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Storgy

Quiz — Storgy

TO A SEAMEW.

by Algernon Charles Swinburne.

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

Q01of 10

The poem's stanzas each consist of eight lines in which the first two lines are repeated as the final two lines. What is the formal name for this type of stanza construction?

Q02of 10

In the final stanza, the speaker offers 'my song's wild honey' to the seamew in exchange for its life. What does 'my song's wild honey' most clearly represent?

Q03of 10

The speaker describes the seagull's cry as making 'all the cliffs rejoice.' Which poetic technique is most at work in this image?

Q04of 10

What is the central thematic contrast that structures the entire poem?

Q05of 10

In the stanza beginning 'We are fallen, even we,' the phrase 'who sing, and cease from flying' is best understood as meaning:

Q06of 10

The poem addresses the seamew as 'my brother' repeatedly. What does this form of address chiefly establish?

Q07of 10

The phrase 'darkness, wild as error, / But sure as truth' in the sixth stanza employs which rhetorical device?

Q08of 10

According to the poem, what advantage does the speaker claim that seamen have over other men, and what does he then say surpasses even that?

Q09of 10

The speaker says in stanza nine that some 'sense or soul half hidden / In thee, for us forbidden' drives the bird. What does this suggest about the poem's view of the seamew?

Q10of 10

What is the predominant tone of the poem's final stanza?

0 / 10 answered

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