Collected Poems of William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud [1807]
I wandered lonely as a Cloud
That floats on high o'er Vales and Hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden Daffodils;
Beside the Lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:--
A Poet could not but be gay
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the shew to me had brought:
For oft when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude,
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the Daffodils.
Questions for Discussion
1. From what viewpoint does the speaker of the poem observe nature?
From that of
A) a flower
B) a cloud
C) a hill
D) the wind
E) the lake
2. To what does the poet compare the arrangement of the daffodils in the second stanza?
A) stars in the Milky Way
B) waves in the ocean
C) leaves on a tree
D) grass on a hillside
E) ballerinas in a performance
3. In which of the following descriptions does the poet attribute human traits to something nonhuman?
A) "I saw...dallodils / Beside the lake, beneath the trees
B) "[The line of daffodils was as] continuous as the stars that shine"
C) "[The daffodils] stretched in never-ending line"
D) "Ten thousand [daffodils] saw I at a glance"
E) "[The daffodils were] tossing their heads in sprightly dance"
4. Which of the following words best describes the speaker's feelings about nature?
A) negative
B) indifferent
C) joyous
D) respectful
E) critical
5. The speaker in the poem would agree with which of the following statements?
A) Happiness is best shared with family members.
B) Happiness can come from unexpected places in the natural world.
C) Happiness must come from within.
D) Happiness can be experienced constantly if we train ourselves to look for it.
E) Happiness is best experienced after hardship.
6. When the speaker in the poem says that the daffodils “flash upon that inward eye / Which is the bliss of solitude,” what is he or she saying about the way past experiences can affect the present?
A) It can be difficult to move on from fond memories of the past.
B) Good memories can remind a person to go out and experience all that the world has to offer.
C) By reflecting on a memory, a person can be transported back to the joyous experience of the past and feel the same emotion once more.
D) By exercising the memory, a person can train his or her “inward eye” and achieve an enlightened, blissful state.
E) By feeling the “bliss of solitude,” a person can remember past events with great detail and emotion.
7. According to this passage, remembering the image of the daffodils is most rewarding when
A) the speaker is lying on his or her couch.
B) the speaker is in a vacant or pensive mood.
C) the speaker is experiencing the bliss of solitude.
D) All of the above
E) None of the above
The World Is Too Much with Us [1807]
The world is too much with us: late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. -- Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.
Questions for Discussion
1. "The world is too much with us" is
A) a Shakespearean sonnet.
B) an irregular-form sonnet.
C) a Petrarchan sonnet.
D) a dramatic monologue.
2. In line 4, "sordid boon" is an example of
A) oxymoron.
B) alliteration.
C) assonance.
D) onomatopoeia.
3. In line 10, "pagan" signifies
A) a heretic.
B) a sinner.
C) an atheist.
D) an adherent of a false religion.
4. In line 10, "a creed outworn" is
A) a sermon that no one takes seriously.
B) a scripture that is too faded to be read.
C) a show of holiness that is all on the surface.
D) a system of belief that is no longer extant.
5. Proteus and Triton are
A) Greek gods.
B) ancient names for the sun and moon.
C) warriors at the siege of Troy.
D) the legendary founders of Rome.
1. C
2. A
3. D
4 .D
5. A
The Solitary Reaper [1798]
Behold her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland Lass!
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass!
Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain;
O listen! for the Vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.
No Nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travellers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands:
A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard
In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.
Will no one tell me what she sings?--
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago:
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of to-day?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
That has been, and may be again?
Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sang
As if her song could have no ending;
I saw her singing at her work,
And o'er the sickle bending;--
I listened, motionless and still;
And, as I mounted up the hill,
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more.
Questions for Discussion
1. The setting of the poem is in
A) America.
B) Australia.
C) New Zealand.
D) Scotland.
2. The solitary reaper is
A) sowing seeds.
B) watering the plants.
C) reaping the harvest.
D) pulling out the weeds.
3. The singing is compared to the
A) nightingale and robin.
B) cuckoo and peacock.
C) nightingale and cuckoo.
D) cuckoo and owl.
4. The instrument that the solitary reaper is using is
A) a spade.
B) an ax.
