Poetic Justice Trivia Quiz

Answer: Samuel Taylor Coleridge

British poet and philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) founded the Romantic Movement in England with his friend William Wordsworth. Coleridge was one of the Lake poets and collaborated with some of the greatest poets of the time, e.g., Charles Lamb and Robert Southey.

He wrote "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" in 1798. "Water, water, everywhere / Nor any drop to drink". He was a major influence on 'transcendentalism', and coined the phrase "suspension of disbelief".

Answer: Edgar Allan Poe

One of my personal favorite poets (his name is even in the word 'poet') is Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849). He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and was the master of mystery and the macabre, i.e, Stephen King, 98 years earlier. "The Raven", written in 1845, may be his most famous poem, but "Annabel Lee" gives us the line "We loved with a love that was more than a love". Poe's short story, "Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841), is often cited as the first detective mystery.

In fact, the Edgar Awards, given by the Mystery Writers of America, are named for him.

Answer: Alfred, Lord Tennyson

"Half a league onward, / All in the Valley of Death / Rode the six hundred" is from "The Charge of the Light Brigade", written in 1854, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892). Tennyson was England's Poet Laureate during the reign of Queen Victoria. For those of you unfamiliar with this period in history, this Charge was actually a failed military action (which explains the quote above) by the British light cavalry against Russian troops at the Battle of Balaclava in 1854.

Answer: Maya Angelou

Author and civil rights activist Maya Angelou (1928-2014) was born in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1993, she wrote and performed "On the Pulse of Morning" at President Clinton's inaugural ceremony, the first such recitation since Robert Frost's reading of his poem for President Kennedy in 1961.

Her memoir "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", in 1969, made literary history as the first nonfiction best-seller by a black woman. "And Still I Rise" (1978) is empowering: "You may write me down in history / With your bitter twisted lies / You may trod me in the very dirt / But still, like dust, I'll rise".

Answer: William Ernest Henley

"Invictus" is a poem written by British author and Victorian poet William Ernest Henley (1849-1903). The poem originally appeared untitled in Henley's first volume of poems, i.e., "Book of Verses", published in 1888. Knowing the circumstances under which "Invictus" was written makes you appreciate it even more.

It seems the author had had a leg amputated due to complications from tuberculosis. When Henley was told the other leg needed to go, he went to Dr. Joseph Lister who, after several surgeries, managed to save the other leg.

While recovering he wrote: "I am the master of my fate / I am the captain of my soul".

Answer: Rudyard Kipling

Indian-born British writer and Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was a journalist, poet, short story writer and novelist. His early life in India influenced many of his stories, e.g., "The Jungle Book" (1894) and "Kim" (1901). His wonderful poem "If" was published in 1910 as a piece of advice for young boys: "If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, / Or walk with Kings--nor lose the common touch, / If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you / If all men count with you, but none too much; / If you can fill the unforgiving minute / With sixty seconds' worth of distance run / Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it / And, which is more, you'll be a Man, my son!"

Answer: John Milton

John Milton (1608-1674) was an English poet and a scholar who was employed as a civil servant under the rule of Oliver Cromwell. "Paradise Lost", written in 1667 in blank verse, is the story of the 'fall of man'. In an earlier tome, "Aereopagitica", Milton condemned censorship in favor of freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

His works are even more remarkable when you consider he was completely blind by 1651. "On His Blindness", one of his best known sonnets, ends with the famous quote "They also serve who only stand and wait".

Answer: Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) was a reclusive American poet born in Amherst, Massachusetts. She spent much of her life wearing white clothing and refusing to socialize except through correspondence and, later in life, never leaving her bedroom. Less than a dozen of her 1800 poems were released during her life.

The style of her poetry was unconventional at that time, and dealt with themes of mortality and death. "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" was published in 1890, and reminds us of our tenuous link to life. "Because I could not stop for Death- / He kindly stopped for me- / The Carriage held but just Ourselves / And immortality."

Answer: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The tale of the silversmith who rode around warning the colonists of the coming of the British on April 18, 1775 is celebrated in "Paul Revere's Ride" (1861), written by American poet and scholar Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882). Longfellow was the first to translate Dante's "Divine Comedy" into English. Among his other famous poems are: "The Song of Hiawatha" and "Evangeline".

As an aside, William Dawes also rode to alert the colonists on the fateful night described in "Paul Revere's Ride" but, for some reason, he was never mentioned.

Answer: John Keats

From the second generation of English Romantic poets, we have Shelley, Byron and Keats. Sadly, John Keats (1795-1821) died from tuberculosis at the age of 25 but, fortunately, he left his genius behind in his poetry. From "Endymion", published in 1818, we learn "A thing of beauty is a joy forever". "Ode to a Nightingale", published in 1819, deals with themes of transience and mortality. My personal favorite, "Ode on a Grecian Urn", published the following year, tells us "Beauty is truth, truth beauty - that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."