1. Which statement best contrasts free verse and metered verse?
A. Free verse is typically less symbolic.
B. Free verse typically uses more rhyme.
C. Free verse typically includes fewer images.
D. Free verse is typically more conversational.
E. Free verse is typically more comprehensible
2. Use the passage to answer the question. Which lines from "Song of Myself" contain alliteration? Select all that apply.
A. "And proceed to fill my next fold of the future."
B. "Listener up there! what have you to confide to me?"
C. "Look in my face while I snuff the sidle of evening."
D. "Do I contradict myself?"
E. "(I am large, I contain multitudes.)"
F. "Who has done his day's work? who will soonest be through with his supper?"
3. Use the passage to answer the question. Which statement best describes how free verse affects the meaning of this excerpt?
A. Whitman expresses his desire to "walk" and "speak" with readers by addressing them directly.
B. Whitman writes a variety of long and short lines, supporting his claim that "I contain multitudes."
C. Whitman encloses certain ideas in parentheses, softening his desire to "stay only a minute longer."
D. Whitman asks rhetorical questions to examine whether he does in fact "contradict myself."
E. Whitman organizes the poem into stanzas, which he has "fill'd" with carefully structured lines and feet.
The poem for questions 2-3:
Excerpt from “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman
51.
The past and present wilt-I have fill'd them, emptied them,
And proceed to fill my next fold of the future.
Listener up there! what have you to confide to me?
Look in my face while I snuff the sidle of evening,
(Talk honestly, no one else hears you, and I stay only a minute longer.)
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
I concentrate toward them that are nigh, I wait on the door-slab.
Who has done his day's work? who will soonest be through with his supper?
Who wishes to walk with me?
Will you speak before I am gone? will you prove already too late?
3 answers
1. free verse is typically more conversational
2. "And proceed to fill my next fold of the future.", "Look in my face while I snuff the sidle of evening,", and "Who has done his day’s work? who will soonest be through with his supper?"
3. Whitman writes a variety of long and short lines, supporting his claim that “I contain multitudes.”