These are original Marlbridge practice questions, not past exam questions. The public-domain poems are credited to their authors: William Wordsworth, “Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802” (1807); Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “The Eagle” (1851). The marks in the rubrics are a suggested Marlbridge rubric, not an official scoring guideline. Answer every question before opening its answer.
Wordsworth, “Composed upon Westminster Bridge” (text as printed in nineteenth-century anthologies).
Earth has not anything to show more fair: Dull would he be of soul who could pass by A sight so touching in its majesty: This City now doth like a garment wear The beauty of the morning; silent, bare, Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie Open unto the fields, and to the sky; All bright and glittering in the smokeless air. Never did sun more beautifully steep In his first splendour valley, rock, or hill; Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep! The river glideth at his own sweet will: Dear God! the very houses seem asleep; And all that mighty heart is lying still!
Question 1 (multiple choice · foundation)
Which is the most defensible thesis about Tennyson’s “The Eagle”?
- (A) The poem is about an eagle on a crag.
- (B) Tennyson uses imagery and a simile.
- (C) Tennyson presents the eagle’s power as held in stillness until the final line, so that the poem’s structure makes the reader feel the dive.
- (D) The eagle is a bird that lives in the mountains.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (C). It makes an arguable claim about meaning and effect, with a reason.
- (A) and (D) are summary or facts.
- (B) lists devices with no claim.
Question 2 (multiple choice · core)
Which line of reasoning best suits the poem “Composed upon Westminster Bridge” and the thesis that the city’s beauty depends on its stillness?
- (A) Line 1 says; line 2 says; line 3 says; and so on to line 14.
- (B) The opening makes the city seem natural; the images of openness and clarity merge city with sky; the closing turn from sight to feeling makes stillness the sign of life.
- (C) The poem has fourteen lines.
- (D) The speaker visited London in 1802.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). It is a logical sequence of claims that follows the poem’s movement.
- (A) is a line-by-line paraphrase.
- (C) and (D) are facts, not claims.
Question 3 (multiple choice · core)
Which commentary on “the very houses seem asleep” is strongest?
- (A) “This is personification, which is a device.”
- (B) “This is a powerful image.”
- (C) “Personification gives the houses a sleeper’s calm, so the city reads as a living body at rest, which supports the claim that stillness is the sign of its life.”
- (D) “The houses are asleep.”
Answer and explanation
Answer: (C). It names the device, says what it does and links to the claim.
- (A) names the device only.
- (B) praises without explaining.
- (D) repeats the quotation.
Question 4 (multiple choice · core)
In the last line, “And all that mighty heart is lying still!”, “still” can mean calm or lifeless. How best could a thesis use this?
- (A) Ignore it, because only one meaning can be right.
- (B) Use the ambiguity: the calm is peaceful and slightly uncanny, which complicates the poem’s praise.
- (C) Say the poet made a mistake.
- (D) Say the line is about death only.
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). Explaining what the ambiguity adds strengthens the argument.
- (A) Ambiguity is evidence, not an error.
- (C) The context does not support an error.
- (D) The poem’s overall tone is awe and peace, so “death only” overstates.
Question 5 (multiple choice · stretch)
Which paragraph plan is best for an essay on “The Eagle”?
- (A) One paragraph on stanza 1 and one on stanza 2, each summarising what happens
- (B) Three paragraphs: accumulating images of grip and height; the world below seen as slow; the final simile releasing speed, each linked to the thesis
- (C) One paragraph naming every device
- (D) A paragraph on Tennyson’s life
Answer and explanation
Answer: (B). Each paragraph carries a claim that builds on the last and follows the poem’s movement.
- (A) summarises.
- (C) lists devices.
- (D) The task concerns the poem, not the biography.
Question 6 (short answer · core)
Write a thesis for “Composed upon Westminster Bridge” and a three-step line of reasoning. Do not use the thesis printed in the study guide. (4 points)
Answer and explanation
Sample response (written by Marlbridge). Thesis: The speaker finds in London a beauty that depends on the city’s silence and openness, and the poem’s movement from admiring sight to astonished feeling shows that the calm affects him more than any natural landscape. Line of reasoning: (1) The opening and middle present the city as part of nature (“like a garment wear / The beauty of the morning”; “Open unto the fields, and to the sky”). (2) The images of clarity (“smokeless air”, “bright and glittering”) make the beauty depend on what the city is not doing. (3) The turn to “Ne’er saw I, never felt” and the personified “mighty heart” moves from sight to feeling, so the calm becomes personal.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| 1 | A defensible thesis (not a summary or a device list) |
| 2 | A thesis that gives a reason or an idea |
| 3 | Three claims in a logical order that follows the poem’s movement |
| 4 | Claims that build and connect to the thesis |
Question 7 (short answer · core)
Build a device-to-effect chain (evidence, device, effect, link) for “Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!” (4 points)
Answer and explanation
Sample response. Evidence: “Ne’er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!” Device: repetition and a shift of verb from seeing to feeling, with an exclamation that shows astonishment. Effect: the sight is transformed into an inward experience, and “deep” gives the calm a depth like water or sleep. Link: this supports the claim that the poem’s movement from sight to feeling makes the city’s stillness personal and powerful.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| 1 | Accurate evidence |
| 2 | Names the device or choice |
| 3 | Explains an effect (not just repeats) |
| 4 | Links to a claim and the thesis |
Question 8 (short answer · stretch)
Assess this student paragraph with the suggested self-assessment table in the study guide, then name one change.
Wordsworth uses personification in the last lines. He says the houses are asleep and the city has a heart. This shows the city is alive. Personification is a good device because it makes the poem more interesting.
Answer and explanation
Sample response. Thesis strand: no claim about the poem’s idea is visible. Evidence and commentary: the device is named, and the quotations are only paraphrased (“the houses are asleep”), and the commentary (“alive”, “more interesting”) is general, so this is “not yet”. Control and nuance: the paragraph has no link to a thesis and no complication. One change: quote “the very houses seem asleep” and “that mighty heart is lying still”, explain what the personification does (a body at rest), and link it to a claim about stillness.
Suggested Marlbridge rubric (4 points).
| Point | Awarded for |
|---|---|
| 1 | Notes the missing link to a thesis or claim |
| 2 | Notes that quotations are paraphrased and the commentary is general |
| 3 | Rates against the table accurately |
| 4 | Proposes a specific change adding effect and link |
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 “The thesis for a poem” and “The line of reasoning for a poem” in the study guide. If your written scores were low, redo Question 7 as four short sentences, one per link. Then try the checklist.