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Storgy

Quiz — Storgy

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.

by Wallace Stevens.

Ten questions on craft, meaning, and form. Untimed. Answer every question to submit.

Q01of 10

What is the overall structural form of 'Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird'?

Q02of 10

In section I, what is described as the only moving thing among the snowy mountains?

Q03of 10

In section II, the speaker says he was 'of three minds' and uses a simile comparing himself to a tree with three blackbirds. What literary technique does this primarily illustrate?

Q04of 10

Section VII addresses 'thin men of Haddam' and asks why they 'imagine golden birds.' What theme does this section most directly develop?

Q05of 10

In section VI, the icicles are described as filling the window with 'barbaric glass.' What is the primary effect of the word 'barbaric' here?

Q06of 10

How does section XII — 'The river is moving. / The blackbird must be flying.' — function as a logical structure?

Q07of 10

Across the poem, the blackbird most consistently functions as a symbol for which of the following?

Q08of 10

In section XI, a man riding in a glass coach fears he has mistaken 'the shadow of his equipage / For blackbirds.' What does this episode most clearly suggest about perception?

Q09of 10

The tone of section V, in which the speaker cannot choose between 'the beauty of inflections / Or the beauty of innuendoes,' is best described as:

Q10of 10

Stevens's decision to present thirteen separate numbered sections rather than a unified narrative poem most closely serves which artistic purpose?

0 / 10 answered

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