Civil War Lit: Poetic Awakening Study Guide
Multiple Choice
Identify the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.
Recall and Interpret (A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim and Beat! Beat! Drums!)
____
1. The speaker of the poem uses the word “comrade” in the second stanza of “A Sight in Camp in
the Daybreak Gray and Dim” to indicate that he
a. is a soldier too.
c. was their doctor.
b. does not know the men.
d. was in charge of the men.
____
2. How does the speaker in “A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim” spend the night?
a. writing letters home
c. not being able to sleep
b. not speaking to anyone
d. helping ill patients
____
3. What does the word “gray” represent in “A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim”?
a. rain
c. embarrassment
b. despair
d. youth
____
4. What does the speaker mean when he says, “Who are you sweet boy with cheeks yet blooming”
in “A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim”?
a. The boy was still very young.
c. The soldier’s cheeks were bloodied.
b. The young man died upset.
d. The narrator knew the dead boy.
____
5. The poem “Beat! Beat! Drums!” uses a sound device known as
a. flashback.
c. foreshadowing.
b. simile.
d. onomatopoeia.
____
6. The speaker hopes that the drumbeats will interrupt all of the following people EXCEPT
a. churchgoers.
c. bridegrooms.
b. students.
d. soldiers.
Recall and Interpret (Because I could not stop for Death)
____
7. Which of the following lines from the poem is an example of personification?
a. And I had put away
c. A Swelling of the Groundb. Or rather-He passed usd. Feels shorter than the Day
____
8. In the first stanza of the poem, Death
a. pauses to pick her up.
b. chases the speaker down the street.
____
c. ignores the speaker completely.
d. Passes right by the speaker.
9. What is the speaker saying about time in the poem’s last stanza?
a. It is creeping by very slowly.
b. Time no longer has any relevance.
c. Hundreds of years passed by like days.
d. Eternity is passing surprisingly fast.
____ 10. In this poem, the House probably represents
a. heaven.
b. a grave.
c. home.
d. death.
____ 11. In the last stanza, it is clear that the Horses
a. graze in the fields.
b. are ridden by the speaker.
c. drink the dew of the fields.
d. pull the carriage driven by Death.
Recall and Interpret (Emily Dickinson: An Introduction)
____ 12. Dickinson spent most of her life
a. visiting nearby friends and family.
b. staying inside her father’s house.
c. teaching creative writing to others.
d. hosting gatherings for other poets.
____ 13. Dickinson’s life is best described as
a. reclusive.
b. exciting.
c. tragic.
d. religious.
____ 14. The author compares Dickinson’s poems with lyrics to hymns and nursery rhymes because they
a. have similar rhythm.
c. appeal to the same type of readers.
b. are all the same length.
d. share the same topics.
____ 15. What type of punctuation does the author accuse Dickinson of being obsessed with?
a. commas
c. question marks
b. ellipses
d. dashes
____ 16. Dickinson’s poetry was first published in small editions when
a. she turned 21 years old.
b. she died of kidney failure in 1886.
c. she had been dead for almost 70 years.
d. scholars transcribed them in the 1990s.
Recall and Interpret (from Song of Myself)
____ 17. The main focus of section 1 is
a. pausing to appreciate nature.
b. skipping school to be outside.
c. staying in good health.
d. thinking about generations.
____ 18. In section 6, the speaker’s outlook on death is that
a. it is just the precursor to a longer life in heaven.
b. death is final and everyone returns to the soil.
c. death is nonexistent and just another part of the journey.
d. it is an inevitable part of life that must be accepted.
____ 19. The theme of part 16 is
a. Northerners and Southerners cannot get along.
b. sailing is the best way to spend one’s time.
c. it is important to travel.
d. diversity makes life interesting.
____ 20. According to the speaker, the path in life
a. has to be taken individually.
b. is a rough and challenging journey.
c. is easily reached.
d. starts the day a person is born.
____ 21. At the end of part 46, the speaker treats the reader as a(n)
a. brother.
c. parent.
b. stranger.
d. child.
____ 22. Why might Whitman have titled his epic poem “Song of Myself”?
a. The entire poem is set to music.
b. The poem is about his life journey.
c. The poem is written with a chorus like a song.
d. The poem is about his experiences with music.
____ 23. The voice that the speaker creates in “Song of Myself” can be described as doing all of the
following EXCEPT
a. capturing the language of the common people.
b. reflecting the nation as a whole.
c. conveying the poet’s personality.
d. expressing the tradition of the upper classes.
