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Quiz about Sighs Matters
Quiz about Sighs Matters

Sighs Matters Trivia Quiz


A sigh; an audible exhalation of breath which might signify impatience, exasperation, delight, admiration or surprise depending on circumstance. A look at how the sigh has been interpreted by some literary greats.

A multiple-choice quiz by mutchisman. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
mutchisman
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
323,669
Updated
Jan 04 23
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
8 / 10
Plays
673
Awards
Top 5% quiz!
Last 3 plays: PurpleComet (7/10), runaway_drive (9/10), woodychandler (10/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. Let's start with some advice by a Shakespearean character.
Don Pedro requests that his attendant Balthasar sing a song at a masquerade ball. Balthasar obliges with this little ditty:

"Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,
Men were deceivers ever,
One foot in sea, and one on shore,
To one thing constant never.
Then sigh not so, but let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny,
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into hey nonny nonny."

In which Shakespeare play would you find these words of wisdom?
Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. A sigh might be seen as a calibration on a scale of grief at a funeral according to this American writer:

"Where a blood relation sobs, an intimate friend should choke up, a distant acquaintance should sigh, a stranger should merely fumble sympathetically with his handkerchief."

Which writer probably best known for his books about life on the Mississippi River gave us this advice?
Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. This is the final verse of a wonderful short poem by an American poet:

"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

No further clues on this one; name the poet.
Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. The Ponte dei Sospiri in Venice was built in the seventeenth century but it was a nineteenth century English Romantic poet who actually gave the bridge its name:

"I stood in Venice, on the Bridge of Sighs,
A palace and a prison on each hand."

Which poet penned these lines?
Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. "Religion is the opiate of the people" is an oft quoted remark. It is actually a contraction (and slight misquotation) of the full quote which is:

"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."

Who originally wrote these words?
Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. This poet uses a sigh as part of a personification of fear:

"Ere Mor the Peacock flutters, ere the Monkey People cry,
Ere Chil the Kite swoops down a furlong sheer,
Through the Jungle very softly flits a shadow and a sigh--
He is Fear, O Little Hunter, he is Fear!"

If I emphasise that this is set in the jungle can you give me the name of the poet?
Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. An Irish poet regrets the inevitability that children must leave us:

"I sigh that kiss you,
For I must own
That I shall miss you
When you have grown."

Maybe he arose and went to Innisfree for consolation?
Who was this wistful poet?
Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. A disillusioned view of eighteenth century London with blame firmly directed at the authorities can be found in this poem:

"How the chimney-sweeper's cry
Every blackening church appals,
And the hapless soldier's sigh
Runs in blood down palace-walls."

Certainly not "Jerusalem" then...but who is this angry poet?
Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. This was one of my favourite poems as a child and features a rather portly Teddy Bear and his concerns about his size; here is one stanza:

"For many weeks he pressed in vain
His nose against the window-pane,
And envied those who walked about
Reducing their unwanted stout.
None of the people he could see
"Is quite" (he said) "as fat as me!"
Then, with a still more moving sigh,
"I mean" (he said) "as fat as I!""

Which author and poet famous for creating a very well-loved bear of very little brain wrote this amusing ode?
Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. I'll finish as I started with Shakespeare and a youth disillusioned with love:

"...Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.
Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes.
Being vexed, a sea nourished with lovers' tears.
What is it else? a madness most discreet,
A choking gall and a preserving sweet."

His opinions are to change very soon; who speaks these lines?
Hint



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Most Recent Scores
Feb 25 2024 : PurpleComet: 7/10
Feb 20 2024 : runaway_drive: 9/10
Jan 29 2024 : woodychandler: 10/10

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Let's start with some advice by a Shakespearean character. Don Pedro requests that his attendant Balthasar sing a song at a masquerade ball. Balthasar obliges with this little ditty: "Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more, Men were deceivers ever, One foot in sea, and one on shore, To one thing constant never. Then sigh not so, but let them go, And be you blithe and bonny, Converting all your sounds of woe Into hey nonny nonny." In which Shakespeare play would you find these words of wisdom?

Answer: Much Ado About Nothing

The gist of Balthasar's little song is that men are invariably unfaithful and unlikely to change their ways. Women shouldn't worry to much about this and just accept the situation. The song is actually a counterbalance to one theme of the play which is that women "have sharp tongues and proneness to sexual lightness." Sex of one and half dozen of the other I guess.
2. A sigh might be seen as a calibration on a scale of grief at a funeral according to this American writer: "Where a blood relation sobs, an intimate friend should choke up, a distant acquaintance should sigh, a stranger should merely fumble sympathetically with his handkerchief." Which writer probably best known for his books about life on the Mississippi River gave us this advice?

Answer: Mark Twain

Mark Twain is probably best remembered for his books featuring Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn but he wrote some brilliant one-liners albeit sometimes contradictory:

"Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more."
Compared with this...
"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest."

But back on the subject of funerals; how's this for a waspish comment:
"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying that I approved of it."
Ouch!
3. This is the final verse of a wonderful short poem by an American poet: "I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." No further clues on this one; name the poet.

