Poetry of William Wordsworth
Selection Test A
Critical Reading Identify the letter of the choice that best answers the question.
1. Which line from “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” best
describes Wordsworth’s response to nature when he had visited the abbey five
years earlier?
A. Nature was a passion and intense love.
B. Nature was less appealing than city life.
C. Nature was not interesting to him.
D. Nature was a cold and threatening place.
2. With whom did Wordsworth visit Tintern Abbey?
A. his wife
B. Samuel Taylor Coleridge
C. his sister Dorothy
D. Robert Southey
3. What is the main theme of “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey”?
A. the glories and triumphs of youth
B. the power of nature to renew the spirit
C. the rewards of the imagination
D. the strength of humans
4. Which characteristic of “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey”
shows that it is a Romantic poem?
A. the outdoor, natural setting
B. the speaker’s emphasis on the importance of the individual
C. the use of the narrative format
D. the description of the speaker’s emotional response to nature
5. Which lines best state the theme of the excerpt from The Prelude?
A. “But to be young was very Heaven!”
B. “But in the very world . . . the place where, in the end, / We find our
happiness . . .”
C. “I lost / All feeling of conviction. . . .”
D. “They who had fed their childhood upon dreams, / The play-fellows of
fancy. . . .”
Name Date
Unit 4 Resources: Rebels and Dreamers
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6. According to the speaker in The Prelude, why did the French Revolution fail?
A. Other nations entered the war and defeated the revolutionaries.
B. The war of self-defense became a war of oppression.
C. The revolution was poorly organized and soon broke down.
D. The revolutionaries did not know how to run the government.
7. What is the meaning of the title of the poem “The World Is Too Much with Us”?
A. The world is a vast place that we must each face alone.
B. Living is a great trial that can be overwhelming.
C. Our lives are too short, and we do not accomplish much.
D. We spend too much time working for material things.
8. Which of these characteristics of “The World Is Too Much with Us” shows that it
is a lyric poem?
A. It mentions several mythological characters.
B. It has many references to God and religion.
C. It implies that understanding nature leads to self-awareness.
D. It does not follow a regular pattern of end rhymes.
9. What does the speaker in “London, 1802” mean by saying that England is in
need of Milton?
A. England needs manners, freedom, and power.
B. English poetry has become dull and uninspired.
C. The French Revolution has failed to bring freedom.
D. England needs someone to write an epic.
Vocabulary and Grammar
10. Which vocabulary word best completes the following sentence?
The excitement of the revolution people, and they demanded freedoms they
had never before dared to think about.
A. roused
B. confounded
C. anatomized
D. recompensed
Name Date
Unit 4 Resources: Rebels and Dreamers
© Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Prentice Hall. All rights reserved.
73
11. Which word means the same as sordid in this line from “The World Is Too Much
with Us”?
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
A. double
B. fortunate
C. dirty
D. reasonable
12. Which line from “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” contains a
present participial phrase?
A. “Almost suspended, we are laid asleep in body, and become a living soul.”
B. “These waters, rolling from their mountain springs / With a soft inland
murmur.”
C. “not only with the sense of present pleasure, but with pleasing
thoughts. . . .”
D. “When like a roe / I bounded o’er the mountains.”
Essay
13. Write an essay in which you summarize Wordsworth’s feelings toward nature as
expressed in “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey.” First, explain the
feelings he had five years earlier. How did his feelings change in the years since
then? Is nature still important to him? In what way? Use examples from “Lines
Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” to support your response.
14. Choose one or more of the poems. In an essay, explain how Wordsworth’s poems
demonstrate some of the qualities of Romanticism. Discuss at least two of these
qualities of Romanticism: simplicity and directness of language; expression of spontaneous,
intensified feelings; profound responses to nature; and diction. Give examples
from the poems to support your discussion.
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