1
Quiz: Edgar Allan Poe selections
Multiple Choice
Identify the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.
Comprehension
The questions below refer to the selection “Eldorado.”
____
____
____
____
____
____
____
____
____
____
1. What is the only location actually mentioned in the poem?
a. Florida
c. Colombia
b. Africa
d. California
2. In which item are the underlined words an example of alliteration?
a. “Gaily bedight, / A gallant knight”
b. “Had journeyed long, / Singing a song”
c. “But he grew old— / This knight so bold—”
d. “A gallant knight, / In sunshine and in shadow . . .”
3. As the knight sets off on his quest, he is —
a. fierce and determined
c. cheerful and optimistic
b. discouraged
d. weak and brokenhearted
4. According to details in the poem, the knight’s search for his goal lasts a —
a. few days
c. few years
b. few months
d. very long time
5. Who helps the knight on his quest?
a. A“gallant knight”
c. The people of Eldorado
b. The knight’s queen
d. A “pilgrim shadow”
6. The knight receives all the following advice except —
a. “Turn around and return to your home.”
b. go “Over the Mountains / Of the Moon.”
c. go “Down the Valley of the Shadow.”
d. “Ride, boldly ride.”
7. How might the advice be best described?
a. Clear and useful
b. Foolish but helpful
c. Ambiguous and difficult to follow
d. Useless because the knight already knows it
8. Which couplet is an example of end rhyme?
a. “He met a pilgrim shadow— / ‘Shadow,’ said he”
b. “No spot of ground / That looked like Eldorado.”
c. “But he grew old— / This knight so bold—”
d. “And o’er his heart a shadow / Fell as he found”
9. What probably happens at the end of the poem?
a. The knight completes his quest, with great success.
b. The knight continues his quest, without success.
c. A shadow leads him to the gold.
d. The knight gets some friends to help him.
10. Whom does the knight symbolize?
a. Everyone who knows that Eldorado is a myth
b. People who go on a quest for great wealth
2
c. All people who succeed in their search for great wealth
d. People who set high goals for themselves
Literary Focus: Archetype
The questions below refer to the selection “Eldorado.”
____ 11. What is an archetype?
a. An original, imaginative pattern that appears across cultures and is repeated through the
ages
b. The repetition of initial consonant sounds in several words in a sentence or line of poetry
c. A reference to a well-known place, event, person, work of art, or other work of literature
d. A brief story that gets the reader’s interest and sheds light on the writer’s main idea and
theme
____ 12. On his quest, the knight is headed to —
a. the Mountains of the Moon
c. the Valley of Shadow
b. Eldorado
d. his home in England
____ 13. The knight’s quest is not successful because he —
a. does not try hard enough
c. has a goal that is imaginary, not real
b. does not have clear directions
d. gives up too soon
____ 14. What is the archetype in this poem?
a. Helpful people
c. The Mountains of the Moon
b. Failure
d. A quest for great wealth
Comprehension
The questions below refer to the selection “The Cask of Amontillado.”
____ 15. According to Montresor, he decides to seek revenge against Fortunato because Fortunato —
a. attacked him with his fists
c. insulted him
b. injured him more than a thousand times
d. stole some valuable wine from him
____ 16. According to Montresor, revenge would not be successful if he were —
a. punished for taking his revenge
c. recognized by his victim
b. not punished for taking his revenge
d. compelled to murder
____ 17. The story takes place in —
a. Amontillado during Carnival time
c. America during Carnival time
b. the present right after Christmas
d. Italy during Carnival time
____ 18. Fortunato’s weak point is his —
a. habit of dressing in silly costumes
c. jealousy of Luchesi
b. pride about his knowledge of fine wines
d. poor sense of direction
____ 19. Which evidence best supports the claim that Montresor is insane?
a. He wears a strange costume.
b. Thoughts of Fortunato’s death make him smile.
c. He pays full price for a cask of wine.
d. He does not ask Luchesi to test the wine.
____ 20. Which of the following things does Montresor do?
a. Explain how Fortunato has insulted him
b. Let Fortunato know how upset he is with him
c. Never let the readers know how Fortunato has insulted him
d. Be rude to Fortunato from the very beginning of the story
____ 21. Dramatic irony occurs when —
3
a. the reader knows that Montresor plans revenge, but Fortunato does not know
b. Fortunato dresses as a jester
c. the narrator urges Fortunato to try the wine
d. the crime is committed in the crypt
____ 22. Montresor kills Fortunato by —
a. walling him up
c. poisoning him
b. stabbing him
d. beating him to death with iron rods
____ 23. Based on Montresor’s actions throughout the story, the reader can conclude that he is —
a. rational and open-minded
c. good-natured and sociable
b. patient and forgiving
d. treacherous and unbalanced
____ 24. What can you conclude about Montresor’s feelings toward those who have allegedly wronged him?
a. Holding grudges is a waste of time.
b. One must not let injustice dominate reason.
c. Wrongdoers must be punished, and the wrong must be avenged.
d. If the injustice is intentional, retaliation is justified.
Literary Focus
The questions below refer to the selection “The Cask of Amontillado.”
