These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. The public-domain poems are credited to their authors: Emily Dickinson, “Hope is the thing with feathers” (written c. 1861, published after her death); John Keats, “To Autumn” (1820). The unseen poem and sample lines were written by Marlbridge for practice. The marks in the rubrics are a suggested Marlbridge rubric, not an official scoring guideline. Answer every question before opening its answer.
Question 1 (multiple choice · foundation)
In Dickinson’s poem, “Hope is the thing with feathers / That perches in the soul”. Which statement best describes how the metaphor works?
- (A) It says hope is literally a bird that lives in the body.
- (B) It transfers certain traits of a small bird (perching, singing, persistence) to hope.
- (C) It compares hope with every feature of a bird.
- (D) It is a simile because it uses “like”.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). A metaphor selects particular traits; the poem’s details show which.
- (A) The comparison is figurative.
- (C) Metaphors focus on particular traits, not the whole object.
- (D) There is no “like” or “as” in the lines.
Question 2 (multiple choice · core)
In the last stanza of Dickinson’s poem the speaker says that the bird never “asked a crumb of me”. What does this do to the metaphor?
- (A) It denies a trait of an ordinary bird, so hope seems a gift that asks nothing.
- (B) It confirms that hope is a real animal.
- (C) It ends the comparison.
- (D) It shows the speaker is hungry.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). A bird usually needs food; the poem withholds that need and makes hope costless.
- (B) The comparison remains figurative.
- (C) It extends and completes the comparison.
- (D) Hunger is not the speaker’s.
Question 3 (multiple choice · core)
In Keats’s “To Autumn” (1820), autumn is found “sitting careless on a granary floor”. What is this an example of?
- (A) Personification, giving the season a relaxed human posture
- (B) Hyperbole, exaggerating the weather
- (C) A literal description of a person
- (D) An allusion to mythology
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). A season cannot sit; the poem gives it a human posture and attitude, characterising it as unhurried and at ease.
- (B) The line is not an exaggeration.
- (C) It describes a season, not a person.
- (D) No mythological reference is made in this line.
Question 4 (multiple choice · core)
Read this Marlbridge line: “The radiator clears its throat at six and sighs itself awake.” What does the personification contribute?
- (A) It makes the machine seem weary and politely reluctant, like an old person starting a day.
- (B) It shows that the radiator is broken.
- (C) It tells the reader the time only.
- (D) It compares the radiator with a river.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (A). “Clears its throat” and “sighs” give a human tiredness and manners.
- (B) Nothing says it is broken.
- (C) The time is stated, but the personification adds character.
- (D) No river is mentioned.
Question 5 (multiple choice · stretch)
A poem says: “Her grief was a house with every shutter closed.” Which pair of traits is most clearly transferred?
- (A) Large and old
- (B) Shut in and hidden from view
- (C) Cheerful and warm
- (D) Wooden and rectangular
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). “Every shutter closed” stresses enclosure and concealment.
- (A) and (D) describe the object but not what the line stresses.
- (C) Contradicts the shuttered image.
Question 6 (short answer · core)
Read this original Marlbridge poem, “The Wind in March”.
The wind comes down the lane in its good boots, knocks at every gate, and when no one answers sulks a while behind the barn, then tries the washing line. It is only borrowing, it says, and goes off whistling with a sheet.
Identify the personification and explain how it characterises the wind. (4 points)
Answer and explanation
Sample response. The wind is given human actions: it wears “good boots”, “knocks at every gate”, “sulks”, and “goes off whistling with a sheet”. These characterise it as a cheerful, slightly cheeky visitor, part neighbour and part petty thief, who excuses its mischief (“only borrowing”). The humour makes a wind that moves washing seem familiar and almost harmless.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identifies personification with an accurate quotation |
| 2 | Names a human trait or role given to the wind |
| 3 | Explains the character created (cheeky, neighbourly, mischievous) |
| 4 | Explains the effect on tone or the reader’s attitude |
Question 7 (short answer · core)
Complete the four steps for this Marlbridge line: “My grandmother’s memory was a harbour at low tide.” (4 points)
Answer and explanation
Sample response. Sides: memory is compared with a harbour at low tide. Traits transferred: exposed, emptied, things left stranded, with water gone out. Left behind: a harbour is also busy and full when the tide is high; the line stresses only the empty state, and implies the tide may return. Effect: the speaker presents her memory as diminished but perhaps not gone for ever, with gentle sadness and some hope.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| 1 | Names both sides correctly |
| 2 | Identifies traits transferred |
| 3 | Notes a trait not transferred or implied |
| 4 | States an effect on the speaker’s perspective |
Question 8 (short answer · stretch)
Write one paragraph (about 120 words) explaining how Dickinson’s extended metaphor shapes the poem’s view of hope. Quote at least two phrases.
Answer and explanation
Sample response (written by Marlbridge). Dickinson extends one comparison across three stanzas to present hope as a small, persistent bird. It “perches in the soul” and “sings the tune without the words”, traits of lightness and wordless comfort, and it is “sweetest in the gale”, which shows that its song grows more precious in trouble. The comparison continues through the “chillest land” and the “strangest sea”, so that the bird becomes a companion in every hardship. Finally, the bird never “asked a crumb”, which removes a bird’s ordinary need and presents hope as a gift. The extended metaphor therefore shows hope as fragile in form and unfailing in practice.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identifies the metaphor and its extension |
| 2 | Two accurate quotations |
| 3 | Names traits transferred or withheld |
| 4 | Links the comparison to the poem’s view of hope |
How did you do?
Count your correct multiple-choice answers (out of 5) and your rubric points (out of 12). If you missed questions 1 to 5, reread “What a metaphor does” and “What personification does” in the study guide. If your written scores were low, redo Question 7 listing the sides, traits, what is left behind, and the effect. Then try the checklist.