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Whitman's Poetry

Review Quiz

"Starting from Paumanok"

"Song of Myself"

"Crossing Brooklyn Ferry"

"Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking"

"As I Ebb'd with the Ocean of Life"

"By Blue Ontario's Shore"

"When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd"

"I Sing the Body Electric"

"Song of the Open Road"

Study Questions

Review Quiz

Further Reading

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Whitman's Poetry

Walt Whitman

Review Quiz

Paumanok is the Native American term for what?

(A) Manhattan

(B) Brooklyn

(C) Long Island

(D) A war

In "Starting from Paumanok," from which of the following does Whitman say he will make poems?

(A) His body

(B) Material things

(C) His mortality

(D) All of the above

Toward the end of "Song of Myself," Whitman says he will make what kind of sound?

(A) A beautiful poem

(B) A yelp of pain

(C) A barbaric yawp

(D) A victorious bellow

An important section of "Song of Myself" describes twenty-nine

(A) bathers.

(B) soldiers.

(C) women.

(D) sailors.

What is the major symbol Whitman works through in "Song of Myself"?

(A) The ocean

(B) A bird

(C) A tombstone

(D) The grass

In "I Sing the Body Electric," the human body is described as

(A) transitory.

(B) debased.

(C) sacred.

(D) unnecessary.

The man Whitman describes in "Body Electric" is

(A) a farmer.

(B) a soldier.

(C) a statesman.

(D) a slave.

The repeated word "Allons!" in "Song of the Open Road" translates as:

(A) Listen!

(B) Go away!

(C) Let's go!

(D) Nothing.

In "Song of the Open Road," what is the "efflux of the soul"?

(A) Misery

(B) Immortality

(C) God

(D) Happiness

In "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" Whitman claims that identity is received through

(A) the mind.

(B) history.

(C) the body.

(D) one's family.

Generations communicate, in "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry," through

(A) dreams.

(B) common experiences.

(C) literature.

(D) seances.

What animal does the poet commune with in "Out of the Cradle"?

(A) A dolphin

(B) A deer

(C) A bird

(D) A dead fish

What is the word the sea gives the poet in "Out of the Cradle"?

(A) Death

(B) Love

(C) Peace

(D) Democracy

Where is the poem "As I Ebb'd with the Ocean of Life" set?

(A) A battlefield

(B) A deathbed

(C) A beach

(D) A library

The tone of the poem "As I Ebb'd" can best be described as

(A) cheerful.

(B) tormented.

(C) peaceful.

(D) depressed.

Whose death does "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" commemorate?

(A) Lincoln's

(B) John Brown's

(C) Stonewall Jackson's

(D) The poet's mother's

What kind of poem is "When Lilacs Last"?

(A) A dirge

(B) A sonnet

(C) An elegy

(D) A panegyric

Who or what speaks to the poet in "By Blue Ontario's Shore"?

(A) A stranger

(B) A phantom

(C) Emerson

(D) The lake

How does Whitman describe the role of the poet in "Blue Ontario"?

(A) A judge

(B) A creator

(C) A priest

(D) A singer

In "The Sleepers," who tells Whitman the story of the Indian woman?

(A) His mother

(B) His father

(C) A soldier

(D) A history book

Which historical figure makes an appearance in "The Sleepers"?

(A) King George

(B) Napoleon

(C) Lincoln

(D) Washington

How many editions of Leaves of Grass did Whitman publish?

(A) One

(B) Three

(C) Six

(D) Eight

During the Civil War, Whitman held several jobs. Which of the following was not one of them?

(A) Journalist

(B) Nurse

(C) Soldier

(D) Poet

Which previous American writer was a great influence on Whitman?

(A) Henry David Thoreau

(B) James Fenimore Cooper

(C) Nathaniel Hawthorne

(D) Ralph Waldo Emerson

Which of the following is the title of Whitman's collection of war poetry?

(A) Battle-Pieces

(B) Drum Taps

(C) The Killing Fields

(D) Red Badge of Courage

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