English questions | English homework help

 Directions 

· Mark your answers to the multiple-choice questions on the answer sheet at the end of the multiple-choice section. Use a black or blue pen.

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Questions 1-14 are based on the following lines from Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare (1564-1616). In these lines, Viola (dressed as a man) and Duke Orsino offer different views of love. Read the passage carefully before answering the questions that follow. 

VIOLA But if she cannot love you, sir?

DUKE ORSINO  I cannot be so answer’d.

VIOLA  Sooth, but you must.

(Line)   Say that some lady, as perhaps there is,

5  Hath for your love a great a pang of heart

As you have for Olivia: you cannot love her;

You tell her so; must she not then be answer’d?

DUKE ORSINO  There is no woman’s sides

Can bide* the beating of so strong a passion  *tolerate, abide

10  As love doth give my heart; no woman’s heart

So big, to hold so much; they lack retention

Alas, their love may be call’d appetite,

No motion of the liver, but the palate,

That suffer surfeit, cloyment and revolt*;  *abhorrence

15  But mine is all as hungry as the sea,

And can digest as much: make no compare

Between that love a woman can bear me

And that I owe Olivia.

VIOLA  Ay, but I know–

20  DUKE ORSINO  What dost thou know?

VIOLA  Too well what love women to men may owe:

In faith, they are as true of heart as we.

My father had a daughter loved a man,

As it might be, perhaps, were I a woman,

25  I should your lordship.

DUKE ORSINO  And what’s her history?

VIOLA  A blank, my lord. She never told her love,

But let concealment, like a worm i’ the bud,

Feed on her damask* cheek: she pined in thought,  *healthy, red

30  And with a green and yellow melancholy

She sat like patience on a monument,

Smiling at grief. Was not this love indeed?

We men may say more, swear more: but indeed

Our shows are more than will; for still we prove

35  Much in our vows, but little in our love.

1. In line 1, who is the “she” to whom Viola refers?

1. Feste
2. Maria
3. Olivia
4. Viola
5. Any      charming woman

2. Line 24, “As it might be, perhaps, were I a woman,” is:

1. instructive.
2. ironic.
3. meaningful.
4. sarcastic.
5. satirical.

3. In lines 8-18, Orsino offers all of the following reasons to prove that his love cannot be reciprocated by a woman except:

1. his      heart is bigger than a woman’s heart.
2. women’s      hearts lack retention.
3. a      woman’s love is mere appetite.
4. women are as hungry as the sea.
5. his      passion is extremely strong.

4. In line 11, the phrase “lack retention” is contrasted with:

1. “be      call’d appetite” (line 12)
2. “sides      / can hide” (line 10)
3. “That      suffer surfeit” (line 14)
4. “love      doth give” (line 10)
5. “to hold so much” (line 11)

5. It’s possible to infer that Orsino believes “the liver” (line 13) is:

1. subject      to revolt.
2. likely      to lack retention.
3. the seat of true love.
4. less      genuine than the palate.
5. more      common to women’s love than to men’s.

  

6. In line 15, “mine” stands for Duke Orsino’s:

1. palate.
2. mind.
3. liver.
4. love.
5. spleen.

7. What is the mood of this passage?

1. Dour
2. Desiring
3. Suspenseful
4. Surprising
5. Pedantic

8. In line 15, the phrase, “But mine is all as hungry as the sea,” contains:

1. internal      rhyme.
2. hyperbole.
3. metaphor.
4. onomatopoeia.
5. synecdoche.

9. In line 26, when the Duke asks, “[a]nd what’s her history?” he means:

1. What’s      her title?
2. How      old is she?
3. Where      does she come from?
4. Whom does she love?
5. All      of the above

10. Which of the following best paraphrases lines 27-35?

1. She      egotistically hides her errors and never keeps her promises.
2. She      works hard at gardening and likes to talk to her friends.
3. She      hides her grief and says little; men talk more.
4. Men are egotistical and conceal much      more about their loves than women do.
5. Men      are talkative; women are patient and beautiful.

11. In lines 28-29, “But let concealment, like a worm i’ the bud, / Feed on her damask cheek” provides an example of what poetic device?

1. Alliteration
2. Apostrophe
3. Metaphor
4. Onomatopoeia
5. Simile

  

12. In line 29, who is “She” to whom Viola refers?

1. Feste
2. Maria
3. Olivia
4. Viola
5. Any      charming woman

13. This passage is written in:

1. blank verse.
2. free      verse.
3. heroic      couplets.
4. internal      rhyme.
5. terza      rima.