Recall and Interpret (from Walt Whitman: A Life)
____ 24. According to the author, Emerson’s opinion of Leaves of Grass was
a. relatively skeptical.
c. effusively positive.
b. slightly competitive.
d. largely neutral.
____ 25. Charles Eliot Norton respected the book but thought
a. women should never be allowed to read it.
b. it went on far too long and needed to be edited.
c. it was far too much like other poetry books of the era.
d. only children would like its overall style and content.
____ 26. The main complaint registered about Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass” was that it was too
a. long and complicated.
c. dull and repetitive.
b. coarse and uncouth.
d. unrealistic and confusing.
____ 27. What did Whitman’s publisher want him to do with his book?
a. destroy it completely
c. edit out certain phrases in it
b. stop promoting it
d. go on a book tour with it
____ 28. Whitman used Emerson’s letter as
a. a reason to stop writing.
b. promotion for his next edition.
c. an excuse to meet Emerson.
d. foundation for new poetry.
____ 29. For the second edition of his book, Whitman’s advice to himself was to
a. include more characters in the poems.
b. publish a lot more copies.
c. write additional poems for this version.
d. be careful not to offend any readers.
____ 30. Which fact from Whitman’s letter in his second edition was a complete lie?
a. His book’s first edition sold very well.
b. There are 32 poems in the new edition.
c. Emerson’s letter had gone unanswered.
d. He printed one thousand copies of it.
____ 31. In order to spread word about his book, Whitman
a. gave speeches to various organizations.
b. asked other poets to endorse it.
c. wrote anonymous reviews of it.
d. sent free copies to the media.
____ 32. The author compares Whitman to P.T. Barnum because both of them were supposedly
a. authors.
c. businessmen.
b. charlatans.
d. leaders.
Recall and Interpret (I Hear America Singing)
____ 33. When the speaker of the poem refers to “the varied carols”, it means that
a. everywhere he goes, people are singing.
b. he hears sounds of different people at work.
c. he hears all the languages spoken in the world.
d. he hears young men at night and their songs.
____ 34. According to the speaker of the poem, who sings at night?
a. children
c. mechanics
b. young men
d. woodcutters
____ 35. By using the different professions in his poem, the speaker of the poem shows the nation’s
a. working class.
c. wide diversity.
b. age differences.
d. various families.
____ 36. The phrase, “Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else” means that
a. no one is willing to sing with another person.
b. the young fellows have the best song of all.
c. the people sing about the things that they own.
d. each person is unique with his or her distinct song.
____ 37. The poet mentions all the following jobs EXCEPT
a. carpenter.
c. architect.
b. mason.
d. shoemaker.
Recall and Interpret (I heard a Fly buzz when I died and The Bustle in a House)
____ 38. In “I heard a Fly buzz when I died,” the speaker compares the “Stillness in the Room” to the
a. quiet moments between thunder.
c. calm of a summer’s night.
b. silence when a person dies.
d. tranquility of an empty house.
____ 39. In “I heard a Fly buzz when I died,” the line “The Eyes around-had wrung them dry-” means that
a. it was dry in the room.
b. people had been crying.
c. there were many people in the room.
d. there was a storm approaching.
____ 40. In “I heard a Fly buzz when I died,”the speaker
a. throws her belongings away.
b. leaves her belongings in the house.
c. giver her belongings away to others.
d. puts her belongings in storage.
____ 41. The line, “I could not see to see-“ in the end of “I heard a Fly buzz when I died” means the
a. speaker was suddenly blinded.
b. room was immediately darkened.
c. night time had arrived.
d. speaker finally died.
____ 42. The event that has occurred in “The Bustle in a House” is that
a. a child is suddenly missing.
c. an adult is seriously ill.
b. someone has died.
d. someone has been injured.
____ 43. A theme expressed in “The Bustle in a House”is that love will be needed again
a. once the bustle in the home begins again.
b. when a new person to love comes along.
c. when people are reunited in heaven.
d. once the grief begins to fade away.
Vocabulary (I heard a Fly buzz when I died and The Bustle in a House)
____ 44. If someone attempts to heave a suitcase, the person is
a. opening it.
c. lifting it.
b. packing it.
____ 45. If someone interposes in a conversation, the person is
a. inserting ideas or thoughts.
c. listening to people talk.
b. ignoring everyone’s opinions.