____ 25. An unreliable narrator may be described as one who —
a. deliberately does not tell the whole truth
b. makes untrue statements but is always corrected by another character
c. lies throughout the story but admits the truth at the end
d. is unreliable until the story’s climax
____ 26. One reason why we know that Montresor is an unreliable narrator is he —
a. is drunk
c. is wealthy and snobbish
b. does not reveal anything about the past
d. is feverish and unable to think clearly
____ 27. The narrator’s persona is clearly —
a. elderly
c. insane
b. sane
d. friendly
____ 28. The story’s tone is best described as —
a. immature and unaware
c. relaxed throughout
b. friendly and warm
d. mounting hysteria
Comprehension
The questions below refer to the selection “The Raven.”
____ 29. At first, the speaker thinks the noise he hears is —
a. his enemy stalking him
c. someone at the door
b. the wind blowing the door open
d. his friends playing tricks on him
____ 30. When the narrator opens the door and looks out, he half expects to find —
a. a Greek god come to life in the form of a bird
b. a group of angels
c. the woman he had loved, who has died
d. the image of his own death
____ 31. Why does the poet have the Raven perch on the bust of the Greek goddess Pallas?
a. Ravens were sacred to the Greeks.
b. This association suggests that the Raven is wise.
c. The speaker associates Pallas with his dead love, Lenore.
4
____ 32.
____ 33.
____ 34.
____ 35.
____ 36.
____ 37.
____ 38.
d. The poet is suggesting that this poem takes place in ancient Greece.
At first encounter, the speaker’s reaction to the Raven is —
a. revulsion
c. anger
b. fear
d. amusement
When the Raven says, “Nevermore,” the speaker takes this response to be —
a. the bird’s name
c. a message from Lenore
b. a prophecy
d. the words of an evil spirit
The narrator guesses that the Raven says, “Nevermore,” because —
a. it had been listening to the narrator mourning for Lenore
b. its former master was an unhappy person
c. Lenore had originally kept it as a pet
d. the narrator’s enemy had taught it this word to torture the narrator
Near the end of the poem, the narrator asks the Raven two questions to which the bird answers, “Nevermore.”
These questions concern —
a. the success of the speaker’s literary works
b. Lenore’s love for the speaker
c. what will happen after death
d. the bird’s purpose in visiting the speaker
Readers can infer from the poem’s conclusion that the speaker will —
a. be reunited with Lenore
b. die soon
c. never escape his despair
d. make his sorrow the subject of a great poem
The speaker can best be described as a —
a. lonely, elderly man longing for visitors
b. magician conjuring up evil spirits
c. poet seeking inspiration for a new work
d. melancholy person trying to forget a great tragedy
What is the poem’s mood?
a. Reassuring
c. Soothing
b. Romantic
d. Despairing
Literary Focus: Sound Effects
The questions below refer to the selection “The Raven.”
____ 39. In which quotation below are the underlined words an example of sound effects created by alliteration?
a. “What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore / Meant in croaking
‘Nevermore.’”
b. “Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken! / Leave my loneliness
unbroken!—quit the bust above my door!”
c. “Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning, / Soon again I heard a
tapping somewhat louder than before.”
d. “On this home by Horror haunted—tell me truly, I implore— / Is there—is there balm in
Gilead?—tell me—tell me, I implore!”
____ 40. Which word in the following passage is an example of onomatopoeia?
“This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, ‘Lenore!’” / Merely this and nothing more.”
a. murmured
c. merely
b. echo
d. Lenore
____ 41. Which of the following lines does not have internal rhyme?
5
a. “Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling . . .”
b. “Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken . . .”
c. “And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.”
d. “Till I scarcely more than muttered ‘Other friends have flown before— . . .’”
____ 42. What does the word croaking suggest in the following lines:
“What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt and ominous bird of yore / Meant in croaking ‘Nevermore’”?
a. eating
c. dying
b. flying
d. repeating
Completion
Complete each sentence or statement.
Vocabulary Development
On the line before each sentence, write the Vocabulary word with the closest meaning to that of the italicized
word or phrase.
A
impunity
B
retribution
C
recoiling
D
impose
E
precluded
43.
Fortunato’s drunkenness made impossible in advance his
realization of his fate.
44.
The catacombs ensured Montresor’s freedom from
punishment.
45.
Montresor viewed Fortunato’s death as suitable punishment.
46.
“I don’t wish to intrude on your time!” lied Montresor.
47.
Moving backward as if in horror, Montresor frowned.
Short Answer
Constructed Response
The question below refers to the selection “Eldorado.”
48. On a separate sheet of paper, describe a story, film, or television show in which a character sets off on a quest
for a lofty goal. The goal might be great wealth, love, happiness, or eternal life, for example. Explain how the
goal is an archetype. Support your ideas with details from the selection.
Constructed Response
The question below refers to the selection “The Cask of Amontillado.”
6
49. In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Montresor seems so intent upon revenge that readers might question his state
of mind. Explain whether you think Montresor is a reliable narrator or an unreliable narrator. On the lines
provided, write a paragraph that explains your answer. Support your ideas with details from the story.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
Constructed Response
The question below refers to the selection “The Raven.”
50. On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph explaining how the poem’s mood reinforces its theme. First,
identify the mood and the theme. Then, show how the poem’s mood serves to intensify the theme. Support
your ideas with details from the poem.