Mr. Dominick
11th Grade American Lit
Whitman and Dickinson Quiz
Name ______________________________ Date _______________
Score _____/40
Section I-Multiple Choice
Directions: Circle the correct answer to each question. (2 pts. each)
1. Upon recognizing that her relationship with Charles Wadsworth, a pastor from
Philadelphia, was doomed to fail, Emily Dickinson spent the rest of her life dressed in
_____________ to symbolize the bride she would never become.
a. black
b. red
c. white
d. beige
2. Which of the following themes can be found in Walt Whitman’s poetry?
a. The individual and the “everyman”
b The cycle of life
c. Democracy
d. all of the above
e. none of the above
3. The sunset in Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death” represents
what part of a person’s life?
a. Old age
b. Childhood
c. Birth
d. Adulthood
4. In “I Hear America Singing,” Whitman equates working to singing, which is an
example of a _________________.
a. simile
b. hyperbole
c. personification
d. metaphor
5. Which of the following people does Whitman NOT identify as heroes in “Song of
Myself, 33”?
a. A runaway slave
b. A master carpenter
c. A fireman
d. A ship’s captain
6. Why did Walt Whitman begin a journey across America in 1849?
a. He was bored and believed such a journey would cure him of his boredom.
b. He was writing a story for a local newspaper in New York.
c. His mother moved out to the West Coast, and he was going to visit her.
d. He wanted to gain inspiration for his poetry by experiencing all of America.
7. Where does the speaker in “Some keep the Sabbath going to Church” find God instead
of a church?
a. Her orchard
b. A dark room
c. A bar
d. Her husband’s arms
8. What do the “Chariots” in “The Soul selects her own Society” represent for the
speaker?
a. Royalty trying to impress her
b. People trying to be friends with her
c. Men trying to court her
d. Her family coming over for dinner
9. Walt Whitman was and is affectionately known as “____________ first poet.”
a. “New York’s”
b. “America’s”
c. “Long Island’s”
d. “this land’s”
10. In “If you were coming in the Fall,” the speaker compares the uncertainty
surrounding the next time she will see her lover to the sting of a __________ that never
happens.
a. hornet
b. wasp
c. bee
d. yellow jacket
11. Dickinson portrays Death as a kind gentleman coming to take her out for the evening
in “Because I could not stop for Death,” which is an example of ___________________.
a. personification
b. simile
c. alliteration
d. metaphor
12. Why does the speaker in “Tell all the truth but tell it slant” believe it is always a good
idea to never reveal the whole truth?
a. She thinks there is nothing wrong with telling little white lies.
b. Some people’s feelings could be hurt by revealing the whole truth.
c. The light of truth is too bright for any one person to bear.
d. all of the above
e. none of the above
13. Whose sermon, according to the speaker in “Some keep the Sabbath going to
Church,” is never too long?
a. A local pastor’s
b. God’s
c. Her mother’s
d. Her husband’s
14. In “I taste a liquor never brewed,” the speaker compares the feeling of being inspired
to the feeling of
a. being intoxicated.
b. being weightless.
c. being in love.
d. being in the ocean.
15. Dickinson’s “The Soul selects her own Society” represents which of the following
themes of her poetry the best?
a. The power of nature
b. Truth and madness
c. Death
d. “Alone time”
Section II-Short Answer Questions
Directions: Answer the following short answer questions in complete sentences. If you
can, give specific facts from the text(s) to prove your point. Your answers should be
approximately three to four sentences long. Points will be deducted for questions
answered in incomplete sentences. (5 pts. each)
16. According to the speaker in “Much madness in divinest sense,” who are the only
sensible people in the world? What group is pointed out as being not sensible? Why do
you think she feels this way?
17. Whitman’s “Song of Myself, 10” shows several snapshots from daily American life.
Describe one of the two situations that Whitman identifies as non-traditional. Why would
these situations be non-traditional during Whitman’s time period?