Recall and Interpret (If you were coming in the fall, My life closed twice before it closed and
The Soul selects her own Society)
____ 46. What is the main idea in “If you were coming in the Fall”?
a. Autumn is the poet’s favorite season.
b. An important visitor is expected in the fall.
c. She wishes she knew exactly when she would see someone again.
d. Eternity does not come fast enough for some people.
____ 47. In “If you were coming in the Fall”, the speaker compares the unknown to
a. a fly.
c. eternity.
b. a bee sting.
d. her fingers.
____ 48. What does the speaker mean when she writes, “My life closed twice before its close”?
a. She has experienced two deeply profound losses.
b. She has died twice and been brought back.
c. She has thought about killing herself two times.
d. She has been terribly ill on two different occasions.
____ 49. In “My life closed twice before its close,” the speaker says it is hard to imagine
a. being able to grasp immortality.
b. death finally coming to take her.
c. another traumatic event occurring to her.
d. leaving the world behind for heaven.
____ 50. Which of the following lines from “The Soul selects her own Society” is an example of
alliteration?
a. The soul selects her own Societyc. Unmoved-an Emperor be kneelingb. To her divine Majorityd. Like stone-
____ 51. In “The soul selects her own Society”, the speaker is saying the soul
a. does not actually exist.
c. chooses friends very carefully.
b. appreciates wealth and power.
d. welcomes all who ask to enter.
____ 52. The rhyme scheme in “If you were coming in the Fall” is
a. abab.
c. abcd.
b. aabb.
d. abcb.
____ 53. In “If you were coming in the Fall,” the speaker compares summer to a
a. housewife.
c. smile.
b. fall.
d. fly.
____ 54. In “The soul selects her own Society,” the Emperor represents
a. royalty.
c. wealth.
b. people.
d. class.
Recall and Interpret (Much Madness is divinest Sense)
____ 55. When the speaker mentions a “discerning eye”, she means an eye that is
a. extremely perceptive.
c. bitterly angry.
b. unusually colored.
d. strangely shaped.
____ 56. Who is “the Majority” that the speaker refers to?
a. prisoners
c. poems
b. people
d. prayers
____ 57. When the speaker says, “And handled with a Chain--,” she means people will be
a. decorated and honored.
c. locked up or taken away.
b. ignored or overlooked.
d. discussed and ridiculed.
____ 58. A line from the poem that shows an example of consonance is
a. To a discerning eyec. In this, as All, prevailb. ‘Tis the Majorityd. Assent-and you are saneRecall and Interpret (Specimen Days)
____ 59. How does Whitman first hear the news about Fort Sumter?
a. A friend sends him a telegram.
b. He buys a newspaper after the opera.
c. He hears it on the radio.
d. A neighbor came to tell him.
____ 60. Man people thought the Civil War would last
a. a few weeks.
b. a couple of months.
c. less than a year.
d. about 18 months.
____ 61. Whitman spent time with the injured men doing everything EXCEPT
a. talking to them.
c. writing letters back home.
b. writing letters to loved ones.
d. treating their wounds.
____ 62. What is the soldier referring to when he says, “’And now we have lost the best, the fairest, the
truest man in America’”?
a. Lincoln giving up his post as president
b. the many men lost in the Civil War
c. the assassination of President Lincoln
d. the imminent ending of the war
Vocabulary (Specimen Days)
____ 63. If a teacher gives an impromptu quiz it means
a. everyone had studied carefully.
c. it had been announced last week.
b. the students were not expecting it.
____ 64. To express incredulity is to show
a. timidity.
b. enthusiasm.
c. disbelief.
____ 65. To attend an event and subsequently get the invitation means that it was received
a. after the event.
c. weeks earlier.
b. by mail.
____ 66. To be susceptible to something is to be
a. vulnerable to it.
b. immune to it.
c. aware of it.
____ 67. If a person is a convalescent, the person is most likely going to be in a(n)
a. hospital.
c. airplane.
b. classroom.
Recall and Interpret (Success is counted sweetest)
____ 68. According to the speaker, who appreciates success the most?
a. those who never quite attain it
c. the soldiers on the field
b. the winner of multiple competitions
d. people who know victory
____ 69. The title of this poem means that success is
a. an important part of life.
b. only for people on the battlefield.
c. rare and hard to attain.
d. highly prized by some.