Answer: Robert Frost

"The Road Not Taken" (sometimes erroneously called "The Road Less Traveled") was first published in "Mountain Interval" in 1916.

Whether he is telling this final verse with a sigh of relief or a sigh of regret is open to conjecture and I do not intend to enter the debate on whether the interpretation of the poem should be literal or ironic but Frost himself is apparently quoted as saying, "You have to be careful of that one; it's a tricky poem - very tricky."
4. The Ponte dei Sospiri in Venice was built in the seventeenth century but it was a nineteenth century English Romantic poet who actually gave the bridge its name: "I stood in Venice, on the Bridge of Sighs, A palace and a prison on each hand." Which poet penned these lines?

Answer: Lord Byron

The Bridge of Sighs is a beautiful limestone structure which connects the Doge's Palace to a prison. Byron imagined that prisoner's might sigh as they crossed the bridge as it might well be their last view of Venice, although by Byron's time it is unlikely any of the prisoners were being led to execution.

The lines are taken from Byron's narrative poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage".
5. "Religion is the opiate of the people" is an oft quoted remark. It is actually a contraction (and slight misquotation) of the full quote which is: "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people." Who originally wrote these words?

Answer: Karl Marx

These words are to be found in Karl Marx's "Contribution to Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right" (1843) which predated "The Communist Manifesto" by some five years. Marx became an atheist early in his life and remained so until his death in 1883.
6. This poet uses a sigh as part of a personification of fear: "Ere Mor the Peacock flutters, ere the Monkey People cry, Ere Chil the Kite swoops down a furlong sheer, Through the Jungle very softly flits a shadow and a sigh-- He is Fear, O Little Hunter, he is Fear!" If I emphasise that this is set in the jungle can you give me the name of the poet?

Answer: Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936) was a popular British writer, poet and novelist. His poem "If..." was voted Britain's most popular poem in a 1995 BBC poll.
His parents had first met at Rudyard Lake in Staffordshire and loved the place so much that they called their first born after the lake...good job they didn't fall in love at Crummockwater!

The quote is taken from the first verse of Kipling's poem "The Song of the Little Hunter" which can be found in "The Second Jungle Book" (1895). The book contains eight stories, five of which contain further adventures featuring Mowgli the Jungle Boy.
7. An Irish poet regrets the inevitability that children must leave us: "I sigh that kiss you, For I must own That I shall miss you When you have grown." Maybe he arose and went to Innisfree for consolation? Who was this wistful poet?

Answer: W. B. Yeats

William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939) is viewed as a hugely influential figure in the great Irish Literary Revival and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923.

The lines are taken from Yeats' poem "A Cradle Song" but perhaps his best known poem is "The Lake Isle of Innisfree".
8. A disillusioned view of eighteenth century London with blame firmly directed at the authorities can be found in this poem: "How the chimney-sweeper's cry Every blackening church appals, And the hapless soldier's sigh Runs in blood down palace-walls." Certainly not "Jerusalem" then...but who is this angry poet?

Answer: William Blake

The poem begins with the rather downbeat:

"I wandered through each chartered street,
Near where the chartered Thames does flow,
A mark in every face I meet,
Marks of weakness, marks of woe. "

"London" by William Blake was first published in 1794 in "Songs of Experience". Blake's disillusioned views are often compared with the rather more positively worded Wordsworth sonnet "Lines Composed upon Westminster Bridge" which was published some nine years later:

"Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth like a garment wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare..."
9. This was one of my favourite poems as a child and features a rather portly Teddy Bear and his concerns about his size; here is one stanza: "For many weeks he pressed in vain His nose against the window-pane, And envied those who walked about Reducing their unwanted stout. None of the people he could see "Is quite" (he said) "as fat as me!" Then, with a still more moving sigh, "I mean" (he said) "as fat as I!"" Which author and poet famous for creating a very well-loved bear of very little brain wrote this amusing ode?

Answer: A. A. Milne

A. A. Milne (1882 - 1956) is probably best remembered for his collections of stories featuring Christopher Robin, Winnie the Pooh, Piglet and the other characters from The 100 Acre Wood.

He also wrote other poems and stories and this poem, "Teddy Bear" was a favourite of mine. The bear lacked self-esteem owing to his sizable proportions but when he found a picture of a rather large King of France who despite his girth was still known as "Louis the Handsome" the bear became quite content with his lot.
10. I'll finish as I started with Shakespeare and a youth disillusioned with love: "...Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs. Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes. Being vexed, a sea nourished with lovers' tears. What is it else? a madness most discreet, A choking gall and a preserving sweet." His opinions are to change very soon; who speaks these lines?

Answer: Romeo

When we first meet Romeo in Verona he is feeling rather depressed and cynical about love as his advances towards Rosaline have been unrequited. Of course love appears in the most unexpected places and he falls for Juliet, daughter of the Capulets and the enemies of Romeo's family. Spoiler: it is not a happy ending...
Source: Author mutchisman

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor trident before going online.
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