14. Which of the following best summarizes the idea Viola expresses in lines 33-35?

1. Men      are foul-mouthed and willful.
2. Men      and women smile at grief.
3. Men talk a lot, but that doesn’t prove      their love.
4. All      of the above
5. None      of the above

Questions 15-22 are based on the following poem by Robert Herrick (1591-1674). Read the poem carefully before answering the questions that follow. 

The Argument Of His Book 

I sing of brooks, of blossoms, birds, and bowers,

Of April, May, of June, and July-flowers;

I sing of May-poles, hock-carts,* wassails,** wakes,  *harvest-carrying carts **toasts

(Line)  Of bride-grooms, brides, and of their bridal-cakes.

5  I write of Youth, of Love;–and have access

By these, to sing of cleanly wantonness;

I sing of dews, of rains, and, piece by piece,

Of balm, of oil, of spice, and ambergris.*  *whale-product used to make perfumes; 

I sing of times trans-shifting; and I write   a rarity

10  How roses first came red, and lilies white.

I write of groves, of twilights, and I sing

The court of Mab,* and of the Fairy King.  *queen of the fairies

I write of Hell; I sing, and ever shall

Of Heaven,–and hope to have it after all.

15. This poem is in the form of a(n):

1. elegy.
2. epic.
3. lyric.
4. madrigal.
5. sonnet.

16. The poem’s rhyme scheme is formed by:

1. end-stopped      lines.
2. free      verse.
3. heroic      couplets.
4. kennings.
5. slant      rhyme.

17. The shift in the poem occurs after:

1. line      4.
2. line      6.
3. line      8.
4. line      10.
5. line      12.

18. The poem employs which of the following devices?

1. Soliloquy
2. Anaphora
3. Analogy
4. Apostrophe
5. Simile

19. Which phrase best captures the tone of the poem?

1. Wanton      joy
2. Rainy      despair
3. Blossoming      creation
4. Everlasting      destruction
5. Perpetual      sadness

20. What does use of the word “ambergris” (line 8) accomplish?

1. Completes      the list of balm, oil, and spice
2. Contrasts      with the pleasant images of balms, oils, and spices
3. Creates      a metaphysical conceit
4. Refers      to something the speaker can both sing and write about
5. All      of the above 

21. The line “I write of Hell; I sing, and ever shall” (line 13) is an example of:

1. apostrophe.
2. internal      rhyme.
3. metonymy.
4. personification.
5. synecdoche.

22. What is the most important effect of repeating the preposition “of” in this passage?

1. It      increases the importance of the allusion to Mab (line 12).
2. It      increases the word’s importance in the metrical pattern of the poem.
3. It      continuously changes the poem’s direction.
4. It      emphasizes the range of subjects available to the poet.
5. It      interferes with the lilting tone of the poem.

Questions 23-32 are based on the following excerpt from “Bartleby, the Scrivener” by Herman Melville (1819-1891). In the passage, the narrator describes Bartleby, whom the narrator employs to copy legal documents. Read the passage carefully before answering the questions that follow. 

I now recalled all the quiet mysteries which I had noted in the man. I remembered

that he never spoke but to answer; that, though at intervals he had considerable

time to himself, yet I had never seen him reading — no, not

(Line)  even a newspaper; that for long periods he would stand looking out, at his

5  pale window behind the screen, upon the dead brick wall, I was quite sure he

never visited any refectory1 or eating house, while his pale face clearly indicated that

he never drank beer like Turkey, or tea and coffee even, like other men; that he

never went anywhere in particular that I could learn; never went out for a walk,

unless, indeed, that was the case at present . that he had declined telling who he

10  was, or whence he came, or whether he had any relatives in the world; that though

so thin and pale, he never complained of ill health. And more than all I remembered

a certain unconscious air of pallid — how shall I call it? — of pallid haughtiness, say,

or rather an austere reserve about him, which had positively awed me into my

15  tame compliance with his eccentricities, when I had feared to ask him to do

the slightest incidental thing for me, even though I might know, from his long-continued

motionlessness, that behind his screen he must be standing in one of

those dead-wall reveries of his.

Revolving all these things, and coupling them with the recently discovered

20  that he made my office his constant abiding place and home, and not

forgetful of his morbid moodiness revolving all these things, a prudential feeling

began to steal over me. My first emotions had been those of pure melancholy and

sincerest pity; but just in proportion as the forlornness of Bartleby grew and grew to

my imagination, did that same melancholy merge into fear, that pity into repulsion.

So true it is, and so terrible too, that up to a certain point the thought or sight of

25  misery enlists our best affections; but, in certain special cases, beyond that point it

does not. They err who would assert that invariably this is owing to the inherent

selfishness of the human heart. It rather proceeds from a certain hopelessness of

remedying excessive and organic ill. To a sensitive being, pity is not seldom pain.

