Billy Budd Study Guide

1. Herman Melville lived primarily in

• eighteenth-century America
• nineteenth-century America
• nineteenth-century Britain
• eighteenth-century Ireland

2. Melville's novels

• both are highly esteemed today and failed in his own lifetime
• are deeply Christian
• failed in his own lifetime
• are highly esteemed today

3. Melville's masterpiece, <i>Moby-Dick</i>

• was well-regarded in his own lifetime, but his fallen in esteem recently
• was not published during Melville's lifetime
• is often praised as the greatest novel in English
• has been blasted by most feminist scholars

4. <i>Billy Budd</i> was first published

• in the nineteenth century
• in the seventeenth century
• in the twentieth century
• in the eighteenth century

5. <i>Billy Budd</i> was

• both Melville's last novel and found unfinished after Melville's death
• found unfinished after Melville's death
• Melville's last novel
• Melville's first novel

6. Herman Melville worked as

• poet laureate
• a sailor
• a doctor
• an engineer

7. Melville's son Malcolm

• enjoyed dressing in women's clothing
• committed suicide while still a teenager
• killed Melville's wife
• also became a great writer

8. <i>Billy Budd</i> is set in

• the early eighteenth century
• the late seventeenth century
• the late eighteenth century
• the late nineteenth century

9. Melville opens with a discussion of

• the nature of evil
• whaling
• the history of American merchant ships
• the Handsome Sailor

10. During the time of the story, the British Empire was menaced by

• Ottoman expansion under Suleyman the Magnificent
• Russian expansion under Catherine the Great
• German expansion under Bismarck
• French expansion under Napoleon