Use the poem “Alone” by Edgar Allan Poe to answer these questions.

1. What is compared throughout the poem?

     (A) Poe’s childhood and his adulthood

     (B)  Poe’s sadness throughout stages of his life

     (C)  Poe from the average person

     (D) A demon and the clouds

     (E) A demon and dawn

2. In line 9, what does the “dawn” represent?

     (A) the night

     (B) traumatic experience that began his sorrow

     (C) a period of isolation

     (D) his depression

     (E) a demon

3. In line 12 “mystery” is best understood as

     (A) the uncertainty of life holds ahead

     (B) past traumatic experiences

     (C) the uncertainty of death

     (D) an unknown cause of sadness

     (E) daily life

4. What literary device is used between line 20-22?

     (A) analogy

     (B) personification

     (C) simile

     (D) anaphora

     (E) symbolism

5. The effect of line 20-22 that the author intends is

     (A) compare sadness to a demon

     (B) have the reader understand the sadness haunts Poe

     (C) depression is corrupt

     (D) Poe was only depressed in his youth

     (E) the average person thinks differently compared to Poe

Answers:

1.

     (A) This is incorrect because Poe’s adulthood isn’t mentioned.

     (B) This is incorrect because the stages of Poe’s life and sadness aren’t compared to itself.

     (C) This is correct because it explains the title, “Alone” and how his difference between people make him isolated.

     (D) This is incorrect because the cloud and the demon are the same thing.

     (E) This is incorrect because the dawn and the demon aren’t related in this piece.

2.

     (A) This is incorrect because it’s the literal meaning.

     (B) This is correct because the dawn is used metaphorically to describe what caused his sadness.

     (C) This is incorrect because there is no proof that the traumatic experience was a period of isolation.

     (D) This is incorrect because dawn isn’t the depression but instead caused it.

     (E) This is incorrect because the demon was his depression and was only mentioned in the last line.

3.

     (A) This is correct because the mystery which binds him is just life and the question of it especially after a life changing experience such as the “dawn” occurred.

     (B) This is incorrect because the dawn is the past experience and not the “mystery”.

     (C) This is incorrect because death isn’t mentioned throughout the poem.

     (D) This is incorrect because the mystery is what traps him in his depression.

     (E) This is incorrect because there is no proof that daily life caused Poe’s sorrows.

4.

     (A) This is incorrect because it is not out of proportions.

     (B) This is incorrect because the demon or sadness isn’t taking human characteristics.

     (C) This is incorrect because it doesn’t use like or as.

     (D) This is incorrect because repetition isn’t used of a word at the beginning of a sentence.

     (E) This is correct because the demon is the overall symbol for Poe’s sorrow.

5.

     (A) This is incorrect because it is what the device is doing but not the meaning.

     (B) This is incorrect because it is only an on the surface analysis.

     (C) This is incorrect because it is an opinion with no back up in the text.

     (D) This is incorrect because it is clear that he struggled with sadness his whole life.

     (E) This is correct because it compares Heaven to a demon that resides in Hell.