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Alfred Lord Tennyson Trivia

Alfred Lord Tennyson Trivia Quizzes

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Alfred, Lord Tennyson was Poet Laureate of Great Britain and Ireland between 1850 and 1892. He wrote such popular poems as 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' (describing an ill-fated battle in the Crimean War) and a number based on Arthurian legends, including 'The Lady of Shalott' and 'Idylls of the King'.
9 quizzes and 100 trivia questions.
1.
  The Lady of Shalott Quiz for Experts    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
This is a quiz about the 1842 version of Lord Tennyson's beautiful and tragic poem. Enjoy!
Average, 10 Qns, smartie00, Mar 09 21
Average
smartie00
Mar 09 21
980 plays
2.
  Lady of Shalott Quotes - Part I   great trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
A quiz on the first part of this sad and beautifully crafted poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson; ten multiple choice questions.
Average, 10 Qns, junepearl, Nov 11 10
Average
junepearl
803 plays
3.
  The Charge of the Light Brigade   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Can you answer questions about Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade"?
Average, 10 Qns, pennie1478, Nov 06 19
Average
pennie1478 gold member
Nov 06 19
948 plays
4.
  A Survey of Lord Tennyson's Poetry    
Multiple Choice
 15 Qns
This quiz provides an introductory survey to Lord Tennyson's works.
Average, 15 Qns, skylarb, Jun 13 20
Average
skylarb
Jun 13 20
258 plays
5.
  Lady of Shalott Quotes - Part III   great trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
How well will you do the third time around - test your knowledge on the third part of this sad yet beautiful Tennyson poem.
Average, 10 Qns, junepearl, Dec 15 08
Average
junepearl
387 plays
6.
  Lady of Shalott Quotes, Part II   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
How well will you do the second time around? Test your knowledge of the Tennyson poem.
Easier, 10 Qns, junepearl, Nov 20 08
Easier
junepearl
419 plays
7.
  10 Questions on The Lady of Shalott    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
10 questions about Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem, 'The Lady of Shalott', and the paintings and other works it inspired.
Average, 10 Qns, Kuu, Jan 23 05
Average
Kuu
879 plays
8.
  Tennyson's Alphabetic Women   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 15 Qns
The A to Z of women featured in Tennyson's poems. All but one name appear in the titles of his poems.
Average, 15 Qns, sterretjie101, Nov 15 14
Average
sterretjie101
396 plays
9.
  Lord Tennyson    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
Let's see how much you know about one of the greatest poets of all time!
Tough, 10 Qns, elainerichards, Jun 17 16
Tough
elainerichards
1270 plays
trivia question Quick Question
From this poem comes the line "The mirror crack'd from side to side" - which famous mystery author penned a book with this title?

From Quiz "Lady of Shalott Quotes - Part III"




Related Topics
  Poetry [Literature] (160 quizzes)


Alfred Lord Tennyson Trivia Questions

1. Alfred Tennyson's first publication was a volume that also contained poems by Charles Tennyson. What was this 1827 collection titled?

From Quiz
A Survey of Lord Tennyson's Poetry

Answer: Poems by Two Brothers

Tennyson published "Poems by Two Brothers" in 1827 with his older brother Charles. Alfred contributed over half the poems in the volume. "Poems, Chiefly Lyrical", was published in 1830 and contained experimental elements (irregular meter, words not used for their literal meanings but for their sound, etc.). This second publication included "Marian" and "Claribel".

2. What is the Lady of Shalott forbidden to do?

From Quiz The Lady of Shalott

Answer: To look down upon the town of Camelot

She is imprisoned in a tower, on an island in a river that flows to Camelot. The character is thought to be based on the Arthurian legend of Elaine of Astolat, who died because of her unrequited love for Sir Lancelot.

3. The soldiers that survived the battle came through the _____ of death, as it says in stanza five of "The Charge of the Light Brigade".

From Quiz The Charge of the Light Brigade

Answer: Jaws

One-hundred ninety-five British soldiers survived the battle with the Russian forces. Those men came through the jaws of death.

4. Starting at the top of the alphabet, her name means noble in German. She is described as "faintly smiling" and "beyond expression fair." She has red lips and blue eyes. Who is she?