And when at last it is perceived that such pity cannot lead to effectual succor

30  common sense bids the soul be rid of it. What I saw that morning persuaded me that

the scrivener was the victim of innate and incurable disorder. I might give alms to

his body, but his body did not pain him — it was his soul that suffered and his soul I

could not reach.

1 Refectory = room for eating, as at a rooming-house

23. The details presented in the second sentence of the first paragraph suggest:

1. inertia      on the part of Bartleby.
2. the      narrator’s inappropriate behavior.
3. Bartleby’s      anger at his co-workers.
4. Turkey’s      and Bartleby’s similarities.
5. None      of the above

24. In this passage, Bartleby is:

1. the      antagonist.
2. the      protagonist.
3. a      dynamic character.
4. a      catalyst.
5. an      indirect character.

25. The phrase “and not forgetful of his morbid moodiness” (lines 20-21) contains what literary device?

1. Alliteration
2. Assonance
3. Metaphor
4. Metonymy
5. Synecdoche

26. In line 28, the word “organic” means:

1. musical.
2. crucial.
3. living.
4. integral.
5. carbon-based.

27. The tone of this passage is best characterized as:

1. resigned      pessimism.
2. descriptive      wondering.
3. unalloyed      criticism.
4. regretful      despair.
5. deadened      joy.

28. Which emotion does the narrator not express toward Bartleby?

1. Melancholy
2. Pity
3. Fear
4. Repulsion
5. Haughtiness

29. In the selected passage, Melville uses all of the following rhetorical devices to describe Bartleby except: 

1. hyperbole.
2. juxtaposition      of contrasts.
3. lists.
4. concrete      detail.
5. personification.

  

30. Which of the following is not an accurate description of Melville’s style in this particular passage?

1. Melville      avoids simple sentences.
2. Melville      uses compound and complex sentences.
3. Melville      uses past tense to suggest Bartleby’s passivity.
4. Melville’s      irony underscores the inane nature of Bartleby’s life.
5. Melville’s      subtle use of humor belies Bartleby’s tragic situation.

31. The shift that occurs between the two paragraphs in the passage can best be described as:

1. moving      from past to present tense.
2. shifting      from concrete to abstract terms.
3. employing      transitions to connect the two paragraphs.
4. shifting      from concrete memories to an exploration of feelings.
5. transitioning      from sparse description to elaborate contemplation.

32. In line 29, “effectual succor” is best paraphrased as:

1. true      success.
2. effective      aid.
3. quick      repulsion.
4. innate      soul.
5. best      affection.

Questions 33-40 refer to “London” by William Blake (1757-1827). Read the poem carefully before answering the questions that follow. 

London 

I wandered through each chartered* street,  *designed, framed, mapped

Near where the chartered Thames does flow,

A mark in every face I meet,

(Line)   Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

5  In every cry of every man,

In every infant’s cry of fear,

In every voice, in every ban*,  *taboo, prohibited activity

The mind-forged manacles I hear:

How the chimney-sweeper’s cry

10   Every blackening church appals,

And the hapless soldier’s sigh

Runs in blood down palace-walls.

But most, through midnight streets I hear

How the youthful harlot’s curse

15  Blasts the new-born infant’s tear,

And blights with plagues the marriage-hearse.

  

33. All of the following pairs of words describe London with an adjective followed by a noun, except: 

1. “blackening      church.” (line 10)
2. “hapless      soldier.” (line 11)
3. “youthful      harlot.” (line 14)
4. “chartered      Thames.” (line 2)
5. “chimney-sweeper’s      cry.” (line 9)

34. Which of the following best paraphrases “mind-forged manacles” (line 8)?

1. Plagues      that attack health and body
2. Restrictive      religious rules
3. Self-doubt      that confines the soul
4. War      that destroys the society
5. All      of the above

35. Blake’s use of the words “marks,” “cry,” and “every” underscores the mood of:

1. unanimous      glee.
2. sober      analysis.
3. multiple      perspectives.
4. consistent      despair.
5. unfocused      anger.

36. What runs “in blood down Palace walls” (line 12)?

1. “every      cry of man” (line 5)
2. “cry      of fear” (line 6)
3. “chimney-sweeper’s      cry” (line 9)
4. “hapless      Soldier’s sigh” (line 11)
5. “youthful      harlot’s curse” (line 14)

37. In line 16, the word “blights” most nearly means:

1. enlightens.
2. blackens.
3. spoils.
4. marries.
5. tears.