C) a sickle
D) a knife.
5. The cuckoo bird's voice is 'thrilling' because she
A) breaks the silence of the seas
B) is heard in the farthest Hebrides
C) heralds the arrival of spring
D) is melodious
6. The cuckoo sings in the
A) Arabian deserts
B) Hebrides islands
C) Scottish highland
D) fields
7. The reaper's song is a
A) happy song
B) sorrowful song
C) solitary song
D) devotional song
8. The nightingale sings in the
A) Arabian deserts
B) Hebrides islands
C) Scottish highland
D) fields
9. The poet chooses the nightingale for comparison because its song is
A) comforting
B) melodious
C) powerful
D) overflowing
10. The impact of the reaper's song is
A) melancholic
B) depressing
C) heart rending
D) mesmerizing
11. "Plaintive numbers" means
A) happy song
B) sorrowful song
C) solitary song
D) devotional song
12. "The music in my heart I bore" means
A) the reaper kept singing the song
B) the poet went back with a heavy heart
C) he carried the memory of the song
D) he carried the image of the solitary reaper in his heart
13. Which line from the poem best shows that the speaker is unsure about the meaning of the words of the song?
A) Stop here, or gently pass!
B) Among Arabian sands;
C) Will no one tell me what she sings?
D) I listened, motionless and still;
14. How does the reader know that the speaker likes the girl’s song?
A) He begins singing along with the girl.
B) He brings others to listen to the girl’s singing.
C) He tells the girl how much he enjoys her singing.
D) He compares the girl’s singing to other wonderful music.
15. Which literary technique does Wordsworth use most in this poem?
A) simile
B) analogy
C) imagery
D) personification
16. This poem can best be described as lyric because it
A) expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet.
B) gives a brief description of nature.
C) uses humor to make a point.
D) tells the story of a folk hero.
17. Possible themes of this poem include the following EXCEPT --
A) Those who are alone can be in harmony with nature.
B) There is beauty in things individuals can’t truly explain or put into words.
C) Beautiful memories can have a soothing effect on human thought and feelings.
D) The depth of human feeling and emotion can produce strange irrational fears.
E) none of the above
18. Line 4 shows
that the speaker is enchanted and wants to stay.
that the speaker is upset and wants to go way.
that the speaker wants the passers-by to either join him in listening to the song or pass gently by so as not to disturb him.
that the speaker is unable to understand the song.
none of the above
19. In lines 5-8, the speaker is addressing
the passers-by.
the solitary reaper.
the readers.
the trees in the valley.
none of the above
20. The mood of the singer is
A) full of happiness and joy.
B) melancholic.
C) full of heroism.
D) indifferent.
E) none of the above
21. The central idea of the poem is that
A) well-sung songs give us happiness.
B) melodious songs appeal to all.
C) beautiful experiences give us life-long pleasures.
D) reapers can sing like birds.
E) none of the above
22. "The Solitary Reaper" is a narrative poem set to music. This form of verse is called a
A) ballad
B) soliloquy
C) monologue
D) sonnet
E) none of the above
23. The speaker's lament in the poem "The Solitary Reaper" is that
A) he cannot understand the song.
B) he did not know the lass.
C) she stopped singing at once.
D) he had to move away.
E) none of the above
24. Who is singing in "The Solitary Reaper"?
A) a circle of temptresses
B) a muse
C) a goddess
D) a beautiful girl
E) none of the above
25. How will the speaker remember the solitary reaper?
A) He forgets her the second he leaves her.
B) The two will correspond through letters.
C) He will keep a small painting of her with him.
D) He will carry her song in his heart.
E) none of the above
26. What is the significance of the nightingale and the cuckoo-bird?
A) they are the only birds that are welcome in the shade of the trees
B) they are comparisons used to emphasize the beauty and power of the girl's voice
C) they are the birds that eat the grain the girl is harvesting
D) they are singing along with the girl and filling the valley
27. What is the significance of the girl as a solitary figure?
A) she is utterly alone and defenseless against the speaker's intrusion
B) both she is a sole companion of nature and in total communion with nature.
C) she is a sole companion of nature
D) she is in total communion with nature
28. Why is it that the speaker is so enchanted with the girl's song, even though he cannot understand its language and what it is about?
