1.

A student claims that Will Carleton’s Poem “Autumn Days”

contrasts the sweetness of some autumn days in the first stanza
with a far different type of autumn days in the second stanza. What
pair of lines from the first and second stanzas respectively best
illustrate this claim?

A. O’er the dreamy, listless haze/O’er the cheerless, withered plain.

B. Yellow, mellow, ripened days/ Shivering, quivering, tearful days.
C. And the sombre, furrowed fallow/ Woefully and hoarsely calling.
D. Winking at the blushing trees/On thy scanty vestments falling.
2. The following is an excerpt from the poem “We Wait” by Will M.
Carleton
Or if upon the field of war we stand,
And sword with sword for mastery we mate,
Grim Death, and radiant Glory, hand in hand,
Approaching us with silent step we see;
And one of them, we vow, for us must be;
Bravely we strive to win renown’s estate,
And still we wait.
And when we grope within the gloom of age,
When our few steps grow feeble and sedate,
We cast our eyes back o’er a blotted page;
We peer among the pictures of the past,
We gaze upon the future, overcast;
Our musings all with hopes and fears we freight;
And still we wait.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. To illustrate the abeyancy of life, even as death approaches.

B. To force the reader to consider his own fate.
C. To illustrate the futility of war.
D. To explain the purposelessness of life.
3. The following is an excerpt from the poem “We Hope” by Will M.
Carleton

Then we yearn and call for comfort; but no comfort comes unto us,
And we wrap ourselves in sadness, and Despair goes thrilling thou’
us;
And the darkness gathers round us, with its horrors, half-unspoken,
And we pray again for succor: that the fearful spell be broken,
With the light of something shining, be it only but a ray.
Then within our hearts a blossom, from the dreary mould is
springing,
Then the birds of Hope make music, with their sweet and cheerful
singing;
Then, upon the great clouds gazing, we discern their silver lining,
And at last, through veils of blackness, bursts the sunbeam’s
glorious shining,
And upon our raptured vision beams the light of perfect day
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion
in the text as a whole?

A. It minimizes the role of hope to “but a ray”.

B. It firmly emphasizes the despair of the writer.
C. It clarifies the despair that was described earlier in the passage.
D. It introduces a visual for hope that will be further built upon in the
poem.
4. The following is an excerpt from the poem “The House Where We
Were Wed” by Will M. Carleton
I’ve been to the old farm-house, good-wife,
Where you and I were wed;
Where the love was born to our two hearts
That now lies cold and dead.
Where a long-kept secret to you I told,
In the yellow beams of the moon,
And we forged our vows out of love’s own gold,
To be broken so soon, so soon!
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. To tell someone of a trip made, in the light of a broken

relationship.
B. To set the stage for a future argument.
C. To argue that marriage is a fruitless endeavor.
D. To help the reader feel the author’s pain after the death of his
wife.
5. The following is an excerpt from the poem “Apple Blossoms” by
Will M. Carleton

Naught within her eyes he read

That would tell her mind unto him;
Though their light, he after said,
Quivered swiftly through and through him;
Till at last his heart burst free
From the prayer with which ‘twas laden,
And he said, “When wilt thou be
Mine for evermore, fair maiden?”

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion

in the text as a whole?

A. To clarify the emotional source of the following quotation.

B. To explain a medical condition from which he is suffering.
C. To show the religious fervor with which he lives his life.
D. To build on the previous description of her eyes.
6. An instructor claims that “Lines Written in Early Spring” contains
the introspective thoughts of the author. Which quotation from the
poem best supports this claim?

A. “And ‘tis my faith that every flower/Enjoys the air it breathes.”

B. “The birds around me hopp’d and play’d/ Their thoughts I cannot
measure”
C. “In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts/ Bring sad thoughts
to the mind.”
D. “I heard a thousand blended notes/While in a grove I sat
reclined.”
7. The following is an excerpt from “The Dungeon” as published in
Lyrical Ballads With a Few Other Poems.

And this place our forefathers made for man!

This is the process of our love and wisdom,
To each poor brother who offends against us—
Most innocent, perhaps—and what if guilty?
Is this the only cure? Merciful God?
Each pore and natural outlet shrivell’d up
By ignorance and parching poverty,
His energies roll back upon his heart,
And stagnate and corrupt; till changed to poison,
They break out on him, like a loathsome plague-spot;
Then we call in our pamper’d mountebanks—
And this is their best cure! uncomforted
And friendless solitude, groaning and tears,
And savage faces, at the clanking hour,
Seen through the steams and vapour of his dungeon,
By the lamp’s dismal twilight! So he lies
Circled with evil, till his very soul
Unmoulds its essence, hopelessly deformed
By sights of ever more deformity!

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. It examines the purpose of a dungeon form the point of view of a

jailor.
B. It critiques a solution that society has found to a common issue.
C. It asks a question about the worth of humanity.
D. It sheds a negative light on how humanity handles a problem.
8. The following is an excerpt from the poem “Expostulation and
Reply”. The author speaks to his friend, Matthew:
“The eye it cannot chuse but see,
“We cannot bid the ear be still;
“Our bodies feel, where’er they be,
“Against, or with our will.
“Nor less I deem that there are powers,
“Which of themselves our minds impress,
“That we can feed this mind of ours,
“In a wise passiveness.
“Think you, mid all this mighty sum
“Of things for ever speaking,
“That nothing of itself will come,
“But we must still be seeking?
“—Then ask not wherefore, here, alone,
“Conversing as I may,
“I sit upon this old grey stone,
“And dream my time away.”

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion

in the text as a whole?

A. It questions the author’s purpose.

B. It asks Matthew a philosophical question.
C. It highlights a subject for which the author is passionate.
D. It explains an earlier statement.
9. A student reads “Old Man Travelling; Animal Tranquility and
Decay, A Sketch” and observes that the old man in the poem seems
at great peace with his life. Which of the following excerpts from the
poem best supports this claim?
A.”Sir! I am going many miles to take/A last leave of my son, a
mariner,/ Who from a sea-fight has been brought to Falmouth/ And
there is dying in an hospital.”
B. “He travels on, and in his face, his step,/ His gait, is one
expression;/ every limb,/ His look and bending figure, all bespeak/ A
man who does not move with pain.”
C. “He is one by whom/ All effort seems forgotten, one to whom/
Long patience has such mild composure given/ That patience now
doth seem a thing, of which/He hath no need. He is by nature led.”
D. “The young behold/ With envy, what the old man hardly feels./ I
asked him whither he was bound, and what/ The object of his
journey.”
10. The following is the poem “Why Do Ye Call The Poet Lonely?” By
Archibald Lampman
Why do ye call the poet lonely,
Because he dreams in lonely places?
He is not desolate, but only
Sees, where ye cannot, hidden faces.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
A. It asks and answers a question about those who write poetry.
B. It hypothesizes as to what makes people want to write poetry.
C. It gives an explanation as to why much poetry is sad.
D. It opens up the reader to ask questions of poets.