38. Sound-based images in the poem includes all of the following except:

1. “marks      of woe.” (line 4)
2. “cry      of every man.” (line 5)
3. “hapless      soldier’s sigh.” (line 11)
4. “youthful      harlot’s curse.” (line 14)
5. None      of the above

  

39. Which of the following is not true about the perspective of this poem? 

1. The      speaker is highly attuned to sounds and images in London.
2. The      poem represents multiple speakers’ perspectives.
3. The      poem may represent observations from several walks through London.
4. The      speaker creates a mélange of many London images.
5. The      myriad of images suggest discontent with London.

40. The imagery in the final stanza has the primary effect of: 

1. connecting      to the first stanza’s imagery. 
2. reinforcing      visual rather than aural images. 
3. creating      a new, more joyful tone. 
4. sharpening      the mood of discord. 
5. undercutting      the river-themed imagery. 

Questions 41-50 are based on the poem “Virtue” by George Herbert (1593-1633). Read the poem carefully before answering the questions that follow. 

Virtue 

Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright,

The bridal of the earth and sky!

The dew shall weep thy fall tonight;

(Line)    For thou must die.

5  Sweet rose, whose hue, angry and brave,

Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye,

Thy root is ever in its grave,

And thou must die.

Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses,

10   A box* where sweets compacted lie,  *container for flowers

My music shows ye have your closes*,  *finishing sounds

And all must die.

Only a sweet and virtuous soul,

Like seasoned timber, never gives;

15  But though the whole world turn to coal*,  *burn, as in world-ending fire

Then chiefly lives.

41. Which pair of words represents the poem’s primary conflict?

1. Virtue      and the passage of time
2. Spring      and carpe diem
3. Sweet      personalities and angry personalities
4. Roses      and days
5. All      of the above

  

42. The first three stanzas parallel each other in all of the following ways except:

1. each      starts with the word “sweet.”
2. each      ends with the same word.
3. each      shares a common idea.
4. the      day of the first stanza is metaphorically continued in the next two      stanzas.
5. each      advocates for an alternative to death.

43. Stanzas one, two, and three each contain which of the following devices?

1. Anthropomorphism
2. Apostrophe
3. Free      verse
4. Synecdoche
5. Simile

44. Which of the following phrases is not used by the speaker as an example of something that must die?

1. “Sweet      day” (line 1)
2. “Sweet      rose” (line 5)
3. “Thy      root” (line 7)
4. “Sweet      spring” (line 9)
5. “a      sweet and virtuous soul” (line 13)

45. The simile in the fourth stanza does all of the following except: 

1. compare      a virtuous soul to seasoned timber.
2. compare      the strength of virtue to the strength of wood.
3. suggest      virtue, like seasoned wood, will not rot.
4. suggest      virtue does not give way to sin.
5. suggest      virtue can turn the world to coal.

46. Which of the following statements is not an accurate analysis of the figurative language in the second and third stanzas?

1. In      stanza two, the metaphor could be considered a metaphysical conceit.
2. In      stanza two, the crimson rose is described as angry.
3. In      stanza two the face of the angry man is so pale, observers cry.
4. In      stanza three, the spring is compared to a box of sweets.
5. In      stanza three, “music” may be read literally and metaphorically.

47. Lines 4, 8, and 12 share which metrical pattern?

1. Iambic      trimeter 
2. Iambic      tetrameter 
3. Iambic      dimeter  
4. Trochaic      tetrameter 
5. Spondaic      dimeter

  

48. Lines 3, 10, and 14 share which metrical pattern?

1. Iambic      trimeter 
2. Iambic      tetrameter 
3. Iambic      dimeter 
4. Trochaic      tetrameter 
5. Spondaic      dimeter

49. The apostrophe and anaphora in lines 4 and 8 have the effect of:

I. emphasizing mortality.

II. lightening the tone.

III. broadening the poem’s theme.

1. I      only
2. II      only
3. I      and II only
4. I      and III only
5. I,      II, and III

50. The tone of this poem is best characterized as:

1. Sacrilegious
2. Humorous
3. Reverent
4. Ambiguous
5. Practical

  

Answer Sheet

  

1.

26.

 

2.

27.

 

3.

28.

 

4.

29.

 

5.

30.

 

6.

31.

 

7.

32.

 

8.

33.

 

9.

34.

 

10.

35.

 

11.

36.

 

12.

37.

 

13.

38.

 

14.

39.

 

15.

40.

 

16.

41.

 

17.

42.

 

18.

43.

 

19.

44.

 

20.

45.

 

21.

46.

 

22.

47.

 

23.

48.

 

24.

49.

 

25.

50.