____ 70. The lines “Who took the Flag today/Can tell the definition/So clear of Victory” mean that the
a. flag was captured by the victors.
c. soldiers could not define any words.
b. victors did not appreciate their win.
d. army hoped for total victory.
____ 71. The rhyme scheme of this poem is
a. abcb.
b. abbc.
c. abcd.
d. aabb.
____ 72. When the speaker rhymes “today” with “Victory,” it is
a. iambic meter.
c. alliteration.
b. full rhyme.
d. slant rhyme.
Recall and Interpret (There’s a Certain Slant of Light and This is my letter to the World)
____ 73. Which of the following lines from “A certain Slant of light” is an example of personification?
a. Winter afternoonsc. Sent us of the Air
b. We can find no scar
d. Shadows-hold their breath
____ 74. Which of the following phrases from “There’s a certain Slant of light” is an example of a
metaphor?
a. Heavenly Hurt
c. the Landscape listensb. ‘Tis the Seal Despair
d. On the look of Death____ 75. The tone expressed in “This is my letter to the World” can be described as
a. lonely.
c. petty.
b. appreciative.
d. judgmental.
____ 76. In “This is my letter to the World,” the speaker hopes the world will look at her
a. fairly.
c. gently.
b. quietly.
d. cynically.
____ 77. An example of slant rhyme in “There’s a certain Slant of light” occurs when the speaker rhymes
a. Despair with air.
c. scar with are.
b. us and difference.
d. see with Me.
Vocabulary (There’s a Certain Slant of Light/This is my Letter to the World)
____ 78. Visiting a cathedral is the same thing as being in a
a. church.
c. store.
b. school.
____ 79. History is full of imperial periods or times ruled by
a. a government.
c. a deity.
b. an emperor.
____ 80. An affliction is the same as a
a. misfortune.
b. idea.
c. concern.
Recall and Interpret (When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer)
____ 81. One example of sensory language in the poem is
a. “ranged in columns”
c. “mystical moist night-air”
b. “how soon unaccountable”
d. “in perfect silence”
____ 82. An example of inversion in this poem is
a. “When I heard the learn’d astronomer”
b. “When I was shown the charts”
c. “How soon unaccountable”
d. “Look’d up in perfect silence”
____ 83. The best way to restate line 4, “When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much
applause in the lecture-room” is
a. I heard the astronomer lecture and he was in the lecture room.
b. I heard the astronomer lecture and receive a lot of applause.
c. The astronomer lectured inside the lecture room.
d. Everyone really liked what the astronomer had to say.
____ 84. An astronomer is someone who studies
a. clouds and weather.
c. climate and the environment.
b. stars, planets and space.
d. statistics and probabilities.
____ 85. In order to better understand the stars, the speaker
a. uses a telescope.
b. listens carefully to the astronomer’s lecture.
c. looks up at the stars in the sky.
d. reads a book dealing with stars.
____ 86. When the speaker describes the night air as “mystical,” he implies that it
a. is cold and damp.
c. contains specks of star dust.
b. has special powers over him.
d. brings time to a standstill.
Short Answer
Analyze and Evaluate (A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim and Beat! Beat!
Drums!)
87. The speaker gives the reader two clues that the three men in “A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak
Gray and Dim”are dead. Name them.
Analyze and Evaluate (Because I could not stop for Death)
88. The speaker rides on a long journey within the carriage. What are two of the places or things that
the carriages passes and what might these places or things represent?
Analyze and Evaluate (from Song of Myself)
89. In section 16, the speaker presents a catalog or list of descriptions of what he is. Name two of
them and why you think they are effective.
Analyze and Evaluate (If you were coming in the Fall, My life closed twice before its closed
and The Soul selects her own Society)
90. In “My life closed twice before its closed”, the last two lines are about the power of “parting”. In
two sentences, explain how parting is an element of heaven and hell, according to the poem.
91. Throughout her poems, Dickinson uses unique mechanics. Name two techniques she uses and
what their purpose is.
Essay
Evaluate and Connect (I heard a Fly buzz when I died and The Bustle in a House)
92. Write a paragraph contrasting the views of death in each of these poems.
Evaluate and Connect (Much Madness is divinest Sense)
93. The idea behind “Much Madness is divinest Sense” is a timeless one. Write a paragraph showing
how its message applies to people today.
Evaluate and Connect (When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer)
94.
explaining w
The speaker of the poem finally gets up and leaves the lecture. Write a paragraph