From Quiz Tennyson's Alphabetic Women

Answer: Adeline

The poem starts: "Mystery of mysteries, faintly smiling Adeline." It ends with the lines: "Hast thou look'd upon the breath of the lilies at sunrise? Wherefore that faint smile of thine, shadowy, dreaming Adeline?" Other A women include princess Alice and Danish princess Alexandra, later queen of England.

5. To kick off the quiz, I shall start with a quote from the very first line of the poem: "On either side the river lie/ Long fields of _____ and of _____"

From Quiz Lady of Shalott Quotes - Part I

Answer: barley, rye

Right from the onset of the poem, Tennyson paints the scene in such a way that enables the mind to picture exactly where this takes place. It has indeed inspired many artists to create their own rendition of what they imagine the setting to look like.

6. It is believed that Tennyson loosely based the character of the Lady of Shalott on a maid from Arthurian legend. What was the name of this woman?

From Quiz The Lady of Shalott

Answer: Elaine

Elaine of Astolat fell in love with Lancelot, but he only had eyes for Guinevere. Elaine died of a broken heart. After her death her family placed her body on a small barge and set it adrift on the river. The barge eventually reaches the shores of Camelot.

7. When was Tennyson born?

From Quiz Lord Tennyson

Answer: 1809

He was born the son of a clergyman.

8. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal by what university for his poem "Timbuctoo"?

From Quiz A Survey of Lord Tennyson's Poetry

Answer: Cambridge

The Chancellor's Gold Medal is a prestigious annual award presented at Cambridge University for poetry. Oxford University offers the Newdigate prize for poetry. The poem begins, "I Stood upon the mountain which o'erlooks / The narrow seas..." Tennyson was twenty at the time. Lord Tennyson was made poet laureate of the UK in 1850 after William Wordsworth died. The position was first offered to Samuel Rogers, but he turned it down.

9. What will happen to the Lady of Shalott, if she performs the action which has been forbidden to her?

From Quiz The Lady of Shalott

Answer: A curse will fall upon her, but she does not know what this will be

According to the fifth stanza of the poem, "She has heard a whisper say, A curse is on her if she stay To look down to Camelot. She knows not what the curse may be." At this stage the reader can sense the impending tragedy, in outline if not in detail.

10. At the end of "The Charge of the Light Brigade", what adjective describes the six hundred men?

From Quiz The Charge of the Light Brigade

Answer: Noble

The end of each of the six stanzas describes the six hundred men in some way. Stanza six describes the men as noble.

11. This historical figure as described as standing on her chariot among her daughters and glancing "lioness-like" at the battle around her. Who is she?

From Quiz Tennyson's Alphabetic Women

Answer: Boadicea

Boadicea was the Celtic tribal queen who stood up against the invading Romans. Tennyson writes about the prophetesses who promise the queen: "Tho' the Roman eagle shadow thee, tho' the gathering enemy narrow thee, thou shall wax and he shall dwindle, thou shalt be the mighty one yet!" Another historical figure named in the title of a poem was princess Beatrice.

12. What word completes this phrase: "The sun came dazzling through the leaves/And flamed upon the brazen greaves/of bold Sir _______"?

From Quiz Lady of Shalott Quotes - Part III

Answer: Lancelot

Sir Lancelot has many stories about him. Besides the traditional tales surrounding his skills as a knight and his romance with Queen Guinevere, Lancelot also has several legends which involve him in some kind of magic. He is often portrayed as having been raised by the Lady of the Lake, who is the magical character known for giving King Arthur his famous sword, Excalibur. This connection between Sir Lancelot and magic may play a role in the story - the Lady, whose life is also surrounded by magic, is not tempted to look out of the window proper until Sir Lancelot rides past.

13. "She has heard a whisper say/A ____ is on her if she stay/ to look down to Camelot." What word completes this line?

