The Large Hearts of Heroes” who writes on a large board, “Be of good cheer, we will not desert you?"
a. the skipper
b. the artillerist
c. the mother “condemn’d for a witch”
d. the “hounded slave”
the skipper
In lines 5–8 of “Because I could not stop for Death,” Dickinson writes, “We slowly drove—He knew no haste / And I had put away / My labor and my leisure too, / For His Civility.” Here her tone conveys an image of death as
a. eternal.
b. dull.
c. tragic.
d. peaceful.
Why did Thoreau move from his isolated cabin?
a. He decided that he “had several more lives to live.” b. Too many visitors had made “a beaten track” to his door.
c. It had started to feel like a “well-seasoned tomb.” d. He gradually began to hear “a different drummer.”
What did the author realize as she lay on the ground trying to slow her heart rate (lines 46–78)?
a. Her rapid heart rate was a result of her breathing rate.
b. Her sense of herself as separate from nature was an illusion.
c. Her life was fragile and full of unexpected twists. d. She would have to fight against nature if she hoped to survive.
Her sense of herself as separate from nature was an illusion.
At the end of the movie, the students stood on their desks and called Mr. Keating what?
a. Uncle Walt
b. Walt Whitman
c. O Captain, My Captain
d. O Captain, Mr. Keating
In “The Large Hearts of Heroes” lines 39–41, Whitman writes, “Again the long roll of the drummers, / Again the attacking cannon, mortars, / Again to my listening ears the cannon responsive.” These lines demonstrate his use of
a. symbols.
b. parallelism.
c. militarism.
d. figures of speech.
parallelism
Which of the following best describes death in “Because I could not stop for Death”?
a. a courteous friend
b. a field of grain
c. a brooding master
d. a gossamer gown
In Walden’s “Conclusion,” Thoreau uses the image of a well-worn path to describe
a. the habits and routines that people form.
b. a dead horse that reveals Nature’s indomitable will.
c. his six-year experiment of living alone.
d. the pace of his companions on the road less travelled.
In lines 217–218, the author includes a quote from Wallace Stevens: “In the presence of extraordinary actuality, consciousness takes the place of imagination.” She uses the quote to suggest that a. rather than enhancing creativity, nature suppresses it.
b. nature has provided endless inspiration to poets and painters.
c. to experience nature is to be one with nature.
d. beautiful landscapes tend to help focus our concentration.
rather than enhancing creativity, nature suppresses it.
Why did Mr. Keating have his students climb up on their desks?
a. To discipline them
b. For exercise as they were getting lazy
c. Give them a different perspective
d. Playing a game
In “The Large Hearts of Heroes” the speaker describes the experiences of various people who were rescued from a shipwreck and then says, “I am the man, I suffer’d, I was there” (line 11). This statement reflects the theme of the section, which has to do with
a. compassion.
b. death.
c. gender.
d. independence.
compassion
According to “Much Madness is divinest Sense,” people are “handled with a Chain” when they
a. prevail over the majority.
b. become part of the majority.
c. think independently.
d. pose a danger to themselves and others.
The statement “Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads” (line 155) expresses
a. the license of a higher order of beings.
b. a belief that darkness reveals the heavenly lights. c. a reverence for nature.
d. Thoreau’s love of walking barefoot.
In lines 219–251, the author describes a mystical vision in which she perceived her body as “a tall column of light and heat,” not “I” but “it.” She uses this anecdote to illustrate that
a. the individual must live in harmony with nature to survive.
b. nature is cruel and merciless, seeking to snuff out life at every turn.
c. our understanding of ourselves as a separate life force is what keeps us alive.
d. our bodies are not a single structure but rather are made up of multiple different structures.
our understanding of ourselves as a separate life force is what keeps us alive
What is the purpose of education according to Mr. Keating?
a. Get students ready for university
b. To think as individuals
c. Rules and regulations of life
d. Make students conform to society's rules