–29 REFER TO THE FOLLOWING POEM WRITTEN DURING THEHARLEM R...
Questions 22–29
refer to the following poem written during the
Harlem Renaissance. Read the poem carefully and then answer the
questions.
Douglass
Line
Ah, Douglass, we have fall’n on evil days,
Such days as thou, not even thou didst know,
When thee, the eyes of that harsh long ago
Saw, salient, at the cross of devious ways,
5
And all the country heard thee with amaze,
Not ended then, the passionate ebb and flow,
The awful tide that battled to and fro;
We ride amid a tempest of dispraise.
Now, when the waves of swift dissension swarm,
10
And Honor, the strong pilot, lieth stark,
Oh, for thy voice high-sounding o’er the storm,
For thy strong arm to guide the shivering bark,
The blast-defying power of thy form,
To give us comfort through the lonely dark.
—Paul Laurence Dunbar
24.
Which of the following are elements of the
22.
What type of poem is this?
theme?
(A)
Petrarchan, or Italian, sonnet
(B)
Ballad
I.
African Americans are in the midst of
(C)
Lyric
a very bad period.
(D) Shakespearean sonnet
II.
The turmoil of Douglass’ time has not
(E)
Ode
ended.
III.
African Americans need a strong
23.
In what way does Dunbar’s use of this
leader.
form contribute to the poem’s effective-
(A)
I only
ness?
(B)
I and II
(A)
The form brings a musical quality to
(C)
I and III
the poem.
(D) II and III
(B)
It helps clarify the ideas.
(E)
I, II, and III
(C)
The problem is explained in the
sestet.
(D) The form conveys a sense of dignity.
(E)
It makes the poem seem Elizabethan.
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25.
Who is the speaker in this poem?
28.
Identify the type of figurative language
used in lines 4 and 5.
(A)
Frederick Douglass
(B)
An African-American historian
(A)
Personification
(C)
The poet
(B)
Hyperbole
(D) A despairing African American
(C)
Alliteration
(E)
A former slave
(D) Consonance
(E)
Assonance
26.
How would you characterize the tone of
29.
What effect does the imagery in lines 8
“Douglass”?
and 9 create?
(A)
Sonorous and dark
(B)
Despairing yet dignified
(A)
The imagery emphasizes the feeling
(C)
Ponderous and dull
of troubled times.
(B)
It causes the reader to think of
(D) Quietly hopeful
surviving in a stormy ocean.
(E)
Graceful but troubled
(C)
The lines establish the rhyme scheme.
27.
To what does the speaker compare the
(D) They provide a light, musical element.
struggles of the black people in lines 6
(E)
The imagery shows how erudite the
through 8?
speaker is.
(A)
Douglass’s time
(B)
The Civil War period
(C)
The ocean
(D) Storm clouds
(E)
The African-American experience in
twentieth-century United States