English Language: High School: 9th and 10th Grade Quiz - Poetry - Because I could not stop for death (Questions)

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Emily Dickinson was a nineteenth-century American poet. She is equally famed for her individual, unconventional voice and for the quantity of her writing (having written nearly one thousand, eight hundred poems). Unlike most poems written in the nineteenth century, Dickinson's poetry tended towards brevity - her lines, as well as her poems, are short. One of the most well-known is 'Because I could not stop for Death'.

Read the poem and then test your skill at interpretation by trying this English quiz.

Because I could not stop for Death

Because I could not stop for Death--
He kindly stopped for me--
The Carriage held but just Ourselves--
And Immortality.

We slowly drove--He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility--

We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess--in the Ring--
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain--
We passed the Setting Sun--

Or rather--He passed us--
The Dews drew quivering and chill--
For only Gossamer, my Gown--
My Tippet--only Tulle--

We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground--
The Roof was scarcely visible--
The Cornice--in the Ground--

Since then--'tis Centuries--and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses' Heads
Were toward Eternity--

Emily Dickinson

Who is the 'He' of the second line?

[ ]	The narrator
[ ]	The poet's friend
[ ]	The man who drives her carriage
[ ]	Death

'Chill' / 'Tulle' is an example of what?

[ ]	Sight rhyme
[ ]	Approximate rhyme
[ ]	Alliteration
[ ]	Assonance

Considering the answer to question two, what effect does this create?

[ ]	It creates a slight sense of discord
[ ]	It creates a sense of pace
[ ]	It creates a sense of harmony
[ ]	It has no effect on the poem

What is the 'House' referred to in the fourth stanza?

[ ]	A cellar
[ ]	The narrator's home
[ ]	The grave
[ ]	A church

'And I had put away / My labor and my leisure too' - What is meant by these lines?

[ ]	The narrator is tired
[ ]	The narrator has finished her day at work
[ ]	The narrator will never again work or participate in any other activity
[ ]	The narrator is only being polite to Death

With which lines are the lines in question five contrasted?

[ ]	'We passed the School, where Children strove / At Recess--in the Ring--'
[ ]	'We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain-- / We passed the Setting Sun--'
[ ]	'Or rather--He passed us-- / The Dews drew quivering and chill--'
[ ]	'For only Gossamer, my Gown-- / My Tippet--only Tulle--'

In the third and fourth stanzas, the word 'passed' is repeated four times. Which of the following is NOT true of the effect produced by this repetition?

[ ]	The repetition creates a contrast between the activity of life and the narrator's passivity
[ ]	The repetition gives the impression that the narrator is taking farewell of the world
[ ]	The repetition creates the effect of the narrator's life flashing by
[ ]	The repetition creates a sense of eagerness

Which words could be used to describe Death in this poem?

[ ]	Hasty, rough, terrifying
[ ]	Civil, polite, gentlemanly
[ ]	Loud, friendly, pleasant
[ ]	Inconspicuous and weak

How would you describe the rhythm of this poem?

[ ]	Irregular
[ ]	Regular, with six syllables in every line
[ ]	Regular, with eight syllables in every line
[ ]	Regular, using iambic meter

10.

In which stanza is this rhythm disrupted?

[ ]	First
[ ]	Second
[ ]	Third
[ ]	Fourth

English Language: High School: 9th and 10th Grade Quiz - Poetry - Because I could not stop for death (Answers)

Who is the 'He' of the second line?

[ ]	The narrator
[ ]	The poet's friend
[ ]	The man who drives her carriage
[x]	Death

Death is personified throughout Dickinson's poem

'Chill' / 'Tulle' is an example of what?

[ ]	Sight rhyme
[x]	Approximate rhyme
[ ]	Alliteration
[ ]	Assonance

Approximate rhyme is also referred to as 'near', 'slant', or 'partial' rhyme - Dickinson uses this style of rhyme in her ABCB rhyme scheme

Considering the answer to question two, what effect does this create?

[x]	It creates a slight sense of discord
[ ]	It creates a sense of pace
[ ]	It creates a sense of harmony
[ ]	It has no effect on the poem

What is the 'House' referred to in the fourth stanza?

[ ]	A cellar
[ ]	The narrator's home
[x]	The grave
[ ]	A church

'And I had put away / My labor and my leisure too' - What is meant by these lines?

[ ]	The narrator is tired
[ ]	The narrator has finished her day at work
[x]	The narrator will never again work or participate in any other activity
[ ]	The narrator is only being polite to Death

Here Dickinson is very playfully comparing the ceasing of all activity at death with the way someone might politely (and temporarily) stop what she is doing when a visitor arrives

With which lines are the lines in question five contrasted?

[x]	'We passed the School, where Children strove / At Recess--in the Ring--'
[ ]	'We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain-- / We passed the Setting Sun--'
[ ]	'Or rather--He passed us-- / The Dews drew quivering and chill--'
[ ]	'For only Gossamer, my Gown-- / My Tippet--only Tulle--'

The children are simultaneously playing at 'recess' (meaning break time) and working ('strove'). They are at the beginning of their lives, while the narrator has reached the end of hers

In the third and fourth stanzas, the word 'passed' is repeated four times. Which of the following is NOT true of the effect produced by this repetition?

[ ]	The repetition creates a contrast between the activity of life and the narrator's passivity
[ ]	The repetition gives the impression that the narrator is taking farewell of the world
[ ]	The repetition creates the effect of the narrator's life flashing by
[x]	The repetition creates a sense of eagerness

Which words could be used to describe Death in this poem?

[ ]	Hasty, rough, terrifying
[x]	Civil, polite, gentlemanly
[ ]	Loud, friendly, pleasant
[ ]	Inconspicuous and weak

Death is portrayed as a gentleman - yet the narrator has very little choice whether to climb into the carriage or not. Do you think Dickinson might be ironic in her description?

How would you describe the rhythm of this poem?

[ ]	Irregular
[ ]	Regular, with six syllables in every line
[ ]	Regular, with eight syllables in every line
[x]	Regular, using iambic meter

The first and third line in (nearly) every stanza have eight syllables, while the second and fourth have six

10.

In which stanza is this rhythm disrupted?

[ ]	First
[ ]	Second
[ ]	Third
[x]	Fourth

The fourth stanza disrupts the steady rhythm, which has until then given the effect of a horse-drawn carriage traveling smoothly. At this point, the Sun has passed the narrator, taking away its light and warmth. The effect is of the carriage suddenly stopping - at the grave