4
QuizMultiple Choice

Beat Movement Spontaneous Prose

Question 4 • Hopkins FA American Literature (2026-2027)

Read the excerpt from “The Railroad Earth.”It's all in California, it's all a sea, I swim out of it in afternoons of sun hot meditation in my jeans with head on handkerchief on brakeman’s lantern or (if not working) on books, I look up at blue sky of perfect lost purity and feel the warp of wood of old America beneath me Which best describes how Kerouac creates rhythm in this excerpt?

Answer
A
He uses repetition.
B
He uses made-up words.
C
He uses line breaks.
D
He uses descriptive language.

Explanation

Kerouac repeats the phrase “it’s all” at the beginning of the excerpt: “It’s all in California, it’s all a sea.” This repeated wording creates a rhythmic pattern as the sentence moves forward. The vivid descriptions contribute to the imagery, but repetition is the clearest source of rhythm here.

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