A) the girl is so beautiful that he cannot take his eyes off of her
B) The speaker is enchanted with the song's tone, its expressive beauty, and the mood it creates within him.
C) the speaker has fallen in love with the girl
D) the speaker imagines his own voice in her song
29. In the third stanza, the speaker tries to imagine what the girl's song is about. What are two of the possibilities he imagines?
A) some past or some present sorrow, pain or loss
B) the blisters on her hands and the ache in her back
C) all of the above
D) none of the above
30. The poem uses the following literary devices EXCEPT --
A) alliteration
B) hyperbole
C) enjambment
D) metaphor
E) none of the above
13. C
14. D
15. C
16. A
a young farm workerb) he was awestruck by the melodyc) alliterationd) he had continued his journeye) heralds the arrival of springf)Hebrides islandsa) sorrowful songb) Arabian desertsc) melodiousd) mesmerizinge) sorrowful songf) he carried the memory of the song
ROW IROW II
Nuns fret not at their convent’s narrow room [1807]
Nuns fret not at their convent’s narrow room;
And hermits are contented with their cells;
And students with their pensive citadels;
Maids at the wheel, the weaver at this loom,
Sit blithe and happy; bees that soar for bloom,
High as the highest Peak of Furness-fells,
Will murmur by the hour in foxglove bells:
In truth the prison, into which we doom
Ourselves, no prison is: and hence for me,
In sundry moods, ’twas pastime to be bound
Within the Sonnet’s scanty plot of ground;
Pleased if some Souls (for such there needs must be)
Who have felt the weight of too much liberty,
Should find brief solace there, as I have found.
Questions for Discussion
1. Which of the following best represents the structural divisions of the poem?
A) Lines 1–4; 5–8; 9–12; 13–14
B) Lines 1–7; 8–10; 11–13; 14
C) Lines 1–7; 8–9 1⁄2; 9 1⁄2–14
D) Lines 1–8; 9–11; 12–14
E) Lines 1–9; 10–13; 14
2. Which of the following best describes the organization of the poem?
A) A series of logically developing ideas with a concluding personal application
B) A series of examples followed by a generalization and a personal application
C) A generalization followed by examples
D) A specific assertion followed by examples followed by a contradiction of the initial assertion
E) An answer followed by a question that cannot be answered
3. In line 3, the phrase “pensive citadels” can be best paraphrased as
A) towers in which students are imprisoned
B) castles under siege
C) dreary fortresses
D) refuges for contemplation
E) strongholds that inspire thought
4. The “we” of line 8 could refer to all of the following EXCEPT
A) criminals
B) poets
C) nuns
D) hermits
E) students
5. In line 8, “prison” is parallel to all of the following EXCEPT
A) “narrow room” (line 1)
B) “pensive citadels” (line 3)
C) “Peak of Furness-fells” (line 6)
D) “foxglove bells” (line 7)
E) “scanty plot of ground” (line 11)
6. Lines 8–9 (“In truth the prison, unto which we doom/Ourselves, no prison is”) is an example of
A) hyperbole
B) personification
C) alliteration
D) simile
E) paradox
7. In line 10, the assertion “’twas pastime” is parallel to all of the following phrases EXCEPT
A) “fret not” (line 1)
B) “are contented” (line 2)
C) “Sit blithe” (line 5)
D) “Will murmur” (line 7)
E) “we doom” (line 8)
8. The figure of speech in line 11 (“Within the Sonnet’s scanty plot of ground”) is
A) a simile comparing the writing of poetry to a field
B) a simile comparing the poet and a farmer
C) a metaphor comparing the sonnet and a small piece of land
D) a metaphor comparing the pleasures of writing poetry and the pleasures of gardening
E) an apostrophe
9. In line 14, “there” refers to
A) the sonnet (line 11)
B) the soul (line 12)
C) pleasure (line 12)
D) weight (line 13)
E) liberty (line 13)
