The Scholar-Gipsy (Practice Test)

1. What is the primary theme of “The Scholar-Gipsy”?
(A) The joy of rural life
(B) The pursuit of perfect knowledge away from modern distractions
(C) A critique of industrialization
(D) A celebration of gipsy culture

2. The Scholar-Gipsy abandons Oxford to join:
(A) A band of wandering gipsies
(B) A monastery
(C) A group of shepherds
(D) A pirate crew

3. Arnold contrasts the Scholar-Gipsy’s timeless quest with:
(A) The stability of Victorian society
(B) The restless energy and “sick hurry” of modern life
(C) The simplicity of peasant life
(D) The discipline of academic study

4. The poem is set primarily in:
(A) The Scottish Highlands
(B) The Oxfordshire countryside
(C) London’s industrial slums
(D) A Mediterranean coast

5. The Scholar-Gipsy becomes a symbolic figure of:
(A) Religious devotion
(B) Escaping mortality through single-minded pursuit
(C) Political rebellion
(D) Artistic inspiration

6. Arnold alludes to which literary work as the source of the Scholar-Gipsy legend?
(A) Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
(B) Joseph Glanvill’s The Vanity of Dogmatizing
(C) Spenser’s The Faerie Queene
(D) Shakespeare’s The Tempest

7. The poem’s pastoral imagery serves to:
(A) Contrast rural innocence with urban corruption
(B) Celebrate agricultural labor
(C) Mock Romantic poetry
(D) Depict historical events

8. Arnold describes modern people as “light half-believers” because they:
(A) Lack commitment to any ideal
(B) Are overly superstitious
(C) Reject science
(D) Fear the supernatural

9. The Scholar-Gipsy’s immortality in the poem is:
(A) Literal (he never dies)
(B) Metaphorical (his legend endures)
(C) A religious miracle
(D) A gipsy curse

10. The poem’s form is a(n):
(A) Sonnet sequence
(B) Blank verse pastoral elegy
(C) Ballad
(D) Dramatic monologue