From Quiz Lady of Shalott Quotes, Part II

Answer: curse

It has been established that this Lady in her tower is a retelling of the old Arthurian legend of Elaine, the wife of Sir Lancelot. The story of Elaine has been told many times, though it is usually overshadowed by the love affair between her husband and Queen Guinevere. She is a tragic, Ophelia-like character who gives up her life when she can not have the heart of the one she loves. This was a popular motif before the 19th century, as it represents women as the weaker sex, and by making the Lady a pitiable yet morally true character, it promotes faithfulness by women - instead of divorce or having affairs of her own, Elaine/Lady of Shalott decides to kill herself. Women who read this may have thought that suicide was a better way to deal with marital problems than more sensible solutions - though I hope none of them put this to the test. The poem would also promote faithfulness in a husband, as I hope it would be more important for him to save a life than continually cheat on his loving wife.

14. Which word is missing? "And thro' the field the road runs by/ To many tower'd _______"

From Quiz Lady of Shalott Quotes - Part I

Answer: Camelot

Camelot, the legendary home of the mighty King Arthur has never been officially discovered, but the magic and mystery surrounding it have made it a popular legend even to our time.

15. In the poem the Lady of Shalott is cursed. Because of the curse, what is the only way she can view the world from her tower?

From Quiz The Lady of Shalott

Answer: Though a mirror

She weaves tapestries of those things she sees only as reflections in her mirror.

16. What masterpiece did Tennyson write upon the death of his close friend Arthur Henry Hallam?

From Quiz A Survey of Lord Tennyson's Poetry

Answer: In Memoriam

Hallam and Tennyson were college friends. They both entered the Chancellor's Prize Poem Competition that Tennyson won and were together members of a debating club called the Cambridge Apostles. Hallam fell in-love with Tennyson's sister Emily. He died unexpectedly from a cerebral hemorrhage while on vacation in Vienna in 1833, and his sudden death left Tennyson reeling. The full name of the lengthy poem, which is divided into parts, is "In Memoriam A.H.H." "In Memoriam" was published in 1850 and is typically considered to be Tennyson's masterpiece. "Crossing the Bar" was a poem Tennyson wrote in 1888 after suffering a serious illness at sea.

17. Which object does the Lady of Shalott use to glimpses of the world without looking directly at it?

From Quiz The Lady of Shalott

Answer: Mirror

Through an enchanted mirror, she catches shadows of the world outside. The following passage from the poem describes some of the things she sees: "And moving thro' a mirror clear That hangs before her all the year, Shadows of the world appear. There she sees the highway near Winding down to Camelot: There the river eddy whirls, And there the surly village-churls, And the red cloaks of market girls, Pass onward from Shalott. Sometimes a troop of damsels glad, An abbot on an ambling pad, Sometimes a curly shepherd-lad, Or long-hair'd page in crimson clad, Goes by to tower'd Camelot; And sometimes thro' the mirror blue The knights come riding two and two: She hath no loyal knight and true, The Lady of Shalott."

18. About which war was "The Charge of the Light Brigade" written?

From Quiz The Charge of the Light Brigade

Answer: Crimean War

The poem was written about the Battle of Balaclava which took place on October 25, 1894 during the Crimean War. British forces led by Lord Raglan fought against Russian forces led by Paul Liprandi, and the British were defeated.

19. Starting with the letter C, this name is a variation of Clair. This woman is described as "the daughter of a thousand earls," haughty and cold.

From Quiz Tennyson's Alphabetic Women

Answer: Clara

Lady Clara Vere de Vere broke a young man's heart "for pastime". The speaker in the poem is another yeoman who refuses to fall for her charms and promises: "The lion on your old stone gates is not more cold to you than I." Other women with this initial letter are Claribel and Clare.

20. "The ______ bridle glitter'd free/like to some branch of stars we see" - what word fits in here?

From Quiz Lady of Shalott Quotes - Part III

Answer: gemmy

Tennyson's use of simile is superb, comparing the bridle to the beauty of the stars. The loveliness of Sir Lancelot's adornments adds overall to how much attraction he holds for the Lady; the whole line reads: "The gemmy bridle glitter'd free/Like to some branch of stars we see/Hung in the golden Galaxy". The "golden galaxy" here is referring to the Milky Way. By comparing any part of Lancelot's adornments to one of the brightest patches of stars in the sky, Tennyson is showing us the beauty of Lancelot which drew in the Lady, who ultimately gives up her life for her love of this knight.