10. Which of the following phrases from the poem best sums up its central idea?
A) “hermits are contented with their cells” (line 2)
B) “Maids at the wheel . . . / Sit blithe and happy” (lines 4–5)
C) “the prison, unto which we doom / Ourselves, no prison is” (lines 8–9)
D) “such there needs must be” (line 12)
E) “Who have felt the weight of too much liberty” (line 13)
11. From the poem, the reader may infer all of the following about the speaker EXCEPT that he
A) feels deep compassion for the nuns
B) sometimes finds liberty onerous
C) respects literary conventions
D) finds conventional verse forms congenial to his talent
E) has written a number of sonnets
12. The rhyme scheme of this poem is especially appropriate because
I. lines 1–8 employ the traditional abba, abba, of the Italian sonnet
II. it is restricted to only four rhymes in the 14 lines
III. it makes judicious use of slant rhymes
A) III only
B) I and II only
C) I and III only
D) II and III only
E) I, II, and III
1. C. Line 8 and half of line 9 state the thesis of the poem: that a self-chosen restriction is not a restriction at all. The first seven lines of the poem give six different examples of self-chosen restrictions: the nuns in their convent, the hermits in their cells, the students withdrawn to contemplation, the maids at their spinning wheels, the weaver at the loom, and finally the bee which seeks nectar in the narrow confines of the foxglove blossom. Lines 9, 10, and 11 apply the idea of self-elected restrictions to the poet’s choosing to write in the difficult and limiting sonnet form. Lines 12–14 express the poet’s satisfaction in others’ finding the same pleasure in his sonnets. The structure then is that described in C.
2. B. The organization is explained by B. Notice that one of the divisions of the poem falls in the middle rather than at the end of a line. Though the rhyme scheme of abba, abba suggests an eight-line unit to begin the poem, the real unit is seven lines.
3. D. A citadel is a tower, a fortress, a refuge. The adjective “pensive” means thoughtful, meditative. Because a citadel cannot think, the phrase is surprising. The device the poet uses here is a transferred epithet, the shift of a word or phrase from the noun it would logically modify to another. Shakespeare writes of a sailor high on the “giddy mast” of a ship in a storm. It is, of course, the sailor, not the mast, who is “giddy.” It is the students here who are “pensive,” but the adjective is transferred to modify the place where they meditate.
4. A. The exception is the criminals. A criminal in prison has not chosen prison voluntarily, while, according to the poem, the nun, poet, hermit, and students have chosen the restrictions of the convent, the sonnet, the cell, or the citadel.
5. C. The prison is parallel to other self-chosen forms of restriction such as the narrow room, citadels, bells (or flowers) of the foxglove, and the scanty plot of the sonnet. In line 6, the reference to bees flying as high as the mountain peak is to demonstrate the freedom the bees might enjoy contrasted with the narrow space inside the foxglove flower, which they choose instead. Choice C is the opposite of prison, not a parallel.
6. E. This is a paradox, an apparently self-contradictory statement. To say a prison is not a prison is paradoxical. Another term for this figure is oxymoron.
7. E. The phrase is the expression of the speaker’s pleasure in restriction. The phrases parallel to this are “fret not,” “are contented,” “Sit blithe,” and “Will murmur,” all of which are used to express satisfaction with elected restraints. The exception, and right answer, is “we
doom.”
8. C. This is a metaphor (a simile would use “like” or “as”) comparing the sonnet and a small plot of land. Apostrophe is direct address to a person or thing.
9. A. The “there” refers to the sonnet, where the poet has found and, he hopes the reader will find, some pleasure.
10. C. This option, using the prison metaphor, explicitly states the theme of the sonnet.
11. A. There is no reason to feel compassion for the nuns, whose confinement is self-chosen. That he has “felt the weight of too much liberty” supports B. That he finds pleasure in the restrictions of the sonnet suggests his respect for tradition and for conventional restrictive forms.
12. B. Among a number of possible rhyme schemes for the sonnet, the poet has chosen one of the most restrictive, in keeping with the thesis
of the poem that a chosen restraint is not restraining. The first eight lines have only two rhymes (as in the Italian sonnet), and only two more rhymes are used in lines 9–14. A slant rhyme is an off-rhyme, a rhyme that is incomplete. If “bells” were rhymed with “calls” or “ills,” both rhymes would be slant rhymes. This poem, predictably, does not take advantage of this license.