AP Multiple Choice Questions Explanation

"The Wanderer"

1.      A. is the correct answer because each of the lines contains a strong break halfway through the phrase which is the definition of caesura.

B. is not correct because there’s no descriptive language throughout the lines.

C. is not correct because there is no repetition of consonant sounds.

D. is not correct because a parody is an imitation of some other piece of literature in a satirical manner, and these lines are not satirical but serious.

E. is not correct because understatement means something is being described as less important than it actually is, and there is no occurrence of this in these lines.

2.      From a study of literary periods, A. and C.-E. are not correct because only the Anglo-Saxon period (choice B.) is known for oral poetry that contains kenning, alliteration, and caesura.

3.      A. is not correct because there is no mention of a knight/lord trying to woo a maiden in the context of the poem.

B. is not correct because the wanderer is actually all alone throughout the poem; he has no family.

C. is not correct because, as the wanderer is exiled, he has no contact with politics within his worldview.

D. is correct because the speaker has been exiled and is lamenting the long days he must spend alone apart from the rest of the world.

E. is not correct because, though glory is mentioned, the speaker recognizes that the fulfillment of life comes from God not great feats.

4.      Within the context of the poem, especially the last lines where the speaker recognizes that one must seek God in his life, “the Measurer” will be the Christian God (choice B.) because he indeed “measured” the world when he first created it.  The rest of the choices are either out of context (choice A.), refer to the speaker himself (choice E.), or don’t have the power to be “the Measurer” (choices C. and D.), emphasis on the capital M.

5.      Choice E. is the only answer that does not refer to the speaker of the poem.  The “Shaper of men” refers to God in a Christian context.  The other choices (A.-D.) describe a man who has been exiled to walk the earth alone as the speaker himself has been.