21. What word is missing? "And moving thro' a mirror clear/That hangs before her all the year/___ of the world appear."

From Quiz Lady of Shalott Quotes, Part II

Answer: shadows

The syntax used here is wonderful; the Lady can not see that which to the rest of the world is normal and boring - to her, they are merely shadows, poor representations of the hustle and bustle of life. Reading this evokes pity for the Lady, yet it also makes the reader think about everyday life and how to them it may be usual and not very exciting, but maybe to someone who can not experience the freedom of boring everyday life, it is much more interesting.

22. Which flower completes the couplet?: "And up and down the people go, gazing where the _______ blow"

From Quiz Lady of Shalott Quotes - Part I

Answer: lillies

This poem has such a sad connotation; this line delivers the message that the lady is trapped in her tower, while the rest of the world is able to go and walk around in the beautiful flowers.

23. While at college, he won the Chancellor's medal for this poem

From Quiz Lord Tennyson

Answer: Timbuctoo

24. "Below the thunders of the upper deep; Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea, His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep The ____ sleepeth...." What word is missing from this blank?

From Quiz A Survey of Lord Tennyson's Poetry

Answer: Kraken

"The Kraken" was published in Tennyson's 1830 collection "Poems, Chiefly Lyrical". It's a sort-of Petrarchan sonnet, except that it has 15 lines, with an ABABCDDCEFEAAFE rhyme scheme. He may have been influenced by John Milton in writing it, as Milton wrote in "Paradise Lost" something similar: "There Leviathan / Hugest of living creatures, on the deep / Stretch'd like a promontory..."

25. What does the Lady of Shalott do all day to take her mind off her situation?

From Quiz The Lady of Shalott

Answer: She weaves

These quotes from the poem show us this: "And so she weaveth steadily, And little other care hath she, The Lady of Shalott. ... There she weaves by night and day A magic web with colours gay." This weaving is seen by some critics to represent the artistic creations which an artist is free to create if he/she keeps from being too deeply involved in the everyday activities of contemporary society.

26. Complete the quote. "Theirs not to make reply Theirs not to reason why Theirs but to do and ___."

From Quiz The Charge of the Light Brigade

Answer: Die

The British soldiers followed Lord Raglan into the valley of death to the other side. Once they reached the other side, more than two-hundred and seventy-five of the six hundred men had been injured or killed of the six hundred that first rode into the valley.

27. Also the name of William Wordsworth's daughter, this lady lived with farmer Allan and his son. Allan wished the two young people to marry but William refused the match and left the farm to marry Mary Morrison. Who had her heart broken?

From Quiz Tennyson's Alphabetic Women

Answer: Dora

Dora loved William. When he regretted his decision to leave home and the quarrel he had with this father, Allan refused to forgive him. When William died of a fever, Dora went to aid widow. She presented Allan's grandson to him. The family rift healed but the poem ends: "But Dora lived unmarried till her death."

28. Please fill in the correct words: "And from his blazon'd ________ slung/A mighty silver _______ hung"

From Quiz Lady of Shalott Quotes - Part III

Answer: baldric/bugle

For those of you who, like me, do not know what a baldric is, I looked it up. Thefreedictionary.com describes it as "a belt, usually of ornamented leather, worn across the chest to support a sword or bugle." This is another part of the beautiful description provided by Tennyson of Sir Lancelot.

29. "There the river eddy ____/And there the surly village-churls/And the red cloaks of market ____/ Pass onward from Shallot." What two words complete the stanza?

From Quiz Lady of Shalott Quotes, Part II

Answer: whirls/girls

Again, this verse is describing not only the freedom that other people have that she has not; it also is describing the freedom of the natural features of the land, which can move about when she can not. It also describes some of the beauty she can see through her mirror which she can not look at straight, and must settle for only looking at the reflection of.

30. What two trees are missing from this line: "_______ whiten, _______ quiver"?

From Quiz Lady of Shalott Quotes - Part I

Answer: willows, aspens

When a willow whitens, this means that the wind has blown strongly enough to reveal the underside of the leaves, a whitish colour. This use of imagery, having the wind pushing the "wave that runs for ever", seems like it is pushing the lady to flow with it to Camelot, the home of her soon to be discovered love, Sir Lancelot.

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